To Basalt and Back

We made it to Basalt and back today on our bikes-- halfway to my goal of making it to Aspen. Upvalley from Carbondale the Rio Grande Trail has more of an altitude gain than the trail from Glenwood Springs to Carbondale. At least it felt like that to us. But it was not bad at all. Didn't get any photos of the heron, evening grossbeaks, goldfinches, or redwing blackbirds, but did find these to be interesting:

a little ground squirrel, perhaps -- with a very lovely blond tail!

lunchtime lineup....

not sure what this is, but it had a pirate flag....

a ski chair lift.....to nowhere............

some exquisite columbines, our state flower..............

Tom was so excited that we were nearly to Basalt that he decided to make an announcement, using a "natural" microphone on the side of the trail.



It took us about three hours to make it to Basalt, due to photographing things and Tom needing some resticles (if you bike you know what these are) We thought about just buying some picnic food at the grocers but decided to treat ourselves instead at the Riverside Grill. This lovely restaurant sits right on the Fryingpan River and lunch was fantastic. My grilled veggie sandwich with brie was quite yummy but I think Tom most enjoyed his cherry pie!

After lunch we headed for home. Our bed looks more comfortable tonight after 42 miles of riding our bikes today. We are so blessed to be living in this beautiful Roaring Fork Valley.