Day 12 Los Pinos Creek to Lake City

Today we spent too much time riding road, a necessary evil to bypass the La Garita Wilderness. Though it was a seldom used dirt FS road and went through some amazingly beautiful country, it wasn't trail. Perhaps it is the monotony of pedaling in an even cadence or always being able to see what was coming or whatever but it just seemed harder on our butts and our psyches than riding the CT. The AM was the coldest yet with everything covered in a layer of frost. We had a late start as we waited for the sun to hit camp and warm things up. We climbed over Los Pinos pass and then descended into the picturesque Cebolla valley then up again to Slumgullion Pass and wicked fast hwy down to Lake City. We saw the Slumgullion earthflow, a slow motion landslide that began 800 years ago, blocking off a branch of the Gunnison River and creating Lake San Cristobal. We were happy to see John in Lake City, rested and recovered and ready to ride. His neighbor Ken had driven with him and planned to do some camping before driving back to NM. We celebrated our reunion with a 2nd lunch (yes, these kind of trips make one calorie obsessed) The calzone, beer and milkshakes went down alot better than the jerkey and crackers a few hours previous. John, feeling guilty, supplied us with fresh fruit to snack on, filled our fuel bottles, secured us lodging (the last cabin in the photos) and did our laundry. What service. Lake City is a nice town but was overrun with damn Texans (I can say that being one myself) and their ATVs. We ran into folks from all over (Slovakia- John got to practice- Bellarus, Brazil) working at the motel, restaurant and other spots around town. We walked around town after dinner admiring the nice old Victorian homes. Lake City started after a gold strike in 1876 and somehow has kept going.