Day Ten – Durango CO to Red River NM
Miles: 320
Breakfast today was pretty much a lock since Doubletree always serves ups good one. The theme for today's ride was really just good riding. There wasn't so much to see but riding US64 is just good old-fashioned riding the miles away. Probably the most significant site for the whole day was going to be Chimney Rock in Colorado. We took US160 out of Durango and several miles later came upon C151 where we headed south towards Chimney Rock. Roughly four miles in we turned into the park and were quickly met by the gate designating the park was closed and wouldn't open for another hour. That settled that and we took two pics and moved on. We rode for 70 miles and stopped in Chama to look around at their collection of steam engines and old railroad stuff. We walked around a little even went into a shop but were quickly on our way. Leaving Chama we were headed into the Carson National Forest where US64 twists and turns its way up to Brazos Cliffs where the views are very good, and where we stopped for a rest. There was not a soul in sight and we soaked in the solitude. Our next stop along US64 was the Rio Grande Gorge bridge where there is a park overlooking the bridge. We got off the bikes and took a few pics but we were ready for the upcoming adventure and didn't stay long. I had routed us on the old US64 road that winds it way down into the gorge and crosses the river over an old iron bridge. I knew there was some gravel but I couldn't tell how much and its condition from Google Earth. As we started down it was worse than I had imagined. Looking back it was really fine, but when you're in the moment you don't know how much worse it might get and knowing it would be nearly impossible to turn around it certainly increases the pucker factor. It leveled out in one place and we came upon some people out walking and I asked them what we were in store for, and he said the upcoming grade was much steeper but the road was in better condition than what we had just passed through. I'm not sure this was encouraging or not, but we had no other choice but to continue. On a dirt bike I would rather be going uphill but with 600 lb. street bikes gravity was our friend. The road going down to the bridge was indeed steeper but as the guy said the road was in better shape. We had to navigate through some large rocks as we approached the bridge but it wasn't a big deal. The pavement on the other side of the bridge felt pretty good as we cruised along the river. We stopped a little picnic area and we both drew a collective breath. As we rode along the river we passed many campgrounds where it looked like those there were staying for long periods of time and there were some very interesting sites. We passed the Pilar Yacht Club and Cafe and thought about stopping but we instead went up to Taos and stopped at Taos Mesa Brewing. When we pulled up and walked in we were not expecting much but this place was one of the top places we stopped during the whole trip. They food was really good and not the typical bar food, we had some shishito peppers, and a cauliflower dish with arugula, cheddar and parmesan all mixed together, and also a really good IPA. Great place! We continued on north of Questa and rode back into the Wild Rivers area to the La Junta Point Campground where we re-visited the overlook of the confluence of the Red and Rio Grande Rivers. We left the campground and headed toward Red River where we were staying but we saw on the radar where we were headed into a big storm. It looked like it would blow past and we would be clear to go, but as we waited we were drowning impatient and the storm was not passing through. We knew from the 2009 trip the road from Questa to Red River was a good one and we didn't want to do it in the rain, but after a 30 minute what we decided we would just go. We didn't get very far before we got dumped on, but it wasn't all that bad and it wasn't a long ride and we pulled into the motel just as the weather was clearing, albeit for a short time. After checking in and sitting for a minute we walked across the street to the Red River Brewing Co where we ordered up some wings and pints. Both were really good and we really enjoyed being just across the street from our motel. The RRBC wasn't in existence in 2009 and it seemed very popular. After dinner we walked next door to the store and got a few beers for the room. No nice lobby at the Ponderosa but we managed to get little work done and called it a night as we would be leaving earlier than normal the next day.
