It has to be said, it's good to be back in some proper lumpy ground again, all that flat farmland & rolling hills are very pretty but it's just not got the uumph of a decent mountain range in my opinion, so now that we are heading into some high ground I feel much more at home. These mountains have been spoken about to me by so many people that I feel I know them already, yet this is the first time I've been here. I doubt it'll be the last though & there is more to come with a couple of 12000ft passes tomorrow to finish in either Telluride or Silverdale... Ace!!
So to a recap of today, three if us set off this morning around 9 ish, winding our way alongside the green hills to the south, everytime I thought we'd turn south & climb upto a high pass though, the trail turned back north, taking us into the San Isabel National Forest. This was a treasure trove of trails, winding their way through young pine forest into old silver birch woodland & finally up into high pasture land.
We dropped back down to the really wide valley & into La Veta, Westcliff & Cotopaxi for refuelling & coffee before heading up & over more of the upland trails, through some more forest & eventually into Salida where we decided to stay for the night.
Another day of great scenery, no technical riding really, but plenty of loose gravel & the odd little bit of soft sand to keep you on your toes.
As always we've seen plenty of wildlife, buzzards, kestrels, little prairie dogs dodging about everywhere, Bison, (although these were farmed ones), deer & Rocky Mountain Big Horned Sheep... I I thought these looked the same as the Corsican Mouflon...
So another day done, we lost Matt at Westcliff as his rear tyre needed replacing, he had to go to another state to get one apparently as there were none in his size here. He'll maybe rejoin us for tomorrow. We have a grand day for tomorrow it seems, Cinnamon Pass & over into Telluride, then maybe onto Silverton if we're going well... One of the notes on our map says for one descent, ''Make sure your brakes are good!!''
Meanwhile it's back to our Subway sandwiches & beer for dinner! Oh & I've just bought a little bottle of Jack Daniels to pop into the hip flasks for their christening!!
So we'll see what the day brings, the storms are supposed to dissipate tomorrow & we are to have more blue skies, excellent cos it's gonna be cold up at 12000ft!!
Have fun all...
So to a recap of today, three if us set off this morning around 9 ish, winding our way alongside the green hills to the south, everytime I thought we'd turn south & climb upto a high pass though, the trail turned back north, taking us into the San Isabel National Forest. This was a treasure trove of trails, winding their way through young pine forest into old silver birch woodland & finally up into high pasture land.
We dropped back down to the really wide valley & into La Veta, Westcliff & Cotopaxi for refuelling & coffee before heading up & over more of the upland trails, through some more forest & eventually into Salida where we decided to stay for the night.
Another day of great scenery, no technical riding really, but plenty of loose gravel & the odd little bit of soft sand to keep you on your toes.
As always we've seen plenty of wildlife, buzzards, kestrels, little prairie dogs dodging about everywhere, Bison, (although these were farmed ones), deer & Rocky Mountain Big Horned Sheep... I I thought these looked the same as the Corsican Mouflon...
So another day done, we lost Matt at Westcliff as his rear tyre needed replacing, he had to go to another state to get one apparently as there were none in his size here. He'll maybe rejoin us for tomorrow. We have a grand day for tomorrow it seems, Cinnamon Pass & over into Telluride, then maybe onto Silverton if we're going well... One of the notes on our map says for one descent, ''Make sure your brakes are good!!''
Meanwhile it's back to our Subway sandwiches & beer for dinner! Oh & I've just bought a little bottle of Jack Daniels to pop into the hip flasks for their christening!!
So we'll see what the day brings, the storms are supposed to dissipate tomorrow & we are to have more blue skies, excellent cos it's gonna be cold up at 12000ft!!
Have fun all...
