Utah & Colorado MTB Trip
Day 5 Telluride Colorado to Last Dollar Pass

Our guides load the support vehicles.

We returned our van to the rental agency the previous night. Javi rented a car for his tour of Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon. We piled our luggage into Javi's rental car and rode our bikes across Moab to Western Spirit.

At Western Spirit our guides Steve Fenn and Suzanne greeted us with coffee, fruit and pastry. Steve had guided trips for Western Spirit for five years. Suzanne came down from Boulder, Colorado to guide her first Western Spirit trip. We met our traveling companions, Rich, a physical therapist from Minnesota, Mike and Rachel, chemical engineers from Reading, England.

Our guides issued camping equipment and waterproof bags. We re-packed all our clothes and camping gear into the "dry bags" except for rain gear, and other items we might need during the day. Steve Fenn and Suzanne strapped the dry bags to a huge rack on top of a Chevy Suburban. The Suburban was our support vehicle for the week. We said good-bye to Javi and boarded a large van for the three-hour drive to Telluride, Colorado. On the way, we saw nice views of the LaSal Mountains and the Paradox Valley.

We arrived in Telluride and unloaded our bikes. The van returned to Moab.

Our first priority upon arrival in Telluride was to find "real" (6% alcohol) beer. In Utah, 6% beer is only available at Utah State Liquor Stores. Utah has some bizarre liquor laws. For example, you can't sit in a restaurant dining room and order a beer and nothing else. If you try to order just a beer, your waiter or waitress will serve a small basket of bread along with your 3.2% beer to satisfy the legal requirement that beer be served as part of a meal. Colorado supermarkets carry 3.2% beer while package stores carry 6% beer. After completing our "packy" run, we loaded our beer in the Suburban.

We set off for Last Dollar Pass. Suzanne rode with us while Steve Fenn drove the Suburban. One guide always rode with us while the other guide followed in the Suburban. The Suburban usually followed just out of sight of the group. We rode out along a bike path paralleling the main road into town. We turned off onto a paved road and started climbing. We stopped for lunch at the near the Telluride airport. This stop had a nice view of Telluride and the surrounding mountains. Telluride at 8,000 feet sits in a valley surrounded by 14,000-foot mountains on three sides. While waiting for Steve in the Suburban, Suzanne pointed out nearby peaks. Steve Fenn and Suzanne laid out a nice lunch consisting of sandwiches a salad and chocolate for dessert.

After lunch, our guides discussed what to expect during the trip. This included safety and practical matters such as showers and toilet arrangements. During this talk the personalities of our guides became apparent. Steve Fenn is very experienced guide and a very serious guy. Suzanne is quite a comedian. It turned out to be a good combination. Steve kept us out of trouble, while Suzanne kept us entertained. We turned onto a dirt road and continued our climb. We passed several ranches. We stopped for a half an hour to wait out a short thunderstorm.

The view from Last Dollar Pass.

The grade got steeper as we entered the final series of switchbacks. My legs felt dead from the previous day's climb up Shafer Trail. We encountered a large heard of sheep on either side of the trail. Suzanne explained how a Peruvian shepherd lives in the mountains all summer and tends the sheep for a local ranch. We met the Peruvian shepherd at the top of Last Dollar Pass (10,400 feet). He did not speak English. Steve Blum, Ricardo and Lorraine talked to him in Spanish.

We descended about a mile from the top of the pass to our first campsite. We set up our tents and changed into warm clothes. The temperature dropped very quickly once the sun went down behind the trees.

Wild fires burned out of control all over the West in the Summer of 1996 due to dry conditions. The smoke from these fires caused the haze you see in many of my pictures. As a result the US Forest Service imposed severe restrictions on campfires. We could not have fires at this site or most of our other campsites. We enjoyed a delicious supper of grilled salmon. Desert was fruit with chocolate fondue. Yum! I was totally blown away by the quantity and quality of the food on this trip. After dinner the Peruvian shepherd came by our camp to talk some more with Steve Blum, Ricardo and Lorraine.

After dinner, we sat back in our camp chairs stuffed and contented. We gazed up at the stars. At 10,000 feet and hundreds of miles from any major city, the night sky was crystal clear. The Milky Way was and vibrant. Each star seemed to pop out of the night sky. We could even see satellites passing overhead. We crawled into our tents for the night.

Continue to Day 6

Introduction
Day 1 Porcupine Rim
Day 2 Slick Rock Trail, Gemini Bridges and Dead Horse Point S.P.
Day 3 Colorado National Monument
Day 4 Jughandle Loop
Day 5 Telluride Colorado to Last Dollar Pass
Day 6 Uncompaghre Plateau
Day 7 Uncompaghre Plateau
Day 8 Uncompaghre Plateau
Day 9 Gateway Colorado and John Brown Canyon
Day 10 Sand Flats Road to Moab
Day 11 Arches National Park