Del Norte, CO

Del Norte is spread out along Grand Ave. We stayed at the County Family Inn & Restaurant. Nice place, with large rooms, for the price! The town has a sporting goods store, but no bike shop. The laundromat, grocery store, & car wash are east on Rt. 160. We ate twice at Boogies Restaurant - great food. The town has expensive gas.
BETH writes - This 64 mile day started with a thrilling descent through the craziest rock formations I have seen. The rock formations continued throughout the day. All of the rocks looked like they were formed differently. Maybe something this Science geek will have to research at some point. We saw two Coyotes this morning - they are much smaller than ours and are very light in color. The ride was fairly easy today and we got the 10,100+ ft pass out of the way early. The rest of the day was rolling, with a fun two track at the end. Mike and I had three concerns today. One was the thunderstorms and hail that we encountered all day, two was Mike's bike broke, and three was the little detour we took because we got lost. Luckily, we survived and made it to Del Norte to a motel, shower, and dinner. Mike will have to ride one of the bikes my Mom has had on the back of the car until the part for his bike can be shipped to a town near us. For those bike geeks, Mike broke the swing arms to his rear shock in two places - must have been the weight and a worn out part. Sweet dreams of our 11,900 ft pass tomorrow with full gear, 4 days worth of food and water will fill our heads tonight.
JAN writes - Tra-la, we're back to a motel (with showers and toilets) tonight in Del Norte, CO. Last night the coyotes were howling nearby several times, making it tough to sleep well. It seemed we had frost when we awoke, but it was just very cold with a heavy dew. It is amazing how fast it warms up, although it never hit 70� today. I drove to Del Norte on paved roads through the little town of Saguache (pronounced Sawatch). It has two really great museums. One is the county museum that has some fascinating artifacts. The Old Spanish Trail went right through the area. I also learned about the local cannibal, Alferd Packer, and the Ute Indians that reside in the area. The county is the largest in CO and is about the size of Connecticut, but has no traffic lights and a population under 7,000! Still high elevation and very arid, with amazing rock outcroppings that look like hugh picket fences. Its very interesting that when you go through towns there are signs that announce the town and its elevation, but no population. One town sign recently said, "Welcome to Sargents. Elevation high and population low".

To Luder's Creek Campground, CO

BETH writes - This morning, after packing wet tents, Mike and I had a thrilling descent of 12 miles to the town of Sargents. The town had a few houses, a towing company and a mercantile. From there we had about 8 miles on the highway, four of which we got to speed down the left lane and beat the traffic through the construction area. It was great - we owned the road! After passing a farm with white Elk, Buffalo, and Yaks we climbed through the high prairie of sage brush. At the crest of the climb there was a huge canyon to our right and a green valley below. The habitats change so dramatically out here. Cochetopa Pass at 10,067 ft was the big climb for today. The climb was relatively easy and ended our 57 mile day. We saw many fly fisherman and Pronghorns as we climbed back to the forest. Mike was finally successful at beating the Woodbury women at Cribbage and we all crashed early to listen to the Coyotes play and howl the night away.
JAN writes - It's back to long pants and fleece today. Last night's storm really cooled things off. It was 50 when we left the campsite this AM. At the moment its mid-afternoon, 65 and I'm typing on a picnic table in the Sange de Cristo Wilderness Region in the San Luis Valley in the Rio Grande National Forest. We are getting close to New Mexico, so the names are now all Spanish sounding. As many of the recent valleys we've been in, this one is high prairie - probably near 10,000 feet. The campground is surrounded by split rail fence to keep out the free-ranging cattle, so I'm using the fence to dry out our wet tent and gear. A beautiful Stellar Jay (pictures) and two Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels (which look like jumbo chipmunks) have been scolding me and sniffing around the table. I am the only person in the campground and have invaded their territory. What a delightful spot to wait for the bike riders and to spend the night!

Salida, CO to Gunnison National Forest

BETH writes - After taking yesterday off in Pueblo for the changing of the riders, we dropped Bethany at the bus station at 5AM. Mike, Mom and I packed the car and headed back to Salida. Mike and I were on the road by 11:15 am for a 33 mile day over Marshall Pass. Marshall Pass is at 10,800+ft and was the old rail bed for a train that went from Denver to Salt Lake City. The pass is also the intersection of the Colorado Trail and the Continental Divide. The grade was easy, but the hill endless. I have discovered that Mike is an excellent wildlife spotter. We saw many Mule Deer. Halfway to the top we encountered more common creatures of the west - cows - a herd of about 30. Of course they were coming down the road at us. Once at the top of the pass we had a fast 6 mile down hill to our Aspen enclosed campsite where we met my Mom. We saw many Mule deer investigating us cooking.It has turned chilly. After playing Cribbage, we were off to bed to listen to the thunderstorms pound our tent and echo in the hills.
JAN writes - Back to the mountains. We returned to Salida so Mike and Beth could get their bikes and gear together and resume where Beth left off on Saturday. Dick Arnold from Amherst, and his fiancee Caroline, arrived while the bikers were getting ready. They had been to a wedding in Colorado and were driving back to Denver. We had been in touch by phone and were amazed that we could coordinate a get together! After the bikers set off Dick, Caroline and I had a nice lunch together. That delayed the realization that I am now alone. In the afternoon I drove over 11,898' high Monarch Pass in pouring rain on my way to meet Beth and Mike at a (free) primitive site in the Gunnison National Forest. The rain had stopped and we set up our tents next to a creek and obviously in a deer thoroughfare. There was a constant parade of mule deer to get water. About 9PM the electrical storm we could hear coming hit us. Wow-such noise! We were camped next to an Aspen Grove at the bottom of a hillside, so remained safe in the tents all night. The area is badly in need of rain, so we can't complain about getting it.

Salida, CO

Salida has many motels and had a huge Harley Rally going on. We found a place on the edge of town on Hwy. 291, just off Rt. 175, called the Backroads Motel & Grill. It wasn't fancy, but was a roof over our heads. The rooms were quite large and inexpensive. We found a bike shop, a Super Walmart, gas & several restaurants in town.
BETH writes - Bethany and I awoke early and rode on another 20+ miles of washboard through the high prairie. At least today there is no headwind. Once again, as has been the case for the last 6 days, Bethany is killing me climbing the rolling hills. It is nice to see another women be a very strong biker - too bad she lives in North Carolina or we might have had to make her join our fun at home. About lunch time we reached our hill for the day. A seven mile climb to a watershed divide at 9,900 ft. The map described a steep climb, but in reality it was not that bad compared to what I have seen over the last 1500 miles. The climb was beautiful through the Aspen trees and granite outcroppings. We spent almost the whole time chasing these crazy cows to the top. A nice 12 mile downhill ended our 44 mile day in Salida. Salida is a cute town with lots of art shops and cafes. We had chinese and hit the hay early. Tomorrow we all go to Pueblo to drop Sue and Bethany to catch a bus to the Denver airport, and pick up Mike Lanigan, my next friend that I will chase up the hills. Thanks Bethany for a fabulous week and 250 miles!!!!
JAN writes - Today is Sue's last full day in Colorado. We were slow to get started today. First we explored downtown Salida and then headed out to do some rock hounding. There are abandoned mines in the hills above Salida, and we ran into several other rock hunters. Sue's Dad (my uncle) is a retired geologist, so hopefully he can identify some of the specimens we found. I know we found some agate, mica, milky quartz, and am hoping the red rocks have either Jasper or Corundum in them, as it's found in the area we were in. At any rate, I've added more rocks to the collection in the car and Sue's suitcase is going home a bit heavier! Photo is of Sue collecting rocks near old mine shaft.

Hartsel, CO

No place to stay in Hartsel. Water is contaminated due to mining in area. We were lucky the girls were allowed to camp on a ranch.
BETH writes - After a good night's sleep with the brightest night light one could want (the moon) we started our long downhill off Boreas Pass. My mom's cousin Sue joined Bethany and me today for most of the time. At the bottom of the pass we ended up in a town called Como. Como was a bustling town at one point, but now has a few houses and a historic roundhouse from the old railroads. The rest of the 40 miles of today was spent through Colorado's high prairie. Beautiful in its own way, but I definitely prefer the mountains. The road and wind were less than nice to us today. We had about 30 miles of washboard and a 15+ mph head wind. Sore from the constant vibration we ended in the town of Hartsel. After a early dinner in the local pub - very interesting - we got a tip as to where to ask to camp since Hartsel has nowhere to stay or camp. We went down the road at camped in the lawn (if you could call it that) of the office for a 28,000 acre ranch that raises Buffalo. The office had showers and the secretary was nice enough to stay long enough for us to enjoy our first shower in three days. We feel asleep to the grunts of the buffalo and Bethany finally got to see the stars before the huge moon lit the prairie.
JAN writes - Sue and I rode part way with the girls today. Sue rode 25 miles. I only managed 5. The altitude on the uphill really got me. I guess I need to stay under 10,000 feet! The wind and the washboard or sandy road was a battle for biking today. Really tired out the girls! We met them in the tiny town of Hartsel, hoping to spend the night. Unfortunately, we found there was no place to stay. A woman in the general store told us to go 2 miles to a ranch and they would probably let us pitch a tent. The 28,000 acre ranch is being sold in pieces and a woman who works for the development company not only gave the girls permission to pitch their tent, she gave them water and let them use the shower in the office bathroom. Sue and I made sure they had supplies and we drove to a motel in Salida for the next 2 nights.