Cycling in Otero County

The Northern Otero County Cycling Trail System

The Northern Otero County Cycling Trail System - also known as the county road system - stretches all across northern Otero County on both sides of the Arkansas River. The Trail System runs through irrigated farm land and dry, shortgrass prairie.

Most urban dwellers find southeastern Colorado to be remote and isolated. That's fairly close to the truth, though we do have running water and flush toilets and cable TV, and even broadband Internet service.

But we do have some isolation here. That's one of our strong points. Tired of the urban rat race? Tired of trails packed with pedestrians, other cyclists, baby strollers, and a few bootleg stinker scooters? Fed up with having to pay for parking while you go ride a trail? If you can even find parking in the first place? You don't need to be.

Spaced along the trail system we find a series of small rural towns with histories and architecture dating back to the 19th century. These towns, La Junta, Rocky Ford, Swink, Manzanola, and Fowler, all lie on the southern bank of the Arkansas River. All are directly on US Highway 50. For more information on what is going on in northern Otero County, as well as neighboring counties, please see La Junta Events and Explore Southeast Colorado. Explore Southeast Colorado lists lodging, dining, shopping, and events in this area.

From any of those towns, you can hie off down the county road system, for miles and miles and miles of safe riding through one of Colorado's most bucolic areas. Yes...the county road system is a public road system. But the traffic almost all of these roads is so light as to be nearly non-existent. On the trip documented in the following images, for example, I came across but 3 farm trucks in 21 miles. And motorists around here are cyclist friendly - they'll wave at you with all of their fingers; they don't pitch things out the window at you, and they'll give you plenty of room on passing. "Road Rage" is a city thing, driven by all those rat-race pressures that vaporize so quickly on a quiet country morning or evening.

This ride started out at The Barista in La Junta. The Barista, at 2nd and Santa Fe in La Junta, is a coffee, ice cream, and sandwich shop. Though patterned after one of the more upscale shops in The Big City, The Barista is quite low-key. You won't find the long lines typical of The Big City, and the service is far more personalized. Their paninis and wraps are very nicely done, with a weekly menu handwritten on a white board near the door. They have free broadband wireless Internet access if you just have to do a corporate check-in, but really...why bother? The whole point here is to get away from that.

Here is a gallery of images from this ride.

From The Barista, we went south on Santa Fe Avenue to 10th Street, then west on 10th Street to US Highway 350. Now that US Highway thing sounds like something to be avoided, but no...this is a rather lonely stretch of beat up highway that runs southwest from La Junta to Trinidad. This is one of those less-traveled roads. It actually runs along the Old Santa Fe Trail, the real one, the one the pioneers took. We then went south on 350 to County Road Z, and then turned west on Z. We went west on Z through some country that is initially dried out, but over to the north and west you can see green fields and Happy Cows. We came to the Crooked Arroyo and continued west to County Road 25. We took a short side trip to the south to where 25 dead ends. Down at the end you'll find that archway of elms, planted ...what? A century ago? by whoever then lived on that farm. Give a listen. What you hear is silence interspersed with bird songs. The only vehicle noise you might hear will be a tractor or baling machine in the far distance.

We went back north on 25, then west again on Road Z. At the intersection of 25 and Z, you'll see some irrigation works. Pay attention to the irrigation system in this area. You'll see everything from unlined ditches to lined ditches and irrigation pipes, gates, and sluices, to experiments with the most modern types of large-scale drip irrigation systems. These fields have hay crops, melons, corn, and onions. The ditch irrigation techniques used here - except for the drip systems - go back to biblical times, though the materials used are more up-to-date.

We continued west on Road Z to the intersection with County Road 22. Note that the east-west roads are alphabetic while north-south roads are numeric.

We then went north on 22, crossing over Timpas Creek. Further down the Timpas, where it meets the Arkansas, is where Zebulon Pike and his party camped on that trip when he 'discovered' Pike's Peak. In 2006 we celebrated the Pike Bicentennial. That celebration included "Bike for Pike", from the Kansas line to Pueblo.

Now up in this area you have a lot of choices. Many county roads branch out east and west off Road 22. Today, we took County Road CC back to the east and continued east through the intersections of CC and 22.5 and 23 and then 24. We crossed over the Timpas again. Timpas Creek runs generally northeast-southwest. In Swink, CC intersects with Columbia Avenue. You can turn north a few blocks and take a short rest at Quickee's - they have cold drinks and tables and you can leave your bike out front without locking it up. Thievery is not one of Swink's strong points. If you just have to lock it from force of habit, you can, or you can keep an eye on it through the front window.

Then we headed back south on Columbia Avenue, which is also Road 24.5. We went east at the intersection with County Road BB. Just east of where BB intersects with Road 25, we came to a row of large catalpa trees and Lazy Acres Road. If you turn north on Lazy Acres, you'll find a rather picturesque old barn. Continuing east on BB, we came to Road 26. There are two choices here. Turn south on 26, or continue a short distance on BB to Conley Road. We are coming back into La Junta now, and Conley is the access road from US Highway 50 into the Walmart shopping area. In addition to Walmart, this area has Wendy's, Village Inn, and a Little Caesar's pizza joint with no dine-in. But from the backside, where we are at BB and 26, little of this is apparent. We now went south on 26 to the intersection of Highway 10. This highway is often extolled by cyclists as being a great scenic ride. It is, especially if you are going to Walsenburg. But it is no more scenic than are the county roads, and it is far more dangerous. It has no shoulder, and often has a surprising amount of traffic, including 18-wheelers. For this reason, CO 10 is really unsuitable for rides with kids - making the county roads with their lack of traffic even more attractive. That said, early morning and evening traffic is often nonetheless quite light. We rode east on 10 a mile-and-a-half, veering off on what becomes West 6th Street in the outskirts of La Junta. 

Right there at the turn off from CO 10 to 6th Street is what at first looks like a junk yard. Closer inspection shows that the "junk" trucks in the compound are almost all Diamond T's, with a couple of Chevrolets and GMC's thrown in. In other words, it's an antique truck restorer's treasure fest. If you Google "Diamond T" you'll see what these things can look like after restoration.

We continued on around on 6th, passing first Calvary Cemetery and then Fairview Cemetery, both worth a visit. Some of the headstones date back to the late pioneer era.

From the cemeteries, we went through the railroad underpass - be careful here as oncoming traffic can't see you, so stay far right. You will come up on the municipal pool and Little Potter Park. In the summer, the pool is a perfect place to take a break.

And you are now back in La Junta, having gotten in a good 21 mile ride.

Remember...it's usually dry down these parts. Good hydration is an absolute necessity. Some DEET comes in handy this time of the year though this trip the bugs weren't all that bad. Day rides scream for sunblock; we don't have much cloud cover.

GPS File (Magellan format) is here.
The date/time: 17 June 2006/1800
The bike: Fisher XCaliber, stock other than WTB Moto Raptors
The weather: 90 degrees F; wind E at 5 mph; humidity 13%

Here are some other rides.

Road Z to US 50 Loop

"Another good ride "

"The Promised Land"

"That Dam' ride" (Pueblo County)

 

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