Day 55: Johnson Village to Fairplay

June 22, 2010

I got away from the motel at 9:45. Today should be a short easy day. Right next to the motel I crossed the Arkansas river for the last time.

Arkansas river at Johnson Village, 8000 feet elevation. In the upper right is 14,269-foot Mt. Antero.

Then US 285 starts to climb, going northeast.

Looking back when leaving Johnson Village on US 285.

A few hundred feet above the river I turned into a BLM overlook/recreation area that has a great view to the west, across the Arkansas river valley to the Sawatch range. The scale of things can be deceptive. A sign explains that the Sawatch range is the highest segment of the Rocky mountains, with 15 peaks over 14,000 feet elevation. Six of those peaks are visible here. The valley is about 8000 feet elevation.

Southern Sawatch range and the town of Johnson Village. The peak on the left is 14,197 foot Mt. Princeton. The peak on the right is 14,196 foot Mt. Yale.

Northern Sawatch range and the town of Buena Vista. The peak on the left is 14,420 foot Mt. Harvard.

I was impressed with the quality of the interpretive signs at the roadside overlooks in Colorado. Here's an example.

Interpretive sign about the Arkansas river.

Getting up to Trout Creek pass is easy. Gentle grade, 1500 foot climb. Traffic was heavy until a little after the pass, where most of the traffic turns east on US 24 to Colorado Springs.

This summit separates the Arkansas river watershed and the South Platte watershed.

There isn't much of a descent from Trout Creek pass to the South Platte valley. I'm now in a very high valley called South Park. The term "park" was commonly used in the 19th century to describe a high valley surrounded by mountains. There are several similar "parks" in Colorado.

US 550 continues north, gradual uphill, upstream in South Park. There are no towns and no stores on today's route.

Fairplay (population 610, elevation 9900 ft.) seemed like a decent place to stay. It's at the northernmost and highest elevation portion of South Park. An RV park had unappealing tent camping. I ended up getting a room at the historic Hand hotel. $69 for a rustic room with buffet breakfast. The Hand hotel was built in 1931 but the interior decoration is now mostly Victorian. It has 11 guest rooms, each with a unique theme.

My room in the Hand hotel. Small and rustic. No TV, no A/C.

View from the back deck of the Hand hotel. In the foreground is a small reservoir on the Middle Fork South Platte river.

I enjoyed walking around downtown Fairplay. The main street was lucky to be bypassed by highway 9. So the old buildings survive in a tranquil setting.

South Park City is a historical theme park in Fairplay.

South Park Community Presbyterian church.

I'm noticing the coolness of the high elevation. Today's high was only 80F despite near constant sunshine. Starting at 9900 feet elevation, tomorrow I only have to climb 1600 feet to Hoosier pass.

Distance: 41.5 mi. (66.4 km)

Climbing: 2900 ft. (879 m)

Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 2,553 miles (4,109 km)

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