Saturday, March 31, 2018
After spending the last seven weekends hiking and backpacking in Utah, I figured it was finally time to take a break and stay closer to home on the western slope of Colorado this weekend. Since I finally got a hitch-mounted bike rack for my Jeep that will carry both of our bikes this past week, I wanted to give it a try this weekend. We haven’t used our bikes in a while and we would like to change that, so we thought a good way to ease back into it would be by taking a nice scenic ride on the Glenwood Canyon Recreation Trail near Glenwood Springs. While I’ve driven through this canyon countless times, hiked to Hanging Lake a few times, and even floated part of the river a couple of times, I had never taken my bike on the paved trail through the canyon before.
We left home in the morning and drove east on I-70 until we reached the Grizzly Creek Rest Area, where we started our ride from. We headed upstream past the Shoshone Power Plant and Hanging Lake parking area, but were stopped shortly before the Hanging Lake Trail by a sign in the middle of the trail that said it was closed. We stopped and rested at a nearby picnic table for a little bit and then headed back to my Jeep at Grizzly Creek. We ended up spending about two hours on the trail and riding about 10 miles. It was definitely a nice easy ride to help us get used to being on a bike again. Afterwards we stopped at Hogback Pizza in New Castle for some authentic Chicago Style Stuffed Pizza (The best pizza I’ve found in Colorado!) and then finished the drive back home. Here are a few photos I took with my point and shoot camera during our ride.
Riding through the shadows…
Beautiful scenery above the trail.
A quick stop to check out the Shoshone Dam near the Hanging Lake parking area.
The paved trail in the canyon below the interstate.
Our turnaround point shortly before the Hanging Lake Trail.
Diane on her way back down the canyon towards Grizzly Creek.
Underneath the interstate…
I remember driving through Glenwood Springs Canyon before the interstate was built, and as well during the construction. It’s one of my favorite drives today! And, I’ve always wanted to ride the trail. I’ll have to put it on my list for a future return to Colorado. Thanks for sharing!