The original plan for Day Three was to rent a mountain bike (maybe an e-bike) and ride the Mineral Belt Trail. This is an eleven-mile loop that goes through the city of Leadville, Colorado and some of the old mining areas that surround the city. But my legs were still feeling awfully weak from my mini-hike on Day One. And while the Mineral Belt Trail appears to have been built without any notably steep sections, the altitude alone is a serious concern. Y’see, Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the USA, sitting at an official altitude of 10,152 feet.
So, I decided to start with a walking tour of the downtown area. This turned out to be a good decision. As long as I was walking on flat ground or downhill, I was fine. But even the slightest uphill grade quickly had me feeling like my lungs were on fire and my heart was about to burst. Ultimately, I successfully completed the downtown walking tour, but with a lot of rest stops. Here’s a visual slice of downtown Leadville for you:
Don’t worry. That building is the only one getting its own spread. Here’s the rest of downtown Leadville:
I recently heard that Leadville is loaded with Victorian-style homes. I was quite skeptical, as this is not by any means my first visit to Leadville, and I don’t remember seeing Victorian homes on my previous visits. But this is a surprisingly large town, and I really haven’t explored the neighborhoods west of downtown. So, I asked some damned AI where I could find “clusters of Victorian architecture in Leadville”. Since I was having trouble with the altitude and Parkinson’s in general, I made this a driving (rather than walking) tour. In the end, the AI done good:
At this point, I wandered back to the 100-year old bar. It didn’t seem to be anything special. I had a single rum and Coke, then called it a day.
Voyages with Parkinson's 