It was a cold night at 10,800feet (see my lambswool) so we were glad we had gotten a cheap motel room. Packed our bikes up, an easy job as we had hardly unpacked, and headed to ‘Cookies with Altitude’ in town for a breakfast wrap and a green smoothie.
Maybe I should have brought lamby in….
After warming up nicely in their little cafe, we headed down between the mountains along 91. It was a beautiful white winter wonderland setting most of the valley down; (we also startled a fox in the snow by the road)then it gradually dispersed to gravel/rock and more trees. Along the 70 towards Denver was scenic but a busy highway with trucks, so we decided to pull into Georgetown which looked quaint. Georgetown’s claim to fame was the Bighorn sheep, so we took a mountain pass up as far as it would go to look for them, and take in the sights. It was very pretty, a valley with a meadow and streams everywhere in the valley; stopped often to ‘wow’ at the scenery.No sheep unfortunately, but moose! After watching him graze in a small pond awhile, realised there was another one on the shrubs almost hidden from view.
Eventually we had to carry on, to do as much of the famous Mt Evans mountain summit road as we could. It’s claim to fame is the highest road in North America. We climbed the switchbacks again to more and more impressive views, to the road which closed at Echo Lake. Lunch stop here at the lodge, where we chatted to some very friendly locals, and enjoyed some simple food as the restaurant officially opened tomorrow. Our table view was of the lake, snow drifts and… Hummingbirds!? Yep. They were already out for the season, who knew they come this far up into the cold mountains. After lunch we went for a walk to the lake, then took photos of the energetic little birds perched on top of tiny pine trees.
On to Boulder, we took the Squaw Pass down to 70, abit of a detour but worth it. After a short drive on 70, we drove (119) Canyon Rd towards Boulder. Lots of curves, not much elevation gain this time, really, really nice bike riding in the sun.
After we hit Nederlands, Boulder Canyon Rd into Boulder which was super busy with young people (we later realised it was Graduation for the University), and traffic! Up a hill out of town to Tim and Anne’s house (people I met when I was guiding in NZ), where we are fortunate enough to stay for a few days!
We enjoyed a very chill remainder of the afternoon on their deck overlooking the Colorado Plains, having a catch up chat with really nice people, Rosé and good food. So relaxing, and a big bed to sleep in out of the cold!
–Zoe
Thanks for the post and the nice photos Zoë, hope You’re all well with all these cold nights and the bike riding in between.
Thanks for your call jongen, it was good to hear your voice after …. too long. Hope the problems with the bikes are under control by now. Still a long way for your machines to carry you and your packs.
Tell yourselves every day you’re living a trip and a lifestyle very few people will ever experience, enjoy it and be happy for it.
Baci on Wednesday
So happy I could hear your voice again after so long T-boy.
Waiting patiently to see you in another 8 months time ‘if all goes well’
Enjoy the nice sceneries of nature and animals, the nice part of the living
beings on this planet.
Take care both of you !
x Mum