Part III of Part II: from Utah to Albuquerque

March 6, 2020

It’s a wet, grey day in Portland today. Perfect. It was making me uncomfortable seeing one beautiful sunny day after another. Not the Pacific Northwest I grew up with, and a bit scary. Much more of this, and soon everyone will want to live here. It’s getting too crowded as it is.

So, not a riding day. Perfect conditions to sit around inside and watch the drizzle outside; to pull the curtains and reveal the last part of our plan for this tour; to enjoy a cup of tea and read a good book.

It took us a lot of iterations before we settled on our route from Utah to Albuquerque. It’s quite different than the initial concept, which was to continue east from Moab to Grand Junction again (but perhaps by car this time), and then turn southeast toward Durango through Gateway, the Uncompaghre Gorge, Telluride, and over Lizard Head Pass. It looks like a terrific route, and one if we were more self sufficient and/or much younger. It’s hard though if you’re needing lodging every night rather than carrying a tent and sleeping bag. We found lodging on this route, but couldn’t quite stomach paying $440/night to stay at the luxury resort in Gateway.

Still, the one we’ve settled on looks like an awesome route too. With luck on the weather, we’ll even make it up to the summit of Lizard Head Pass, on a day ride from Rico.

And, as promised, we’ll fit inside of our mythical bread box:

Length: 1025 miles, from San Antonio to Saint George;
Width: 200 miles, barely (whew!);

Depth: 1.82 miles (the difference in elevation between San Antonio (650’) and the summit of Lizard Head Pass (10,246’)).

Utah to Albuquerque: 22 days, 700 miles, 42,000’.

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