Day 4 - Westcliffe to Lake City, CO

We left Westcliffe at 8:00 with clear skies and warm temperatures. Forecast suggested rain at midday and late in the day in Lake City.

Westcliffe is a nice little town in a large lush valley. This appears to be a ranching community with large ranches spread throughout the valley. One thing that stuck us was the number of homes for sale. We could not drive down a road without seeing one or several homes for sale. Not sure why?

Leaving town we saw a heard of Buffalo. See pics.

The Hayden Pass fire has been burning for about a month in the area and we were unable to take a planned route to Cotopaxi, CO. We detoured this ~20 mile section of trail by taking Highway 50 to Cotopaxi and re-joining the Trans America Trail. 

From Cotopaxi the trail was mostly graded dirt and gravel road to Salida. In Salida we spotted another group of three riders doing the Trans America Trail. We would see and speak with them two more times before the day had ended.

Shortly after Salida, we took the hard split to the Agate Creek Trail. This 8 mile trail was one of the longest hard single track trails we have done, ever. The trail ranges from 12 to 24 inches in width and is strewn with rocks and roots and numerous creek crossings. This was a very fun trail, but tiring and very technical.

From Agate Creek we took highway 50 to Sargents, CO and had lunch and filled up with gasoline. From Sargents we had 90 miles to our destination in Lake City, CO via the traditional Trans America Trail. The 90 miles were fast gravel roads through picturesque green valleys and meadows with beautiful creeks and rivers.

We were rained on a couple times during the day, but never a hard rain. We saw lots of wildlife along the way including mice, gofer, chipmunk, fox, deer, and rabbit.

Lake City is a tourist town with a population of 8,400. The town is very busy now with campers and folks who want to explore the outdoors via hiking, biking, Jeeping and ATVs.

Our maximum elevation today was ~11,800 feet

The following are pictures and video from the day.

Day 3 - Trinidad to Westcliffe

We woke this morning at 6:00 after a night of much interrupted sleep. The night was hot and windy, then cool in the morning. The folks sleeping inside were woken regularly by the banging of the awning in the wind. The folks outside were woken by the wind as well as the cold that settled in the AM hours.

We rode 195 miles from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. We started in terrain typical of New Mexico (low scrub brush, sparse trees, and some cactus) and ended in terrain more typical of Colorado (pine trees).

The trails were mostly graded gravel road, with an occasional paved road and about 10 miles of hard single track. The single track was difficult and was at elevations ranging from 8,000 to 10,000 feet (tiring). Even though it was hard, the single track was the highlight of the day.

Lunch was at Corners Diner in La Veta, CO. We arrived La Veta sooner than expected, so had a late breakfast for lunch.

Tomorrow we ride to Lake City, CO. There is a fire burning along the way (Hayden Pass Fire) so we are not sure what we will be able to ride. We will stop at the local Ranger station in the AM to see what areas are open for off-road travel.

The following are pictures from the day as well as a video segment from Bill. 

Video compilation from Day 3

Day 2 - to Trinidad

Today was another travel day with the destination of Trinidad, CO (population 8,400). Lance and Paul started from Flagstaff, AZ, while Bill, Todd and Ed caught a ride to the Oakland airport from Ed's wife Juli.

We all met at Albuquerque International Airport at 11:00. From there we drove east to Santa Fe, NM and had lunch at Casa Chimayo. This restaurant and their Blue Corn Enchiladas was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Lunch was great!

From Santa Fe, it was only 4 hours to our destination. We arrived in Trinidad at 4 PM and made a quick stop at Walmart for supplies.

Our over night accommodations at Tower RV Park are pretty sketchy, but it is only one night, so we are toughing it out. Weather here is nice; warm but not too hot.

Paul made a nice dinner of broccoli, sausage and potatoes that was great. While Paul was cooking, we readied our bikes for the trip North tomorrow.

Tomorrow we head mostly North to La Veta, CO and then to our destination of Westcliffe, CO.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Day 1 - Martinez, CA to Flagstaff, AZ

This was a busy week of shopping, packing and getting the bikes ready for the journey. Last night (Thursday) we loaded all the bikes and gear into Bill's truck and trailer.

Lance and Paul left early this morning destined for Flagstaff AZ. Google indicated a mere 11 hours for the segment, but reality was more like 14 hours. Bill, Todd, and Ed will fly to Albuquerque Saturday morning and join the second stage of the journey to our trail head in Trinidad, CO. We start riding West from Trinidad on Sunday.

Paul and Lance had an uneventful drive, though long and tiring. The following are highlights of their drive:

• left mtz 459 am, stopped fuel every 300 miles
• stopped lunch at barstow -panda express. 
• arrived at wrong truck programmed gps address of route 66 rather than west route 66 took 15 mins to backtrack to woody mountain rv park ON route 66. 
• bear picture inside entry of rv park. 
• dinner was sandwiches in RV park deli brkfst shop
• made good time overall avg 70-74 miles per hour truck ran superb and pulls grades like a freight train!
• weather clear and hot with 20-30 mph winds across Desert floor of Mohave and near Az border
• Temp was 115 at Havasu City with temps across the desert averaging 111-115. Wow!
• Set up one bed and cot in the air conditioned trailer. Retired at 8:30ish