Bicycling Montana, Wyoming,
Colorado and New Mexico - 2006

Cortez to Gunnison, CO

July 2, 2006

We left Cortez this morning after a very light breakfast and headed north toward Montrose, CO. We started in sunshine but as we climbed into the mountains, the sun disappeared and the temperature dropped. By the time we reached Lizard Head Pass at 10,222 feet in elevation, it was very cold. On the way we saw a lot of red cliffs. We headed downhill from the pass and passed Telluride. The scenery was great.

We continued on and went through the town of Placerville, CO and then climbed to the top of the Dallas Divide. There the scenery was great but totally different than anything we had seen so far today.

We traveled onto Montrose, CO where we ate lunch in a Mexican restaurant after which we traveled down Highway 50 until we reached the road leading to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We traveled into the park and spent more than an hour stopping at various places along the south rim of the canyon. This is a very narrow and very deep canyon being 1,800 feet deep in places.

After leaving the National Park, we drove to Gunnison where we saw a museum. We were going to visit the museum but it was going to close in less than an hour so we decided to visit the museum tomorrow. We stopped at a grocery store and picked up food to cook and eat in our room, as we watched the Tour de France. Our motel is only one month old and has a feature we have never seen before. The pillowcases are marked firm and soft, allowing you to quickly pick your favorite pillow from the 8 bed pillows in a room with 2 beds.