Most beautiful ride yet! Nothing beats Colorado mountains in the fall - turning leaves, crisp air, elk in the meadow... A lot of climbing today - 3250 feet in 44 miles - but the last 13 were basically all downhill. Stopped at a creek and saw brown trout feeding - unfortunately fly rods don't pack on the bike that well.
It's one of those days in Durango that makes you just want to move here - 70s, gorgeous, the Animus river cascading by, the mournful sound of the steam whistle on the Durango-Silverton railroad, the quaint downtown, (the Coldstone creamery, the Starbucks!)... Durango was established in 1880 (and the Durango Herald started publishing in 1881 - and still going!). It was named after Durango, Mexico by one of the railway executives (no real idea why, though apparently a positive thing). Mining was the lifeblood of the town until recently, when tourism has taken over as a key economic driver. The downtown still has several hotels that have been in operation since the late 1800s, the whole downtown is a historic district with a great period vibe (but now with vaping shops! and CBD! which the miners never had - they just got coal lung and drank moonshine with lead in it... quite similar to the risks today with vaping and supplements, actually...). Anyway - nice to have a partial day to recover a little, tomorrow also a relatively short day before the mac daddy day of the trip Friday...
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| Mesa Verde |
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| Beaver Lodge - for you urbanites that have never seen one you should get out more |
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| Bonus Game - find the elk! hint - it's in the damn center of the photo - I don't have a telephoto lens... |
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| Three mule deer grazing in the front yard of the hotel |
Nice pictures!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photos....I see you haven’t lost your touch all these years later!
ReplyDeleteHaving once lived in Colorado , there's nothing like the contrast between golden aspen and evergreens in the fall to rivet attention on the Rockies . Maybe that peak is yet to come ?
ReplyDeleteJFH