Day 11 - 236 Miles

Destination: Mesa Verde National Park, CO

I'm not sure who said it would be much warmer today, but I believed them.

I perused Lin's Rock Shop before we left town. An overwhelming array of rocks, fossils, geodes, minerals, crystals, and native artistry. Not nearly as touristy as expected.

I should have realized by now that if I see snow, it means I'm dressed inappropriately. I left wearing shorts and a long sleeve shirt under my mesh jacket, mesh pants, and mesh gloves. I watched with frigid gloom as the temperature gauge crept down below 55 degrees. We mercifully stopped at a grocery store in Naturita. I put on a light weight layer of rain gear thinking that would be good. The snow covered La Sal mountains were soon in the distance behind us.

We passed into Colorado as the rains loomed in the distance in front of us. Our destination was Telluride, a ski town for a lunch stop. We eventually ran into a light rain, and everyone else stopped to don warmer/rain gear.

Lunch was a welcome warm retreat at the Brown Dog Cafe. I wanted anything served hot. Several cups of hot tea and a hot meatball sub hit the spot. I managed to put on every layer of rain/warmer wear I brought with me. Everyone else had left to get fuel. I was several minutes behind, and the weather looked bad.

Those picturesque snow covered mountains that formed the backdrop to Telluride were actually our route out of town. This last leg was less than 100 miles straight up the mountain through Coal Bank Pass. The rest of the group left, hoping to avoid the rain, as I pulled up to the pump.

I fueled up and headed to Cortez on Scenic Byway 145 along the Delores River. Low lying clouds were ahead and I thought: 'how cool to be driving into the fog'. Cool wasn't exactly the word. Snow flurries filled the fog I drove into. The snow flakes stuck to my face shield.

As I continued to climb and I noticed my GPS had four dashes in the altitude reading. I was past 10,000 feet. Soon the freezing rain turned into pea sized hail by the time I got to Rico. What a summer vacation! I crossed into Montezuma County and noticed the outside air temperature gauge had warmed up to a toasty 42 degrees.

I caught up to the rest of the group in Cortez before we turned off to head to Mesa Verde park. It was a spectacular ascent up the mesas. The Farview Lodge lives up to it's name. The Lodge is on top of a mesa with a 360 degree view all around.

I'm cold and tired. Not many pictures today: