Day 8 & 9 - Side Trip / Home Bound / Wilson Lake

Our last day in Breckenridge was met with rain and so Lisa and I decided to road trip down to the Royal Gorge about 80 miles away and then head up through Salida to check out the downtown scene (and to relive some cool memories in that town).

1053 below you can see the Arkansas River and set of railroad tracks

It looks like a postcard but this is the view from the observation shelter. Pictures and descriptions are nothing compared to actually seeing the gorge. Truly impressive and lives up to the hype.

That night everyone got wrecked one last time before the final push home. Ipods exploded, growlers were emptied, cigars torqued. The GORC Breckenridge trip was coming to a close...

Lisa and I woke up super early with hopes of riding Wilson Lake around Wilson, KS. I read about the trail on the Seagal website and it looked super fun.

This trail is 7 hours from St. Louis and marks the halfway point to the mountains. While the photos look terrific and it has the potential to be a fun trail, I was completely blown out and didn't have too much fun here. The constant wind, beating sun and off-camber/sandy/gravel-on-hardpack made for less-than-stellar ride. The terrain is cool and the views are neat but I can't recommend it unless you're HEADING to the mountains and want a warm-up ride on the way. Maybe I had a bad day. Maybe I was bummed driving back to Missouri.

On the plus side it's only 8 miles off of I-70.

Sandy rock formations dot the landscape

Twisty little grinders

Very dry terrain, rocky and super hardpack. The trail must be cut with an ATV mower and it's mandatory as the desert-like grasses want to scrape you up.

Wilson Lake and the Switchgrass trail - a 15 mile loopy loop

When the trail stayed high along the ridges it was fast and flowy

Curves of madness!

It's Sunday now and work comes tomorrow. I'm dreaming of Durango.