{"id":320,"date":"2016-09-14T22:21:18","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T03:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.7hannahs.net\/wordpress\/banff2mexico\/?p=320"},"modified":"2025-03-29T16:26:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T21:26:04","slug":"day-25-september-14-salida-to-alamosa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.7hannahs.net\/wordpress\/banff2mexico\/2016\/09\/14\/day-25-september-14-salida-to-alamosa\/","title":{"rendered":"(Day 25 – September 14) Salida to Alamosa"},"content":{"rendered":"

odometer: 1540 – 1621 ( 81 miles, 130 kilometers )<\/em><\/strong>
\n elevation: 2032 – 2306 meters<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The hostel provided a good bed, clean washrooms, and an interesting atmosphere at a good price. I likely am too old to really feel at home in a hostel. They all seem to be run and attended by much more interesting people than me. The hosts all seem a bit artsy\/hippy-ish with an unspoken etiquette that I haven’t figured out yet.<\/p>\n

I made the decision not to follow the GDMBR. By doing so I avoided having to climb to the summit of the Marshal Pass at over 10,000 feet. Instead I will follow highway 285 to close the border of New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Following 285 south out of Salida takes you through the Poncha Pass. At 9,010 feet it was plenty high for me. Believe me.. I won’t regret climbing an additional 1000 feet.<\/p>\n

The summits of passes normally are not very scenic. They are generally the lowest point where people can travel through a mountainous obstacle. Typically mountains tower on either side of the pass blocking any possible view of the valleys below.<\/p>\n

The approach to the pass can be seen by a break in the tree line – a clearing where there was only incline and trees before. When riding your bike you know the end of hours of toiling is close.<\/p>\n

What is really interesting about passes is how they are like gateways. When you pass through them you are often presented with different geography, weather, plants and animals.<\/p>\n

The Poncha Pass divided hilly treed land with many streams and creeks with the plateau, the flattest land that I have seen since crossing the prairies. The elevation reading on on my GPS varied only a few meters over 50 miles.<\/p>\n

The day was divided accordingly.The morning was consumed by climbing the pass. I had lunch at a nice little cafe in… The remainder of the day I rode across the plateau fighting the headwind.<\/p>\n

I arrived in Alamosa just before 7 pm and had supper at an IHop. I will be staying at an old dilapidated motel that I was told is going out of business.All I need is a good night’s sleep – it will fit the bill.<\/p>\n

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odometer: 1540 – 1621 ( 81 miles, 130 kilometers ) elevation: 2032 – 2306 meters The hostel provided a good bed, clean washrooms, and an interesting atmosphere at a good price. I likely am too old to really feel at home in a hostel. They all seem to be run and attended by much more … Continue reading (Day 25 – September 14) Salida to Alamosa<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.7hannahs.net\/wordpress\/banff2mexico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.7hannahs.net\/wordpress\/banff2mexico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.7hannahs.net\/wordpress\/banff2mexico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.7hannahs.net\/wordpress\/banff2mexico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.7hannahs.net\/wordpress\/banff2mexico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.7hannahs.net\/wordpress\/banff2mexico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":776,"href":"https:\/\/www.7hannahs.net\/wordpress\/banff2mexico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions\/776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.7hannahs.net\/wordpress\/banff2mexico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.7hannahs.net\/wordpress\/banff2mexico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.7hannahs.net\/wordpress\/banff2mexico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}