This last weekend Laura and I took a road trip to Colorado. Though ostensibly the purpose of our trip was to visit Laura's cousin, Tim, in Durango, I had my own goal: to bike Mesa Verde National Park.
Mesa Verde is in the southwest part of the state, near Four Corners. It's mountainous and forested like central Colorado, but it's also dry like Arizona. A long time ago, when I was about ten years old, my family drove through the park, and somehow I got it in my head that I would return someday and bike it. Mission accomplished.
Near the campground there were many deer. I worried about colliding with one on a fast descent.
Higher up, there was a lot of beautiful, twisty-road scenery.
8572ft—This is the highest elevation I've ever ridden a bike. One of the benefits of not being in great form these days is that the thin air didn't bother me so much since I expected to suck a lot of wind. But I noticed the thin air on the descents—less air resistance means faster speeds!
Why yes, that is a cheap, frayed rubber band holding an expensive electronic gadget to my expensive bike. Your point?
The highlight of the ride wasn't the climbing or the descending or the scenery. It was going through this mountainside tunnel.
Though I had fun biking a small part of Colorado, the experience made me realize how good road biking in Arizona is. American civil engineering is about the same everywhere in the Continental 48, with the same 6% grades up and down mountains. Thus, the roads of Mesa Verde feel a lot like the roads in Phoenix's South Mountain park—only with thinner air and more motor traffic.
As for epic climbs, Arizona has many of those, too: Mt Graham, Mt Lemmon, Mingus Mountain—none of which I've yet biked. I think future adventures await me.
4 comments:
Great accomplishment to do something you have wanted to do for decades. Very cool.
Bobby et al.— Thanks.
Beautiful sights! Thank you for sharing with us. Did you run into Rifi Newaz? He and his wife did a road trip all through SW CO, over Memorial Day weekend--I saw it on Facebook. :) Of course it piqued my interest, because I was born and raised in Ouray, CO and my last magical visit to that part of the state was in 2004. My sister and her new husband also recently road-tripped all over Colorado, and went to Mesa Verde (but did not bike;). They did climb into the cliff dwellings, and after seeing a couple of the photos, I asked if they had to sign a waiver first! Anyway, just had to share with you my little connection to that part of the country. I have never been to Mesa Verde but hope to see it sometime. Did you enjoy Durango? Did you go anywhere else? Silverton? The train? etc What did Laura think of Colorado?
Lindsey— So many questions. Here goes.
No, I didn't run into Rifi Newaz in Colorado. It was the wrong weekend, among other improbabilities.
(Not a question) You were born in Ouray? Really? I never would have guessed that. How old were you when you left?
Laura and I only passed through Durango—twice—once on the way to her cousin's and once on the way back to Arizona. Tim (her cousin) lives about twenty minutes north up the highway from Durango.
We hiked near Tim's place and saw, among other sights, the Tacoma power plant, which is across the Animas River from the narrow-gauge railroad you mention. Elsewhere while on that hike, we waited on a large rock, hoping to see the train pass by, but we weren't sure of the train's schedule and gave up without seeing it.
Later that day Tim drove Laura and me through Silverton and up the unpaved road to the ghost town of Animas Fork. For a ghost town, it had wonderful restroom facilities. On the way back we got a flat tire, but that proved less eventful than other flat tires we've gotten in other people's cars on unpaved roads in the mountains.
Overall, Laura and I were most surprised by how many mosquitoes there are in that part of Colorado. In Mesa Verde we saw few pests. Tim's place, on the other hand, was swarming with mosquitoes in a way that puts even Houston to shame. Laura's legs were covered in large mosquito welts well past the time we arrived back home. We concluded we're spoiled by Phoenix's arid climate and swamp-free terrain.
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