Sometime last year I was sitting in a team meeting a work. We were chatting while waiting for everyone to show up. I was talking about how I had been all over Colorado but have never seen the southern portions of it. My co-worker Alan mentioned he had a family cabin in Pagosa and “…maybe you could use it sometime.” I’m not sure how serious he was but a year later I was able to con Alan into letting us use his cabin for this Memorial Day weekend. A pipe had frozen in the cabin over the winter so there was no running water, but that also meant no one in Alan’s gigantic family was using it. K8 and I wanted to do a big biking trip and were fine with “roughing” it. So off we went with all our bikes, gear, and a bunch of water. This shot is of the cabin after we arrived Friday night. You can see Georgia dog… we brought her along. She does pretty well in the car and had a fun time running around in the woods.
#### DAY 1 : Road Ride up Wolf Creek Pass
Saturday our plan was to ride from town up and over Wolf Creek pass, down to South Fork or thereabouts and back. We Started around 9:30am or so from the parking lot of the City Market in Pagosa Springs. Couldn’t help but notice folks giving us odd looks. It seems Pagosa isn’t the biggest biking town but whatever. We were really lucky as the weather was supposed to be perfect all weekend long, mid-70’s, no rain. About 10-15 miles out of town we stopped to take a picture of our destination:
The ride was beautiful…. we kept a decent pace, but not too fast. The road was newly paved, had a wide shoulder all the way up and over. Farther into it we came across a tourist stop, Treasure Falls. Snapped a few quick pics then continued on. Climbing the pass, things were silent as we both settled in for the long haul. The climb is actually fairly gradual and not hard, just looooong. In rought numbers Pagosa is at about 7,500 feet elevation, and the summit of Wolf Creek pass is at around 11,000…. so overall about a 3,500ft climb. We got several hoots and few thumbs up from folks passing us in cars, especially around the switch backs.
The actual summit is somewhat anti-climatic but you can see there was still a bunch of snow up there. We re-fueled then bombed down the east side. We stopped about 2 miles shy of South Fork just before the shoulder of the road became non-existent. We started the climb all over again, this time about 3,000ft back to the top.
On the way back down from the pass, after the switchbacks, there was another pull off area with parking for a awesome overlook of the valley looking back towards Pagosa Springs. We missed it on the way up (heads down panting)… but this time stop and snapped a picture. This is the greenest you’ll ever see Colorado. You can see the road winding back to Pagosa which we were about to cruise on…
Back in Pagosa Springs after about 70 miles of riding, we packed up the truck then stopped at a hot prings resort on the way out of town. WOW … it had 18 cascading natural sulfur spring pools at varying temperatures. We soaked there for a good hour or so, mostly in the 106 degree pool. That totally hit the spot after the ride, very relaxing.
#### DAY 2 : Durango – Horse Gulch & Hermosa Creek Trail
Sunday, we woke up, had breakfast, then drove to Durango. This was K8’s stomping ground in college so she was going to be showing me around. We rolled into town and went right to the Horse Gultch Trail Head. This ride was a lot like our local foot hills trails, but much more winding and weaving and the brush was thick. It was fun, but the turns were so quick and so common I thought it was a bit slow. I’m sure if you knew the trails well you could cruise it. We spent maybe not quite 2 hours here riding around, made a couple loops then rolled out. It was hot and we didn’t take many pics but here are a few:
We jumped in the truck, drove about 15 miles outside of Durango to Hermosa Creek trail. TO DATE, THIS IS THE SWEETEST TRAIL EVER!! Its in the forest, aspens, few river crossings, very rolling, yet lots of rocks and roots, it climbs, descends, climbs, descends, repeat…. friggin’ awesome:
We rode and rode…. finally took a break when we came across this bridge and there was an obvious rest/camping site with a bench etc. Took a few more pics then turned around and headed back. Sweet trail. Back in Durango, we were to stay with K8’s long time friend Kirsten and her husband Arthur. Their house was so easy to find, it fact it sticks out like crazy off this bluff. You can see it from almost anywhere in town. This pic doesn’t show how exposed it is, but the color too…
That night we went to dinner at the Steamworks… great pub in Durango. Had a few of the local brews, then back to the house to pass out.
#### DAY 3: Colorado Trail
Sunday, we got up and went out to breakfast at a total greasy spoon called the Durango Diner. And was it greasy… I got an omlette, but you couldn’t tell by the fact that it was submerged in green chili. I got through maybe two thirds of it before I had to hit the john. Anywhoo… after that we geared up and caravaned to the Colorado Trail. K8 and I have been making a point to hit various portions of the Colorado Trail each year. We had done parts of it at Kenosha Pass to Georgia Pass… parts north and south from Salida, and now here in Durango.
The trail climbed gradually for the first 6 miles or so. Wasn’t too steep, but had some technical parts to it. At the first cresting point is “Gudy’s Rest,” which is a good overlook. Here we stopped to take some pics:
Since we had gotten to a late start and K8 and I needed to get back by 1-2pm or so to get on the road, we rode ahead at this point at a fast pace. We wanted to make the Dry Fork loop. It was fun… from Gudy’s Rest it was a rolling bomb all the way into this valley before hooking at the Dry Fork. Then a long climb all the way back up and out. Overall it was a lot like Hermosa Creek, thick forest, rolling, lots of rocks and roots. I think it would have been fantastic except for the fact that there was a huge traveling trail crew with literally about 150 people out doing work throughout the whole loop. So we had to stop several times, but it was still a great ride with some great views. Here are a few more pics I took near the Dry Fork:
And that’s it really. We went back to Kirsten and Arthur’s house, had a quick lunch, packed up the cooler and the car. Arthur was so nice and gave us all these goodies to take for the ride home like fruit, snacks, & soda. We said our good-bye’s and took off. We had a long haul ahead of us. We stopped back at the cabin on the way through Pagosa and picked up the rest of our gear, road bikes, then settled in for 6 more hours. I’ll leave this post with two final pics, K8 with the “obligatory self-in-mirror pic,” and Doda in the back of the truck, what a trooper for being well behaved on road trips.
You can see the whole set of pics in my photo section (… coming soon)
Dang! looks like a reallly reallllly sweet trip!