In early August we took a trip to Platoro. We planned to so some biking along part of the Tour Divide and some hikes near the Colorado Divide Trail (CDT). You can see all the photos here
We arrived in the evening and car camped near the Blue Lake trailhead. We did the Blue Lake hike as a loop that used the CDT to connect two valleys. It was 18 miles and we planned to camp shortly after leaving the CDT, but we were running early and still had energy so we continued back to the car. Blue Lake itself was fairly pretty, but the best section was the part along the CDT where we were above tree line.
Since we’d planned to camp we had our backpacks and we’ve mostly been biking this summer, so we weren’t quite in shape for that much hiking. Our legs were a little tired and our feet were a bit sore the next day, but fortunately we were going to be biking. We biked from just outside Platoro up to the Crater Lake tailhead. There we dropped off our camping gear and continued biking to Indiana Pass. We passed the Summitville mine and had good views of Grayback Mountain. Then we biked back down to the Crater Lake trailhead and slept in the tent. The bike ride was pretty, especially the first section along Park Creek Road. The roads were in good shape and the Prius could have driven it.
The next day we started with the Crater Lake hike. This was another hike near the CDT. We’d read that part of this hike could be done on bike, so we started with bikes but quickly ran into a lot of fallen trees and difficult terrain. We hid the bikes and continued on foot. Crater Lake was nice and we had the area mostly to ourselves. Once we got back to the bikes, we rode back to our campsite, gathered our stuff, and rode back down to Platoro. We debated about what to do the next day and decided that we’d drive (instead of bike) the Alamosa-Conejos road from Platoro to HWY 17 and do our bike ride near the border.
Our basic plan for the day was to leave HWY 17 at the train tracks and follow FR 87 south into New Mexico, join up with the CDT and get to the Brazos Ridge Overlook before backtracking. We parked a bit below Neff Mountain thinking that we’d bike up HWY 17 to Cumbres pass first, but the road was busy so we biked Neff Mt Road and Trujillo Meadows road to Cumbres pass instead. Then we biked down HWY 17 to FR 87. FR 87 was in good shape and was a pleasant bike ride – pretty, but nothing super impressive. Things changed when we hit the CDT. That area was prettier, but the ground was very rocky and bumpy. We were on the CDT for about 6 miles and that was a little too much bouncing around for me.
After the ride, we slept in the car. The next day we headed home early. It had been a little smoky the whole trip and that last day was the worst. We didn’t have a particular plan for what else to ride in the area and were tired of breathing the bad air, so we called it quits and drove back.