It was rather cool when I got up this morning, so I wore my layer and put my rain liner into my jacket – plus I put on my all-weather gloves. I didn’t struggle with the cold on the bike, but I did need the protection.
Not far out, I went the opposite direction through the Capitol Reef park that I had passed through on the way to Vegas. It was nice to see the views from the other direction. I stopped to look at the petroglyphs there.
The carvings are around 1,000 to 1,300 years old. The oneds that look like aliens are very interesting, and the bighorn sheep are instantly recognisable.
Breakfast was in Hanksville (nice burrito, poor coffee). After breakfast, I reoved the rain-lining from my jacket and then rode southeast along UT95, and saw hardly another soul. More wonderful desertscapes, canyons and interesting rock formations. It was really liberating to have the road to myself for the best part of 120 miles, and I loved the session.
I finished my lonesome trail, and joined a slightly more populous road south to Bluff, which I visit a few years ago with my parents. from here I too a new road (161) east, looking forward to what I hoped would be more isolation. Unfortunately, there were a number of stretches of roadwork, where the tarred road had been fully removed, and i had to ride on gravel, which is no fun on a heavy bike like mine. One stretch lasted a good few miles in the beating sun, and though I survived intact (as did the bike), I did not enjoy that part of the trip.
After some more long and lonely rides, I joined the 160 at Cortez, and followed the road for about an hour, until I got to Durango. The day had heated up significantly, and I was down to my usual hot summer wear.
Durango is where the US 550 start – one of my favourite roads ever. I took a north bearing onto the 550, passed through Durango,and started the long climb up Coal Bank pass. It got really cool – the pass is over 10,000 feet in elevation, but i enjoyed the lower temps after having sufficiently boiled myself later in the morning. Over the top and starting down the other side, there were a few bits of roadwork – fortunately no gravel, but some lane closures where we had to wait for a traffic light system to let opposing streams of traffic through. Nothing terrible, and I enjoyed the descent, passing through some lovely hairpins and wonderful views.
I arrived at my hotel in Silverton around 4:40 this afternoon, unpacked and showered, had a stroll and then went to my favourite Silverton pub – the Handlebar – for dinner.
I am back now from overeating, finishing off this blog post and trying to stay awake so I can speak to Lena before I crash.
Tomorrow is my last day of this trip. I am starting it with a favourite ride – over the million dollar highway to Ouray, where I aim to stop for breakfast. I will see you there.