[slide width=”400″ height=”300″]

We made an early departure from Rico this morning, despite the chilly temperatures (in the high 30’s) and our cozy room at the Rico Inn. We didn’t realize it would be quite this cold, but, at an elevation of about 8800 ft., I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised.

We warmed up soon enough, as we started our climb to Lizard Head pass, despite it’s elevation being 10,222 ft., the climb itself was not too bad. We do feel the thin air a bit, but not too badly. We made it to the top by mid-morning, and split a sandwhich in celebration. Then began the long descent.

I have to say, the 12 miles of descent was almost as hard as the climb! We zoomed passed Telluride and coasted into Placerville, which was intended to be our mid-point and lunch stop on the way to Ridgeway. After a quick lunch, we continued to Ridgeway and plowed though our second climb of the day, the Dallas Divide pass. When we got to Ridgeway, it wasn’t even 2:30pm yet, and we were feeling energetic, so we decided to press on another 27 miles (mostly downhill) and end the day in Montrose instead. Of course, we decided to have snack first…

The last 27 miles went by quickly. We were hindered a bit by a strong head wind generated by some thunderstorms that we could see bearing down on us in the distance, but, we managed to skirt the storms and stay dry. As we pulled into Montrose (pop. 12,344) we were amazed to enter the largest city we’ve been near in awhile (Ridgeway had the first actual traffic light that I had seen in at least a week.) complete with strip malls full of Target’s and Dairy Queen’s and Applebee’s. I was a bit overwhelmed. We managed to safely find our campsite, and, with another 89 miles under our belts, we head for Gunnison in the morning.

– Sarah

Here’s a little video clip of our descent down Lizard Head Pass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlmDo-LGozc