Day 40 - Cotopaxi

Some pics from the road. First climb up at about 9200ft/2850m done. 40 more km today.
Glad to be back in the mountains, guess that's where I'm supposed to be.

End of day update:

What beautiful first day in the west! The climbing started right outside of Pueblo. Through some dry river valleys and cliffs I went up a hill, being rewarded with my first clear view of the Rockies. Some last miles of high plains seperated me from finally getting into the mountains. As I came closer the dark silhouette became a three dimensional object, I passed through Wetmore and the serious climbing began. About 20 miles uphill. Not too steep though and nicely cool, as I was soon above 2000m. The land on both sides of the road was rugged, that kind of red rocks I hadn't expected until Utah. Well, must be the "Rockies" for some reason! 

Used gears I hadn't used since Missouri, slowly going up the hill. In the mountains you don't think from map panel to map panel like in Kansas, you think from mile to mile. This being the case I found it even more surprising how fast time went by. In the blink of an eye I had reached the summit. Or where I expected it to be. It was one of the least rewarding climbs you could imagine. Instead of a summit I had something like a plateau. A strong wind made riding there as hard as the climb before. Some miles later I finally had my downhill, but it was gradual and the wind forced me to pedal downhill! Something I frequently had riding the California coast northbound - but in the mountains?! The wind became really strong as I slowly lost elevation, some gusts nearly blowing me of the bike and sand right in my face. Must have been some localized storm, by the time I rolled into Westcliffe it was gone. 

Had a Meat Lovers pizza, which is basically the cook putting every piece of meat he can find in the kitchen on one pizza. My favorite when touring.

Westcliffe lies in a wide valley, bounded by the relatively small mountains I had climbed over to the east and towering peaks on the west. The route took me up the valley, paralleling the range. It's called "wet valley" or something like that, and indeed it's surprisingly green with occasional massive rocks cutting trough the meadows. Red rocks, totally different to the bright granite you find in Yosemite NP. 25 miles later I had dropped down (a steady downhill, finally!) to the Arkansas River which I already crossed in Larned, KS several hundred miles east.

Here in the Rockies it cuts deep into the rock, forming a impressive gorge. Found a campsite right at the river at the local KOA.