For our fall break we started in Walsenburg and rode three days up to Cuchara Pass and another day back down. Besides testing our gear, there were three things we wanted to go up against for practice: a strong headwind, a mountain pass, and gravel roads. All three of these will meet us in Tierra del Fuego. Luckily for us we got to try all three – at once! After the first day we weren’t sure we could do it, but by the end of the third day we were much more confident.
Day 1, Lathrop State Park to La Veta (15 miles, 900′ climbing, dirt): We camped overnight at Lathrop State Park and left our car there at the visitor’s center. We got on the bikes and headed out after a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes. The first day’s ride took us across gravel roads to La Veta. We enjoyed the low-traffic road as it wound past deer, prairie dogs, pronghorn, cattle, and even a herd of horses that galloped across the road in front of us.
However, we had to work hard the whole time to fight the headwind. It was 20-30 mph! Tierra del Fuego is also known for very strong headwinds. How fitting!
As we came into town we checked the weather. The overnight forecast was 30-40 mph winds with 75(+) mph gusts. We abandoned our plans to camp (at the for sale Sammie’s Campground) and got a room in the La Veta Inn instead.
Day 2, La Veta to Cuchara (12 miles, 1400′ climbing, pavement): Whoa was it windy! We waited until after 10 AM to get on the road so the winds would die down. Today we travelled on pavement, but the headwinds continued. It was up, up, up the whole way. We passed several different rock formations. There are hundreds of rock walls that radiate away from the Spanish Peaks. The yellow aspens added some unexpected color to our late October ride.
Cuchara is a cute “town” that is simply a block-long collection of stores for tourists. We stayed in a B&B and the kids had a blast playing in the attic-like second bedroom. There was a playground in town, but very few kids.
Day 3, Chuchara to the pass and back to La Veta (6 miles and 1500′ up, 18 miles back down): The B&B’s breakfast was great – we all ate a lot. I (Jason) had an extra (third) muffin on the way out the door and that really powered me up the pass. It was 6 more miles to the top of the paved road. The headwind was not so strong, and the road got steeper. At the top we took our obligatory photo with the pass sign, then continued up a little further (above 10,000′!) on a dirt road to a wildflower overlook.
We decided to head back down to prepare our lunch in the park in Cuchara while A and H played on the playground. Needless to say, it was a lot faster to go down than up! After a family conference we decided to go back to the La Veta Inn to spend the night in our “favorite room.” We realized that we were carrying our full set of gear on the bikes – including tent and pads and bags – but didn’t camp at all.
Day 4, La Veta to Lathrop State Park (15 miles mostly down on dirt): We took the same gravel road back down to the park. Somehow the wind shifted so we could have a little bit more headwind before our trip was complete. Our car was waiting for us and we ate lunch at the picnic tables in the park. We packed up and drove west to enjoy our first visit to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Gear check = Success!
