Brown Canyon Ranch House

I did not intend to ride out to the Brown Canyon Ranch House but I did want to ride up the slight incline that goes forever. Plus I wanted to ride my mountain bike today instead of the road bike and get some other climbing in. I also planned to ride on some dirt/gravel roads. This bike path not only goes 7 miles out of town but all around the town and through the town. Over 30 miles of devoted bike paths wide enough for two way traffic or enough room for walkers and bikers.

This is to the right of the path, so when I am tired or panting for air at high altitude, just glancing around at the scenery helps distract me from any pain I might be feeling. By the time I got to my destination and was about to turn around and enjoy the high speeds on the highway during the slight downhill for over a mile ... A sign said "Brown Canyon Ranch House .. 1 mile". There I went.

You can see this road up ahead but off to the right is the Aerostate, anchored to it's parking spot. I had no idea that is where they anchored the Aerostat. I have mentioned that on some of my Facebook photos showing the mountains after sunrise.

It is the "eyes and ears" for border patrol. I was told by someone that worked on it in the past it can focus in "on an eyelash on I-10" if it has to. This is what it looks like when I see it from my patio.

This road was a good experience. One mile of lose gravel, sand, and some sharp rocks to steer around, plus one really steep hill. The house is up around the corner to the left. Off the top of my head I do not remember the history of it but I will return in my car later on so I can take the tour inside and take photos of it. No time to look up the history ... my Reds game started 7 minutes ago.

I took this photo of my bike for the local bicycle group that posts photos on Instagram and Facebook.

Today I got in 24 miles of riding with 2 miles of that on the gravel / dirt road. Strava app told me I climbed over 1,026 feet worth of hills and at one time was over 5,600 ft elevation ... no wonder I couldn't find any air to breath.

Back home it was time for lunch, the hounds lunch, some book reading and then a short siesta ... Stella jumped up from the floor during our siesta when she heard the loud thunder for our daily afternoon rain. Quite a contrast in skies from the sunny morning and late afternoon.

Another find day here in the Wild West.