Originally Posted by
TiHabanero
This winter I am planning two trips, one to Seattle to visit my son, and one to Pagosa Springs, CO to visit my daughter. To get to Seattle is easy peasy, plenty of safe roads to get there, or at least plenty of well traveled by cyclists roads to get there.
Pagosa Springs is quite different. Seems there is only two ways into and out of the place, and both are well traveled by fast moving cars and in some spots little to no shoulder.
Anyone here have experience riding into and out of Pagosa Springs, CO?
With the exception of a short (2 to 4 mile) section around Big Meadows Reservoir (12 miles south of South Fork) and the avalanche shed about 5 miles further on, Wolf Creek Pass has very good shoulders from South Fork to Pagosa Springs…well from Alamosa to Pagosa Springs. Even the downhill from the top of the pass is now quite wide with good shoulders.
West of town to Durango is a nightmare, however.
Don’t know where you are starting from but as mentioned above, going south out of Alamosa to Chama and north to Pagosa is an option. It is longer but slightly lower.
Another note: Depending on where you plan on starting from, you can cut off some distance by using
Colorado’s Bustang system. There is an outrider that will take you to Alamosa if you are starting around the front range.