Day 3:
This was an epic 400 mile ride from Colorado Springs, CO to Mesa Verde National Park, CO. This was the day of days. My favorite ride of the trip. This involved Pikes Peak, US Highway 50, US Highway 550 (Million Dollar Highway), and Mesa Verde National Park. It was simply AMAZING!!!
Me and Trace left out of Colorado Springs pretty early and went to Pikes Peak. We saw a little bit of Garden with the Gods from a distance, but did not go in. We intended to go in, but after looking at the weather for the million dollar highway I decided to speed up the timetable so I could do it that day instead of staying in Ouray, CO and doing it the next day as planned. It was forecasted for 70 degrees and sunny that day and high 30s with snow the next. The choice was easy. This speeding up the timetable would become a reoccurring theme throughout most of the trip unfortunately.
So we made to Pikes Peak and as we found out from the net, only the first 13 miles of the summit were open (to the top of the treeline.) Above 13 was above the treeline and the winds were really bad. They said all 19 would be open after lunch, but as stated before, time was not my friend. So we paid for our summit ticket and did the 13 miles up the mountain. It was rather enjoyable, but I wish we could of did the whole thing. It was a spectacular road and I left with wanting more.
So after I left Pikes Peak and Trace, I headed towards what I thought would be a stay in Durango or Cortez for the night. I did not realize Mesa Verde would be on the way. I saw some interesting sites. 50 was pretty amazing from about Maysville to Sapinero. This included Monarch Pass and Blue Mesa Reservoir.
I finally ended up in Montrose, CO (which was pretty flat and nothing grand) and made the left turn onto 550. As I worked my way into Ouray, snow topped mountains started appearing on both sides of me. It was pretty spectacular to be in this little valley with giants on both sides. Then I got into Ouray which seemed to end the valley straight into the mountain. Ouray was an amazing little town, wish I could of stayed the night. I will be back there for a night or more in the future.
At the end of Ouray, the road just went up and into the mountains. The million dollar highway was a spectacular ride. It lived up to it's name. Silverton was another little town on this road, right in the middle of the highway. It was a neat little mining town I wish I could of spent more time in as well. The road regrettably ends in Durango, I didn't really have as much interest in staying here, so I continued my travels for the day toward Cortez, CO.
On the way to Cortez, I saw signs for Mesa Verde and decided to check it out. I didn't really know much about this park, but it would be an additional stamp for my park passport. I presented my annual park pass to the gate ranger and he advised me I should stay at the lodge in the park because it was a 15 mile drive to the visitor center (it was about 5pm at this point) and check out the cliff dwellings in the morning. He called up and made sure I had a room waiting for me when I got there and I decided to stay there for the night.
I ended up eating at the fancy restaurant instead of the bar at the lodge and had a great meal of beef medallions with potatoes. It was pricey, but I was on vacation and the food was good. I was sat next to the window and got to watch the wild horses of the park wander around right outside the lodge. It was a good end to an awesome day of riding.
Colorado is fantastic, must go back.
Heading towards Pikes Peak:
Base of Pikes Peak:
Pikes Peak:
Towards Poncha Springs:
Highway 50:
Heading into Ouray, CO:
Ouray:
Million Dollar Highway:
