Day 5 - Colorado Springs to Durango, CO
316 Miles
On Day 5 we left the high desert and traveled into the Rocky Mountains. We left out of Colorado Springs and rode over to Durango by way of Woodland Park, Salida, Del Norte and Pagosa Springs. Although only 316 miles, today's ride took us ~9 hours and was worth every moment!
We took US-24 out of Colorado Springs up to Woodland Park and points west. At Buena Vista we turned south down 285 and 112, and rode down to Del Norte. One of the best parts of this was going over Poncha Pass.
At Del Norte, we filled up and asked one of the locals about someplace to eat. The gentleman steered us perfectly over to Three Barrel Brewing Company where we sat outside and shared an excellent pizza lunch. Denise partook of a Lite Peach Ale and I suffered down another Sprite. You'll see photos from this portion of the trip.
Then it was out of Del Norte and up and over Wolf Creek Pass! What an awesome ride! The temps dropped back into the low 60's (from an earlier nearly 80) and Denise was grateful she had decided to keep her Mountain Hardwear jacket on after all. We followed a tractor/trailer with a large, but evidently light load over the Pass and booked along at max speed limit the whole way.
Once down on the western side, it was smooth sailing all the way into Durango. We took a ride up to Hermosa, just to get a feel for the area and Denise had quite a start (means she got a heck of a surprise). We had turned back toward Durango and taken a side road (252/250) to parallel 550. I was paying close attention to the road because of recent mud slides when all of a sudden Denise hollered "Bear! Evidently we rode right beside a big (she used the word big numerous times) black bear getting ready to cross left to right on the road. I asked if she wanted to turn around to get pictures and she declined - forcefully. Anyway, with the bear that made bear, swans, prairie dogs, buffalo, and a mother elk and her two young ones that we saw today. None, however, as close alongside us as the bear.
Tomorrow is our big ride-related day where we ride Utah and Nevada, giving us states 48 and 49 of 50 states ridden. We're really looking forward to that. Well, I am. Denise is ready to be done with counting. Then it's down to the Grand Canyon to meet up with Alex, Christy, and (most importantly) our other two grandkids! Oh, this is a good time to point out that today's photos will start off with a shot of our Colorado grandson getting a ride with me yesterday evening. His name and face are being withheld for his own protection, but trust me. He had a big s-eating grin on his face under the visor!
