Day 28: Del Norte
Distance: 105km
Climbing: 976m
It might have been our third coldest morning, but we’ve got our routines for packing, layering, and making breakfast much better dialled-in now.
As we were at a higher altitude the morning riding started with a fast and cold descent. The day’s only real climb, about 600m, followed shortly after and we had completed 60km and the majority of the climbing before breaking for lunch.
So much of the terrain today was classic Colorado, beautiful river canyons with colourful rock, evergreens, and golden aspens. When we broke out into an area of grasslands I got a view to the Crestone Range where I had climbed the Crestone Needle, one of the fourteeners, over twenty years earlier.
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We had a brief rain storm blow up in the afternoon with only a few drops of rain but a very strong headwind that only lasted a few minutes fortunately.
We made it to Del Norte by about 2:45pm, earlier than any other finish yet. We had the time and the legs to continue but didn’t for a few reasons. Tomorrow will start with the biggest single climb of the trip to the highest elevation of the trip: Indiana Pass. It’s also launching us into our longest stretch yet without many options to resupply, almost 300km, so we had to do a big grocery shopping trip and by eating dinner and breakfast here we slightly reduce how much we have to haul up the pass. We also tried to do a few other errands but were stymied by lack of options.
By the time we can resupply again we’ll be in New Mexico.
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As with the town of Eureka in Montana, Del Norte allows bikepackers to stay in one of their public parks. It makes sense as the town is right on the route and encourages us to shop and dine in town, which we’ll do. We’re also usually a pretty quiet and tidy group who shows up late and leaves early. In this case though apparently we’re supposed to sleep up on the stage to avoid the automatic sprinklers.
Today's ride: 104 km (65 miles)
Total: 3,188 km (1,980 miles)
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2 weeks ago