One for the Twitter Traders and the Rio Grande Trail

Doc Holliday came to Glenwood Springs to 'take the waters' in the hope that it would help his consumption (tuberculosis). It didn't. A few months later he died - in bed with his boots off - not, apparently, the way he had expected to go. He was buried in Linwood Cemetery. The exact location of his grave has been lost but the local Chamber of Commerce erected a memorial to him. D and I made the trek up to Linwood today. The temperature was in the high 90s Fahrenheit. It was about a half a mile from where we were able to park the car, along a reasonably strenuous track, in a beautiful mountain setting.

Doc was born in 1852 and died 36 years later. He was a gambler and a gun-fighter. Reading the quote from Wyatt Earp above I'm pretty sure he would have been a trader if he had been alive today. Nerves of steel and one of the most skillful gamblers Earp knew, you get the impression that he might have given even Rob a run for his money.

Doc Holliday's Memorial

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Today we cycled part of the Rio Grande Trail - from Carbondale to Basalt.  It was hot. Although it was only about a 20 mile (32 km) round trip, I'm not sure I would have made it if it hadn't been down hill on the way back to the car. A combination of hiking and cycling every day, at much higher altitudes than we are used to, and extremely hot conditions is taking its toll. Just because I didn't blog yesterday doesn't mean we didn't cycle. We did - I was too exhausted to write about it. Tomorrow, at least, I'll get a rest when we move on to Telluride.

The Rio Grande Trail follows the route of the rail corridor of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. It's a great cycle with a gentle uphill gradient from Glenwood Springs toward Aspen. As long as you start from the Glenwood Springs end the return cycle of a round trip is always going to be downhill, or for those who just want to coast easily downhill local buses run along the whole route and have bike carriers.

Bucolic countryside

The trail reminded me a lot of the prettier sections of the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail (Victoria, Australia) - easy cycling, bucolic countryside and cute little towns. The wild life was a little different though.

Lots of chipmunks

This deer was right next to the trail

Out for a family stroll

For my next post in this series click - here

For all my posts on this road trip click - here

11 June 2013