DAY 3: Abiquiu to Chama, 60 miles We knew we had 60 miles and 3000+ feet of climbing to do today. But when Dennis serves you his sourdough pancakes, sausages, omelets, juice, cinnamon toast, and coffee your resolve to rush through breakfast and hop on the bike magically disappears. And afterall, you do need some fuel for these strenuous rides. After snapping a photo or two and saying our good-byes we carefully started out on the gravel road with the neighbor's dog Bobo tagging along for nearly the first three miles. We back-tracked up the steep, winding hill toward Lake Abiquiu (Highway 84) which we'd descended the day before. Although Chama is only about 1000 feet higher in elevation than Abiquiu, there's probably a bit over 3000 feet of climbing on the road that connects them. All the climbs are gentle but it adds up to a strenuous 60 miles. There are no places to stop for food or water for the first 45 miles so we'd provisioned ourselves for just that possibility and had no problems. After a lot of climbing and one nice gentle coasting descent we swooped into Chama at about 2pm. From what I'd read on the Internet I'd formed an impression of Chama that turned out to be a bit inflated. Chama is a gateway to lots of outdoor activities, the scenery is lovely, and it has lots of lodging available, but the town itself is very small. Most of the restaurants were closed (not yet tourist season?) and aside from the historic Fosters Hotel and Cumbres Toltec Scenic Railroad, there's not much to see in the town itself. We were actually thinking about spending our one "rest day" in Chama. After three hilly 60-mile days and faced with a 10,000 foot mountain pass on the next leg we were feeling a little in need of a day off. But while Chama was a very nice place to spend an afternoon and evening (particularly touring the steam railroad stuff) it seemed like we might quickly run out of things to entertain us if we spent another full day. Fortunately, by the next morning we were re-energized for the climb over 10,230 foot La Manga Pass. NEXT

Scenery along Highway 84 to Chama Cumbres Toltec Scenic Railroad Steam locomotive and coal car Historic Foster's Hotel, Chama The rail yard