Author: Matthew Harms

Day 29: Del Norte to Elk River Campground (72.5 miles, 6,344ft)

While our previous day had been our longest to date (111.4 miles), the ride from Del Norte to Elk River Campground looked to be one of our hardest. We’d be crossing Indiana Pass—at 11,910 feet the highest pass we’d cross on the trip and, with over 4,000 feet of elevation gain, the longest single climb we’d face on the trip. Because of the day’s shorter distance, we left Del Norte at a regular time (for us after making breakfast and packing the car up): 9:00am.

Over the first 12 miles of the ride, we ascended an easy 1,000 feet along pavement. From there the pavement ended and the climb’s grade became much steeper. We shifted down into our granny gears, and began the long, slow, but still manageable portion of the ascent.

Again the changes in scenery as we gained elevation were stunning, and we soon found ourselves in pine and aspen forests—we were lucky to catch the aspen leaves changing color.

Along the climb, we passed a surprising number of trucks—riding on a Sunday, we seemed to be catching recreational traffic—and a number of beautiful dispersed campsites, which would have been ideal for self-supported riders.

Eventually, we did make it to the top of the climb, but our work wasn’t yet done. For the next 13 miles, we rode above 11,000 feet, descending from and ascending to a number of minor passes. The incredible views along the way easily kept our minds off our tired legs, however.

After those 13 miles through the high country, we descended roughly 1,500 feet along a creek, passing a couple of stunning lakes along the way.

Before the bottom, we made a sharp right past a national forest campground, and began our final significant climb of the day, climbing 700-800 feet over a minor pass, before descending to the mountain village of Platoro—the name is a combination of the Spanish words for silver and gold, “plata” and “oro,” a nod to the mining that once took place here.

In Platoro, we took a break in the local cafe and waited out a rainstorm that rolled through. Once the rain passed, we rode the final 23 miles down the Conejos River on a washboarded dirt road to Horca and the Elk River Campground—another wonderful campground nestled along a gurgling brook.

Day 28: Sargents to Del Norte (111.4 miles, 6,063ft)

Based on the coming terrain—relatively flat—and relative dearth of camping that didn’t require long drives on dirt roads, we decided to pull a long day from Sargents to Del Norte.

We started out early, just after sunrise, and enjoyed 13 easy miles downhill on asphalt. Once we reached Doyleville, we turned south onto well-maintained dirt country roads  and rode through beautiful, open countryside with mountains in the distance.

After a brief jog onto Colorado Highway 114, we continued south on dirt roads, climbing very gradually toward Cochetopa Pass. The open fields gradually became forests as we arrived at the pass, and we enjoyed a beautiful, forested descent down the other side, rejoining highway 114 at the bottom.

Six miles on the highway brought us to a dirt road turn off, heading south. There we turned right and climbed 11, steeper, miles to Carnerno Pass. A long descent awaited us on the other side, through an incredible, rugged valley following the Carnero River. The final few miles of the descent followed paved road that led us out of the mountains entirely, near the little town of La Garita.

From there, our route turned back southwest toward Penitente Canyon and Natural Arches, following a slow, sandy dirt road. Slowly ascending into a headwind, the next 9-10 miles were a slog; but that slog paid off, once we turned south onto a fun double track trail that rolled quickly through desert buttes down to the Del Norte airport.

We added a few miles when, with Del Norte in sight, we had to skirt around the airport; but we soon arrived in Del Norte, where we camped in the town park. Supposedly, we were supposed to register with the police; but the office was closed, and none of the listed numbers got us in touch with anyone who knew about camping. In any case, we set up our tents, and—lucky for us—the maintenance person for the park arrived in the evening to inform us that he’d turn off the morning sprinklers for our benefit. (There was also an elevated stage at the park that we could have camped on to avoid the sprinklers.)

Day 27: Hartsel to Sargents (88.6 miles, 6,124ft)

Our day started with a hearty breakfast of biscuits and gravy at the local cafe—offering free camping to cyclists seemed to be a pretty solid business model for the establishment—after which we packed up and headed southeast on Colorado Highway 9. Quickly, we turned off onto dirt county roads and enjoyed rolling pasture terrain, similar to the latter half of the previous day’s ride.

After 30-some miles, we began a steep 1,000 foot climb through aspen forests to a watershed divide.

From the top, we descended 3,000-some feet over the next 15 miles to the lovely town of Salida.

We continued on paved county roads to Poncha Springs and from there began a long ascent—nearly 4,000 feet—to Marshall pass. Again the climb’s grade seemed quite moderate (Marshall Pass was another that once had a narrow gauge railroad), and the first 5 miles were on asphalt; so we made good time. The changes in scenery were wonderful—from the arid valley where Salida and Poncha Springs were located to the lush pine and aspen forests at higher elevations. Along the way, we passed many wonderful camp spots—not ideal for us because of the support vehicle and children (established campsites with water, picnic tables, bathrooms, and easy car access worked best for us) but perfect for self-supported tourers.

We reached the pass around 5:00pm, getting some rain and hail on on the way up, and quickly descended the final 16 miles to Sargents—a tiny little town with a combo bar, gas station, restaurant, and RV Park, which at $13 a person including showers, seemed like good value to us.

Day 26: Blue River Campground to Hartsel (75.9 miles, 4,027ft)

We woke up to the rushing waters of the Blue River and, after a quick breakfast, started off toward Silverthorne along Colorado Highway 9. Traffic was heavy into Silverthorne, but we had a wide shoulder that allowed cars and trucks to give us a wide berth.

Once in Silverthorne, we joined a paved bike path that took us up to the picturesque Dillon Reservoir and then through the mountain vacation towns of Frisco and Breckenridge.

While we’d been climbing the whole day to Breckenridge—9,500 feet above sea level—from Breckenridge the grade became more perceptible as we ascended toward Boreas Pass. After riding the first few miles on paved road, we continued on a gradually graded dirt road. To our surprise, the ride to the top of the pass—at 11,482 feet, the highest pass we’d crossed yet and second highest pass of the route—was a breeze. (In 1882 a narrow gauge rail was constructed over the pass—always nice to ride on railroad grade roads.)

After enjoying the views from the top, we hung on tight to our bikes on the somewhat bumpy descent. Once in the valley on the other side of the pass, we felt like we’d entered a different world. We’d left the resort towns behind and now passed into more sparsely populated pasture country.

We road through the small town of Como and continued briefly on US Highway 285, before heading southeast on rolling dirt country roads through open countryside. We soon reached US Highway 24 and turned west, riding the last 5-6 miles into Hartsel—a small country town—on the highway.

Once in Hartsel, we stopped in the only lively joint in town—a roadside cafe/saloon (and apparent camp area)—for $1.25 happy hour beers and gigantic burgers. The cafe owners also directed us to a field across the road (behind some junked cars) that served as the camping area for cyclists riding through. Certainly, not the most traditionally “nice” campground we’d stayed in yet, but a pretty cool experience nonetheless.

Day 25: Blacktail Creek Campground to Blue River Campground (74.3 miles, 6,436ft)

We woke up to a cold frosty morning at the Blacktail Creek Campground—not surprising as we’d camped around 9,000ft. After the normal couple of hours of tear down, pack up, and breakfast, the sun was already high in the sky and feeling significantly warmer we set off.

The first 15 miles to Radium were simply amazing. We followed a narrow rolling trail through forest, tight valleys, and the occasional open pasture as we wound our way toward the Colorado River. For the first time in our trip, we were riding along trails with sheer drop-offs, and we took the descents with care.

After descending some 2,200 feet to the Colorado River at Radium (6,800 feet above sea level), we crossed the river and turned back, climbing toward the Gore Canyon. Layers upon layers of mountain ridges surrounded us—many of which were barely perceptible on the horizon because of the lingering smoke—and we wondered what the views might have been like on a clearer day.

Around 10 miles later we were back at 8300 feet as we crossed a watershed divide and descended back to the Colorado River and Colorado Highway 9. We jogged north on highway 9—at this point also the Trans-America bike route—and quickly turned right onto the first county road we reached, just short of crossing the Colorado River and entering the town of Kremling. From there we continued upstream, traveling roughly east with the Colorado on our left.

Soon we angled south, following a tributary of the Colorado upstream past a reservoir. Just past the reservoir, we were able to refill our water bottles at the house of a kindly resident of the area; and after the quick break we were off again.

The miles passed quickly—with the exception of my first flat of the trip, an internal tube failure caused by subpar rim-tape on my replaced rim—as we continued along fast, smooth county roads.

Slowly, we ascended the river valley, rolling up and down at times, before reaching asphalt surface at the base of the final ascent to Ute Pass.

A few more miles of gradual grade and we reached the top of the pass at 9,524 feet.

After a speedy descent back to Colorado Highway 9, we turned south and followed the Blue River upstream for around 5 miles to the Blue River Campground, one of the nicest national forest campgrounds, we’d stayed at yet, pleasantly situated along the rushing Blue River.

After an uneventful supper, we realized that we had a stowaway in the car—a field mouse—and we spent much of the rest of the evening (unsuccessfully) trying to chase it out of the car. (Some mouse traps brought two mice to an inglorious end later in the trip.)

Day 24: Steamboat Springs to Blacktail Creek Campground (47.8 miles, 3,546ft)

We had planned to spend a rest day in Steamboat Springs but weren’t particularly interested in spending a second night in a motel; so we decided to spend the morning in town and ride a short day day to Blacktail Creek Campground.

Leaving town around noon after perusing outdoor shops downtown and enjoying a pizza buffet (where we definitely ate our money’s worth), we followed minor paved roads south of town through lovely ranch countryside. Passing Lake Catamount, we continued on to Stagecoach Reservoir, where we followed a wonderful little dirt multi-use trail along the east side of the reservoir.

From there we followed a wide dirt road, upstream along Morrison Creek, before climbing over Lynx Pass—despite the name, we saw no lynx.

On the other side of the pass, we rode through lovely highland countryside and, despite having to ford Rock Creek, we thoroughly enjoyed the last few miles to the Blacktail Creek Campground.

Similar to much of the riding we’d experienced since entering Colorado, the roads and trails were wonderfully maintained, while the climbing grades were quite comfortable. The mountains might have been bigger, but the riding was feeling easier than in previous states.