Day 19: Westcliffe to Salida, Arkansas river

June 16, 2019

I got up at 7:30 and pedaled downtown to the bowling alley for breakfast. Service was extremely slow because it's Father's Day and the restaurant has only one cook this morning. I arrived at 8:10 and got breakfast 50 minutes later. Fortunately I'm not in a hurry. Today should be fairly easy.

After breakfast I spent a few minutes looking around Westcliffe. It was founded in 1881 when a spur of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad arrived. The name is very English sounding and the town has little or no visible Spanish influence. The dominant landmark in town is a Lutheran church which makes Westcliffe look like a Great Plains farm town transported to the foot of the Rocky mountains at 7867 feet elevation.

I also stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains at Westcliffe city park. With no trees, the view is totally unobstructed. Spectacular in the morning sun before clouds take over.

Westcliffe city park has a panoramic view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

I finally left town at 9:30, heading north on CO 69 with warm sunshine and a tailwind. Today's route passes several notable pioneer homesteads that were obviously built by English speaking settlers, not Spanish speaking settlers.

Beckwith Ranch is an ongoing restoration project funded by state grants.

The high valley east of the Sangre de Cristo mountains is about 8000 feet elevation but has basically no trees. That makes it hard to find shade but the mountain views are always unobstructed. CO 69 is an extraordinarily scenic highway. The traffic is mostly tourists. Few big trucks.

The weather was surprisingly warm and sunny in the morning, but as usual it was mostly cloudy by afternoon.

CO 69 has no shoulder and traffic was heavier than I expected, with convoys of pickup trucks towing ATV trailers whizzing by on their way home to Colorado Springs or Denver.

Traffic decreased to nothing after I turned left onto County Road 1A which goes northwest to US 50 at Cotopaxi. County Road 1A is an awesome cycling road. Most of the traffic stays on CO 69 going northeast to US 50 at Texas Creek.

My only photo that shows the many yellow cliffs that were to my right.

I climbed a couple of big hills on County Road 1A, then began a 900 foot (275 m) descent to the Arkansas river. It was interesting to see the perspective change from a high valley with panoramic mountain views to the bottom of a canyon with only views of the canyon walls and nearby hills.

Start of the descent to the Arkansas river. Mountains still visible.

County Road 1A descending into a canyon.

Now in the canyon with no view of distant snowy mountains.

County Road 1A connects to US 50 at the Cotopaxi store. I have no idea why this village uses the distinctive name of Ecuador's famous volcano.

It's nice to have a store in the middle of the day. I got an ice cream cone and ate it on the bank of the river. Most days on this tour had no services between the start and finish.

For once there is a store on today's route. The store is across US 50 from the Arkansas river.

Now I go 20 miles west on busy US 50, into the wind and upstream along the Arkansas river. The river views were excellent but the highway has heavy traffic and mostly has no shoulder.

US 50 is the least bike-friendly route during this tour. It wasn't particularly dangerous, at least not going west on a Sunday afternoon with no trucks and most recreational traffic going the opposite direction, towards Colorado Springs and Denver.

US 50 and Arkansas river. Most traffic was going east.

I stopped at a state park that has riverside camp and picnic sites. It was nice to have a rest so close to the river. It's big, brown, and fast right now. Snow melt is still massive.

Rest stop at a state park along the Arkansas river.

The Arkansas river circles around the northernmost Sangre de Cristo mountains. So close that I can't see the high peaks, just the foothills. This tour makes a loop around the northern third of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, from US 160 to US 50.

The river is quite high for paddlers. Okay for rafts, probably. I was surprised to see a solo kayaker with the rafts. The river is not exactly safe for kayaking now.

I was surprised to see a kayaker while the river is so high and dangerous.

A wide shoulder appears for the final 8 miles to Salida, in a relatively wide valley. The sky was quite gloomy and there were a few drops of rain. Fortunately the headwind was gentle.

Coming into Salida I have views of the Sawatch range northwest of Salida. The informal name is Collegiate range because the highest peaks are Mt. Harvard, Mt. Princeton, and Mt. Yale.

US 50, Arkansas river, and the Sawatch range.

I became familiar with Salida before the tour so there is less sense of discovery today. On the edge of town I turned right onto Oak street, towards the downtown area. Downtown Salida looks much different than it did before the tour. Now a festival fills the downtown park, several streets are closed to traffic, and the river walk is flooded.

I was told that most of the kayaking races had to be cancelled because there is too much whitewater. The rafting events were still held. I arrived at 3 PM on Sunday afternoon, just a few hours before the festival ended. The sky was cloudy and the temperature was only 67F (20C), not very summer-like. The festival area was not very crowded.

Kayaking events were cancelled because there was too much whitewater!

Wikipedia:

FIBArk stands for "First in Boating the Arkansas"—a three-day festival held in Salida, Colorado that started in the 1950s. The history actually began in 1949 when two friends bet each other who'd win a race from Salida to Cañon City on the Arkansas River. Since that race almost killed both contestants, the race was shortened in subsequent years to about 26 miles of whitewater from Salida to Cotopaxi. Today the festival draws over 10,000 people yearly, around the 3rd week of June, and includes a variety of events on the river and in town.

The Salida riverwalk wasn't flooded at the start of the tour but is flooded now.

Arkansas river looking upstream. Flooded riverwalk on the left.

Tonight I stay in Silver Ridge lodge which is on US 50 two miles west of downtown Salida. $82. Same place I spent the night before starting the tour. I'm not mad at them for refusing to let me park my car for 19 days. Later I walked to the nearest Mexican restaurant for dinner.

Today was a great touring day despite the traffic on US 50. Great mountain views, great river views, with scenic towns at the start and finish. The cycling was relatively easy because I started at 7867 feet in Westcliffe and ended at 7083 feet elevation in Salida. I feel good and should have an easy time crossing Poncha pass tomorrow.

Distance: 51.2 mi. (82 km)
Ascent/Descent: +1740/-2262 ft. (+530/-690 m)
Average Speed: 10.8 mph (17.3 km/h)

Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 687 miles (1,106 km)

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