Day 3-A Day on the ATV
Tuesday morning we loaded the ATV onto the cheap little trailer and headed out for an adventure. We started at the ghost-town of St. Elmo where we unloaded our trailer. Our map only covered San Isabel National Forest, so when we crossed over into the Gunnison National Forest, we were shooting from the hip. Beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe the scenery. Tin Cup Pass is over 12,000 feet in elevation. As we started down the other side of the pass, some old dude said, “You’re about to hit the really fun part.” I was hoping by “really fun” he didn’t mean the kind of fun we had two years ago when we had our unfortunate crash where John broke his arm. As it turned out, it wasn’t bad at all. As a matter of fact, I didn’t get off the 4-wheeler for safety reasons even one time. At Mirror Lake, we turned off on an ATV trail, which is not wide enough for the jeeps we’d seen on the previous trail. We saw a forest employee who had trained his 18-week-old black Labrador Retriever to ride on the seat behind him. I wish I would have taken a picture! After passing some old mining cabins, we drove through the ghost-town of Tin Cup. There are actually people that live there—probably hermits. This led us back to Mirror Lake where we retraced our path back to St. Elmo.
For dinner we decided to try the Salida Café, which is located next door to Absolute Bikes. It was pricey, and they charged for refills on tea. The patio atmosphere was nice, but the food was just ok. Which brings me to a question: When you go to an eating establishment where you have to go to the counter to order and pay for your food, do you leave a tip? Do you tip on the service you hope to receive? I always think the tip should reflect the service you’ve already received. Just wondering.
We saw this cool dog in the Salida Wal-Mart parking lot. He loves to ride the motorcycle with his mom and doesn't even mind wearing the goggles.
Day 4-Salida Off-Road Trails on “S” Mountain
Wednesday began with breakfast at the Patio Pancake Place. You just can’t beat the price, the food is pretty good (not the scrambled eggs, however), and the staff is friendly and attentive. John spent the next few hours changing the oil in the ATV while I used my neti-pot and took a nap to ward off impending allergies. While John was outside working on the ATV, he chatted with Jim, a fellow Texan who had been in Salida about two weeks already. He gave John some tips on places to go to eat. There is a hamburger place in Poncha Springs that is run by two Thai ladies. He says they make the best hamburger, but also sell a healthy pad thai as well.
Around 3:30 we headed out to ride the town trails on “S” mountain in Salida. The trailhead is located just across the F Street bridge. We made the mistake of asking a guy where the Front Side trail was, and he sent us to the Burn Pile trail (a.k.a. Burning Arrow). This was not the easiest climb, but we made it to Front Side. From there we took Little Rattler for a bit until we decided to split up. I rode Backbone and John rode Sand Dunes. Backbone is awesome! It was like riding a roller coaster. There was a little bit of exposure, but nothing that made me get off and walk. When I reached the intersection of Backbone and Sand Dunes, I took a few pictures while waiting for John. When John arrived, we rode the remainder of the way down the mountain via Sand Dunes. Up to this point, there was a good bit of cloud cover, so I was still feeling pretty good. John asked if I wanted to ride some more, so I said, “Sure! Why not?” About the time we began climbing up Front Side, out comes the sun. It was probably about 90°, and my internal thermostat doesn’t work as well as I would like. As we climbed, we passed Duke’s grave. Duke was a dog in the late 1800’s who was owned by the owner of the hotel. Duke would greet the passengers as they got off the train, and everyone loved him. When Duke died in 1902, his owner buried him just down and to the right of the big “S” on the mountain. There is a local ale here named after him. After paying our respects to Duke, we ride Little Rattler, Backbone, then Tenderfoot. At this point, I was bonked! We descended Front Side and finished around 6:30. These trails remind me of the Telegraph trail system in Durango. If I ride them again, I’ll go early in the morning so I don’t have to deal with the heat so much. I know, I’m a wimp.
Dinner that evening on the patio of the Twisted Cork was fabulous. The patio backed up to the tree-shaded river; it was very peaceful. I had a Cosmo and a Mediterranean salad with grilled
Tuesday morning we loaded the ATV onto the cheap little trailer and headed out for an adventure. We started at the ghost-town of St. Elmo where we unloaded our trailer. Our map only covered San Isabel National Forest, so when we crossed over into the Gunnison National Forest, we were shooting from the hip. Beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe the scenery. Tin Cup Pass is over 12,000 feet in elevation. As we started down the other side of the pass, some old dude said, “You’re about to hit the really fun part.” I was hoping by “really fun” he didn’t mean the kind of fun we had two years ago when we had our unfortunate crash where John broke his arm. As it turned out, it wasn’t bad at all. As a matter of fact, I didn’t get off the 4-wheeler for safety reasons even one time. At Mirror Lake, we turned off on an ATV trail, which is not wide enough for the jeeps we’d seen on the previous trail. We saw a forest employee who had trained his 18-week-old black Labrador Retriever to ride on the seat behind him. I wish I would have taken a picture! After passing some old mining cabins, we drove through the ghost-town of Tin Cup. There are actually people that live there—probably hermits. This led us back to Mirror Lake where we retraced our path back to St. Elmo.
For dinner we decided to try the Salida Café, which is located next door to Absolute Bikes. It was pricey, and they charged for refills on tea. The patio atmosphere was nice, but the food was just ok. Which brings me to a question: When you go to an eating establishment where you have to go to the counter to order and pay for your food, do you leave a tip? Do you tip on the service you hope to receive? I always think the tip should reflect the service you’ve already received. Just wondering.
We saw this cool dog in the Salida Wal-Mart parking lot. He loves to ride the motorcycle with his mom and doesn't even mind wearing the goggles.
Day 4-Salida Off-Road Trails on “S” Mountain
Wednesday began with breakfast at the Patio Pancake Place. You just can’t beat the price, the food is pretty good (not the scrambled eggs, however), and the staff is friendly and attentive. John spent the next few hours changing the oil in the ATV while I used my neti-pot and took a nap to ward off impending allergies. While John was outside working on the ATV, he chatted with Jim, a fellow Texan who had been in Salida about two weeks already. He gave John some tips on places to go to eat. There is a hamburger place in Poncha Springs that is run by two Thai ladies. He says they make the best hamburger, but also sell a healthy pad thai as well.
Around 3:30 we headed out to ride the town trails on “S” mountain in Salida. The trailhead is located just across the F Street bridge. We made the mistake of asking a guy where the Front Side trail was, and he sent us to the Burn Pile trail (a.k.a. Burning Arrow). This was not the easiest climb, but we made it to Front Side. From there we took Little Rattler for a bit until we decided to split up. I rode Backbone and John rode Sand Dunes. Backbone is awesome! It was like riding a roller coaster. There was a little bit of exposure, but nothing that made me get off and walk. When I reached the intersection of Backbone and Sand Dunes, I took a few pictures while waiting for John. When John arrived, we rode the remainder of the way down the mountain via Sand Dunes. Up to this point, there was a good bit of cloud cover, so I was still feeling pretty good. John asked if I wanted to ride some more, so I said, “Sure! Why not?” About the time we began climbing up Front Side, out comes the sun. It was probably about 90°, and my internal thermostat doesn’t work as well as I would like. As we climbed, we passed Duke’s grave. Duke was a dog in the late 1800’s who was owned by the owner of the hotel. Duke would greet the passengers as they got off the train, and everyone loved him. When Duke died in 1902, his owner buried him just down and to the right of the big “S” on the mountain. There is a local ale here named after him. After paying our respects to Duke, we ride Little Rattler, Backbone, then Tenderfoot. At this point, I was bonked! We descended Front Side and finished around 6:30. These trails remind me of the Telegraph trail system in Durango. If I ride them again, I’ll go early in the morning so I don’t have to deal with the heat so much. I know, I’m a wimp.
Dinner that evening on the patio of the Twisted Cork was fabulous. The patio backed up to the tree-shaded river; it was very peaceful. I had a Cosmo and a Mediterranean salad with grilled
chicken; John had the Chicken Parmesan. It was delish!
I like telegraph hill. Wish we had time to try out the "s" trail
ReplyDeleteBackbone sounds awesome!
ReplyDelete