Glenwood Springs. Mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers -- awesomely!

View of Mt. Sopris

Glenwood Hot Springs pool

Lots of walking alongside the wide and fast moving Colorado River.

In a timely Facebook coincidence, I was able to visit some long lost friends of Anne's, who just happen to live in one of the most picturesque locations I could have imagined.  How amazing! Also had a chance to visit the Glenwood Hot Springs, where the main pool is reputed to be the world's largest.  Great thanks to my new Glenwood Springs friends/angels, and also to the kind hosts who offered shelter in the town of Rifle a few days previously! 

Will head up the Glenwood Canyon bike/hiking trail this afternoon.  The next week or two will comprise the most challenging of the high-altitude climbing I've experienced so far - two peaks of close to 12,000', one of which is the Continental Divide.  So daily distances are hard to predict. In this stretch I will also be much more attuned to the possibility of 'wildlife encounters', and the obvious challenge of behaving responsibly with my food and other scented items while camping in the forests! Challenges notwithstanding, it is generally agreed that this is some of the most beautiful terrain in the USA - and though I have seen parts of it in the past, I now get to see it up close and at a snail's pace!