Day 11 Saguache to Del Norte

We checked out of the Big Valley Motel and started off for Del Norte, about 38 miles away. Del Norte is pronounced Del Nort, they drop the “e”.

Again we found ourselves riding into a headwind but at least it was a flat ride today. We stopped for a brief rest at Russell Lakes State Wildlife Area.

More wind and a 10 mile ride along Highway 112 which had a narrow shoulder but the traffic wasn’t too bad. We arrived in Del Norte at around 1:30pm and went to the town hall to get permission to camp in the town park. Del Norte is on the Rio Grande!

After that we headed to the Colorado Grille and Tap House. I never thought about until I just typed “Grille” but it seems Del Norte seems to like to add unnecessary “e”s to the end of names.

Over lunch we discussed our route for the remainder of the trip and we agreed to take the mostly paved route to Santa Fe rather than the dirt roads over the mountains which would have meant a few days in the wilderness.

This gives us a more relaxed journey and we planned to stay a couple of nights in Pagosa Springs to enjoy the town.

We arrived at our camp site for the night and decided to set up in the pavilion next to the Rio Grande. This was next to the play wave which is designed for standup surfing and other activities.

The camp site was perfect but then a homeless guy turned up. I think we may have taken his pitch. He seems harmless enough but as I type this I can hear he’s listening to some anti Biden and conspiracy theory radio station and he’s talking to himself. Oh well, I do that sometimes, talk to myself that is.

I shall sleep with one eye open tonight!

Today we rode 39 miles with 597ft of climbing.