So the other day I decide I’m sick of hanging around Bibleburg and need a road trip. I’ve been wanting to scope out a route for a lightly loaded, weeklong bicycle tour of some Central Colorado hot springs, so off I went — on four wheels, not two — to examine conditions on the ground, as it were. Call it a recon mission. I don’t like surprises as much as I once did.
The first leg, down Highway 115 to Dakota Hot Springs, is dicey in spots but not terribly so, and only 40 miles, which would make for a nice shakedown cruise. The second leg, 67 miles from Highway 50 to Salida, is something else altogether — practically no shoulder and lots of heavy truck/commercial rafting traffic from Texas Creek to just outside of Salida.
There was a “Share the Road” sign just past Cotopaxi, but that’s not much of a shield for a knight-errant battling diesel-powered dragons. One fuck-up in the wrong spot — by you or somebody else — and under the wheels or into the guardrail you go.
In Salida I calmed my jangled nerves at Amícas with a Ute Trail Pale Ale and a Pan E Salsiccia. Amícas used to be a Il Vicino back in the day, and the menu, beer list and ambiance remain pretty much the same — good food and beer at reasonable prices. Plus they support cycling.
Then it was back on the road to inspect the third leg, 41 miles to Orient Land Trust and Valley View Hot Springs. It’s another short route, but not without its difficulties — day three starts with the gradual seven-mile ascent of Poncha Pass, which tops out at just over 9,000 feet, and ends with another gentle seven-mile climb, on a gravel road, to OLT.
This is where I spent Wednesday night, camping at Valley View and watching the Perseid meteor shower, a light show dampened somewhat by high clouds and a gentle rain. Thirty bucks gets you something like 36 hours of soaking in your choice of eight pools plus a night’s lodging on the ground, in your tent. Pricier options include a bunkhouse, cabins and the Sunset House, a motel-type deal.
I hadn’t been to Valley View since the early Eighties, when I had a girlfriend of sorts living in Crestone. The place has more amenities now than it did then, but it still caters to pretty much the same crowd — aging hippies, artists of dubious repute and other weirdos, with more hair, piercings and tattoos per square inch than the average pirate ship. A pleasant bunch, and a lovely setting.
I got a late start the next morning after a long soak in the main pond and a shorter one in the top pond and hit the road for the fourth leg, to Alamosa, 59 miles south. Highway 17 is a 65-mph road with skinny shoulders, but it’s straight as an arrow — you can see company coming a long way off.
Joyful Journey, another hot springs, sat roadside just 10 miles from Valley View, but I gave it a miss and pressed on to Assahola, which is what we called Alamosa when I went to school there in the early Seventies. Time has not improved the place, and I had a truly wretched meal at El Charro, which used to be a solid family eatery. The No. 2 combo plate made a Swanson Mexican Style Fiesta look like dinner at The Shed.
And here is where my proposed route went slightly askew. I had been thinking of a fifth leg that followed Highway 160 northeast to just short of the La Veta Pass summit, then bent north along Pass Creek Road, a winding, 13-mile dirt-and-gravel chute that drops you onto asphalt near Highway 69, just north of Gardner.
Highway 160 is great for cycling, with nice, wide shoulders and a gentle climb up the southwest side of La Veta Pass. And Gardner would make a nice stop for the day at 62.5 miles, if there were someplace to stay, which there isn’t. Continuing on to Westcliffe would make for a 100-mile day in the saddle with a whole lot of climbing — and there ain’t much in the way of amenities between Alamosa and Westcliffe, barring pit stops in Fort Garland and Gardner.
So, yeah, hm, I dunno. Skip Pass Creek and do a 72-mile paved leg to Walsenburg, another town that time has forgotten, and either pick up Highway 69 there or take the I-25 shoulder north? Clip 25 miles off day five by spending the night of day four in Fort Garland instead of Assahola? Blow off the southerly route entirely — some of the best roads and safest cycling of the whole proposed trip — in favor of a northeasterly return trip from Valley View via Highway 285, Johnson Village and Highway 24?
Decisions, decisions. Meanwhile, I better ride the damn’ bike. The original trip adds up to 410 miles — slightly less if I head home via Hardscrabble Cañon instead of Texas Creek/Highway 50. Yikes.
Mad Blog Media 
if you make it to the burg try corinnes or the huerfano cafe for pretty good mexican food. not much for motels but a couple are clean. good idea on passing on pass creek it is pretty rugged these days not much maintenance. sounds like a fun trip a lot of my old stomping grounds from high school 68-72. remember puking at a basket ball game in salida when the air got short and the booze wore off.
Ah, yes, good old valley View Hot Springs. Was camped up there with a friend and our kids (four kids ages 3-7) the day that Jerry Garcia died. Word spread around the place like wildfire.
Hey, John … I miss Tess’ Dairy Drive Inn. I first ate there in 1971, and figured it would be around forever. Nope. It’s been gone a few years now. I’ll give your recommendations a test-drive next time I’m down that way.
Incidentally, I drove Pass Creek and it was in surprisingly good condition — I’ve seen it when it looked like the Army had been using it for target practice. But I’d a damn’ sight rather ride up it than down it, with panniers on, anyway.
MD, I didn’t know you were an ol’ hippie. I’ll bet that Garcia news was transmitted via “smoke” signal. Ho ho ho.
freakin a jack flash probably kansas roadside weed
Was born just too late to miss the heart of the hippie era, but I married an old hippie. And you know what Deadheads say when the dope runs out?? “This music sucks.”