Day 44: Telluride to Ridgway

June 11, 2010

38F at 7AM. I'm definitely in the mountains now! On the road at 8:45 under sunny skies, not too cold.

Segregated seating outside the food market in Telluride ;-)

It was downhill for 16 miles along the San Miguel river to Placerville. Much of that distance was through red rock canyons. Perhaps the last red rock I will see on this tour.

Red rocks for a while descending along the San Miguel river.

I stopped at the store in Placerville. The town is much smaller than Placerville, California which was my destination on day 1 of this tour. Both were founded as mining towns. "Placer" is a polite name for highly destructive hydraulic mining which ended in the 1890's when it became illegal to dispose of mine tailings in rivers. In Placerville I turned right on highway 62, climbing along Leopard Creek to Dallas Divide.

Climbing along Leopard creek toward Dallas divide.

It was an easy 1650 foot climb. The sky was mostly cloudy by the time I got to the summit just past noon.

The 1800-foot descent to Ridgway is very fast, with excellent views of mountains all around. As usual, the west side of the summit is more forested than the east side.

Looking back during the descent to Ridgway. A commercial van-supported bike tour group was going up.

I wanted to eat lunch at the True Grit cafe, but there was a long line for tables. So I got a sandwich from the supermarket. It's a very upscale supermarket for such a small ranching town. I can tell that many wealthy retirees live in the area. I saw a touring cyclist in Ridgway but didn't talk to him.

In Ridgway I turned south on US 550 for 2 miles to Orvis hot spring, arriving at 1:30 PM. It's a commercial hot spring and they have made significant improvements since I visited in 1998. Two new soaking pools and nicer landscaping. I camped there, allowing me to soak at night after the day visitors are gone.

Today was an easy day with a net descent of 1500 feet. The weather is much cooler and cloudier now. It looks like it will rain soon. The Rocky mountains get more summer rainfall than the mountains farther west.

Distance: 44.5 mi (71 km)

Climbing: 1916 ft. (580 m)

Average Speed: 12.2 mph (19.5 km/h)

Maximum Speed: 40 mph (64 km/h)

Today's ride: 45 miles (72 km)
Total: 2,035 miles (3,275 km)

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