June 2012 Aspen to Glenwood Springs on the Rio Grande Trail

OK, so this is a little outside of Denver but suppose you visit the funnest city in America, Glenwood Springs. Here is a great ride, the old rail tracks turned to bike path. Glenwood Springs is 5,761 feet above sea level and Aspen is 7,890 feet, an elevation gain of 2,129 feet. For this reason I took the RFTA Bus from the stop near my hotel in Glenwood Springs, at 7th and Colorado. The bus to Aspen stops at 9 and 39 minutes after the hour. There are three express Aspen busses in the morning, the last leaves at 7:09 AM. You get off at the bus terminal in the center of town.

You'd expect Aspen to have an excellent public transit system and you wouldn't be disappointed. The fare from Glenwood Springs is $7.00 plus $2.00 for the bike. Here we are in Aspen.

 The ski hills look a lot different in the Summer.

 They don't call Aspen "Glitter Gulch" for nothing, all the top designers have boutiques there.

 I suppose this is where Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller go to pay their fines after negotiating a plea in court.  

 The Rio Grande trail starts near Rio Grande Park and N. Mill St.                          

OK here's the sign marking the beginning of the trail. It is 42 miles to Glenwood Springs.

At first you wind along through the trees.

Then you cruise along rock formations.

Well placed benches all along the way.

The roaring fork river is quite beautiful.

The Rio Grande Trail is 42 miles. When the mile markers count down to zero you're in Glenwood Springs.

There was a lot of water flowing in the Roaring Fork valley.

Another couple of shots of the water rock.

For a while I was next to the glide path to Aspen airport. A private jet came by about every 5 minutes.

Being an old railroad grade the trail is never steep up or down.

There are signs along the trail pointing to the Woody Creek Tavern.

I was just there a few months ago so I did not stop in this time.

Another sign in case you missed it.

Riding in the beautiful Roaring Fork Valley.

What's this? A barn to store the engine or spare cars.

Just past the barn are two vintage cars currently being lived in.

Complete with out house.

Here's the second car. Central air and a hot tub.

A/C unit at far end, hot tub at this end. What a great spot to live.

The trail followed a canal for a bit.

There are some places where you can still see tracks.

And old railroad signs. This one warns of a crossing.

This one is a mile marker

Here's an old railroad sign warning trespassers. 

Cool red rock formations along the way.

Very nice scenery along the Rio Grande Trail.

There is a whole network of trails, next time I'm going to ride the Redstone Cutoff. 

There is the first of many bridges.

Close up view. This one goes over the highway. It is a new construction designed to blend in with the historic ones.

Here's an original rail trestle over the river.

The Roaring Fork River.

Just before Basalt the trail passes through a country club.

I was fortunate enough to run into the beer wagon. I had a Fat Tire naturally. I was at about the halfway mark and a cold beer really hit the spot.

The Roaring Fork Valley still has agricultural land.

You can access Basalt, El Jebel and Carbondale along the trail. I brought three times the amount of water I would take on a trip of the same length in Denver and I still had to stop in Carbondale for more. High altitude riding on a hot day really dries you out.

The valley floor is very broad now.

I saw a most interesting junk yard, really cool old stuff like the old trailer here,

And this old city bus here.

Nineteenth century building ahead.

 Here's an old school house now a private residence. School bell still there.

 Entering Eagle County, another trestle.

I always like depth of field shots like this, the trail winding along.

I'm not sure how long it's been since a train ran here but the RR Crossing signs are still here.

We are in bear country, all garbage cans are bear proof.

Rails to trails is a good outfit.

They say horses sleep standing up. Maybe in a stall, the horse on the right is totally conked out..

There are big gates along the way, I know that part of this trail is closed in early spring so animals aren't disturbed.

Another gate, entering Garfield County.

Lots of birds live around here.

Ample benches and picnic tables along the way.

Another gate along the trail.

This is a nice stretch along the river.

Across the river someone has put a surplus ski chair along the shore.

The roaring fork river is a great ride.

I made a pit stop in Carbondale for more water. They're a bicycle friendly community.

A high trestle over the river.

Old auto bridge restored fir foot and bike traffic.

Red cliffs along the trail.

Old train speed limit sign, 20 MPH through here.

RR marker 370, looking back where we started.

8.5 miles to go. I celebrated by drinking some water and pouring some all over my head.

One more trestle over the river.

I expected much more traffic than I encountered although if I lived here I'd ride in the morning or evening.

I guess the signals are there in case a ghost train comes along.

Kinda cool to see them still there.

Almost back to Glenwood Springs now.

A spur line next to the trail

The roaring fork river is really a fun ride.

Benches along the entire route.

End of the Rio Grande Trail. Take the bridge over the Union Pacific line back into town. You come out on 6th street which is a block or two to my hotel. Awesome. 

That was a great ride. It was hot and dry but it was mostly downhill and although the 30 mph winds impeded my progress they also helped cool me down. Frequent water dousings also helped.

It's true, Glenwood Springs is really really fun. I gotta come back and explore more of the Roaring Fork Valley.