June 10, 2010
Day 43: Rico to Telluride
45F overnight. Noticeably chillier at 8800 feet elevation. I had a short early morning soak in the hot spring with the Gold Mine Inn proprietor and her partner. Then I packed up without making breakfast because it was cold in my shady campsite. I rode into Rico and made breakfast in a sunny park that was much warmer. I got away from Rico at 10:30 when it was starting to feel almost warm.
Today I cross my first pass in the Rocky mountains. It's only a 1400 foot climb from Rico. The first half of the climb is gentle, along the Dolores river. The scene gets increasingly lush with frequent side creeks tumbling loudly down the mountainside. Then the road turns away from the river and climbs steeply along a creek to Lizard Head pass. It was mostly sunny along the river, but clouds built rapidly as I approached the pass.
It had been sunny during most of the climb. But it was cold cloudy and windy during my stop at the pass. To the east is an impressive mountain range with two 13,000+ foot peaks. Silverton is on the other side.
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Pavement quality was really bad during the descent. I had to go 25 mph much of the time.
The descent to the San Miguel river includes a 400 foot climb to keep you warm.
When highway 145 gets to the San Miguel river I turned right towards Telluride on a bike trail. The trail parallels the road and the San Miguel river going upstream. I wish the money for the crappy bike trail had been spent on a paved shoulder on the smoother, flatter road.
Telluride is a really interesting town. It's grown significantly since I was here during a 1998 bike tour. It started as a mining town in the 1870's accessible only by a foot trail from Silverton. It was expensive to haul the gold ore over the mountain by mule, but the gold ore was of such high quality that it was very profitable. A wagon road arrived in 1881, and Telluride boomed. The railroad finally arrived in 1890 after the Indians were displaced from the San Juan valley. Then Telluride really boomed. That's when most of the grand historic structures were built. Mining continued for decades, but the last mine closed in 1968. Telluride was reborn in 1971 when the ski resort opened. Over the years, the vacant Victorian homes became million dollar vacation homes, and main street filled with upscale shops. The boom accelerated after the airport opened in 1990 (the remote airport is popular with drug smugglers, says Glenn Frey in the song Smuggler's Blues). Once mostly abandoned, the town is now a magnet for the wealthy. Very remote, but it has a rare combination of spectacular beauty, world class skiing, and an incredible inventory of historic buildings.
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Nowadays Telluride is also famous for its festivals. The Bluegrass festival is one of the biggest, and it's next week. I was lucky to get a campsite for one night at the town campground, walking distance from downtown. Tomorrow the entire campground will be taken over by the festival staff. I couldn't camp in Telluride if I stayed at Mesa Verde. The site is $15, plus $3 for a shower. Lodging in or near Telluride is extremely expensive, so it's great to have a downtown campground. I wish every expensive tourist town had a campground downtown.
The paved road ends 3 miles past town in the box canyon. Two large waterfalls cascade down the canyon walls. Someday I want to bike the gravel road that switchbacks up the box canyon wall.
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7 months ago
Telluride is a great place to walk around and explore. Very compact, only 7 blocks wide in a steep narrow canyon. Telluride now has mass-transit by gondola. A free gondola runs over the mountain connecting Telluride to the town of Mountain Village. Of course the gondola also stops at the top of the mountain for skiing. I took the gondola to the top, but didn't go down to Mountain Village. The view of Telluride was awesome.
Distance: 39 mi. (62.4 km)
Climbing: 2700 ft. (818 m)
Hiking: 3 mi. (4.8 km)
Today's ride: 39 miles (63 km)
Total: 1,990 miles (3,203 km)
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