Transcendental Great Divide Blog

Epilogue

2009-10-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

Without getting too sentimental, I'm hoping to summarize my 2009 GDR experience.
At this point I would call this my best vacation, so far.
For me, it was a great opportunity to step away from life's day to day routines and get back to basics. Staying warm and dry, having enough food and water, staying away from grizzly bears and lightning, not crashing my bike, etc. Life was pretty simple, not easy, but simple.
GDR was about bike touring on a mountain bike. It was backpacking with a bicycle. It was an opportunity to meet new people and push my physical limits. I saw lots of new territory and now I want to go back to explore more. The United States has a lot to offer in terms of National Forests and public lands - the best kept secret in the west.

When I rode my bike Xcountry 5 years ago, I was impressed with the hospitality and generosity that was afforded me. That impression was reinforced on this trip. I felt that there was a safety net if I ever needed help on this trip. Great people from Canada to Mexico!

On this trip I had the experience of sharing the trail with several new friends that I met along the way. I met Charles from Albuquerque in Fernie, Ben and Patrick (Daddy Longlegs and the Big Nasty) from Louisiana, Rich from Maine (my forward scout), Chris from California (the source of much information and big laughs), Jo and Scott from New Zealand (great fun, quality folks), Bruce from Helena. A very diverse group with kindred spirits.
I rode with Jo and Scott for hundreds of miles and really enjoyed their company. I'm looking forward to visiting New Zealand in the future (look out guys, here I come.) When Chris caught up with us (or vice versa)in New Mexico and Chris met Scott, the sparks flew. Our conversations around the campfire or at lunch were all over the place, from God's bellybutton to politics to weather to Klaus the uber-cyclist. Everything was fair game as long as it wasn't taken seriously. These guys were entertaining.
Would I do it again... yes!

Special thanks to friends in SLO, Bob Hurd who covered for me at work and to Dan Miller who watched my house. They allowed me to focus on my ride.
Also, a special thanks to Dave Grah and Charlie Hench for coming to New Mexico to bring me back home to real life.

Take away from this trip - Simplify and Give back.

Photo tour

2009-10-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a real quick tour of the GDR.
Obviously, it doesn't come close to doing the ride justice.

October 7, Day 70 Hachita campsite to Antelope Wells/Mexico border 46 miles

2009-10-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

Woke up to a beautiful desert sunrise highlighted by high clouds. This is the last day of my bike ride - hard to get my arms around it... at least until I have a cup of coffee. I headed south of Hatchita on Highway 81 with very few cars on this road with the exception of Border Patrol - who all wave. I saw my first Roadrunner today as it darted ahead of me. It was a lonely stretch of highway to one of the sleepiest border crossings into Mexico. I heard countless warnings about the drug runners along the border but it seemed pretty tranquilo today. The miles clicked off as I approached the border as there was lots of time to think about past miles and the good times. I rolled up to the border crossing at 1 PM where I was royally met by Dave and Charlie. As I crossed the border into Mexico, the Mexican border guard came over and shook my hand while handing me a Mexican Flag. If I didn't know better, I'd say that Charlie had something to do with this but it was too cool to question. It was a grand gesture. Lots of photos, a cold beer and some lunch followed. The border guards at Antelope Wells were top-notch. I would think that they would just about have seen everything but they still took the time to make some guy on a bike feel at home.
It felt kinda weird jumping in the truck to head back, but it was a satisfying weird.

October 6, Day 69 Silver City to Hachita campsite

2009-10-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

Since we were in civilization, we went downtown for breakfast. No oatmeal for me this morning! Jo, Scott and Chris are taking today off as I push on to the border, so we had to say goodbye. I really enjoyed riding with these guys, great folks, great friends, fun, interesting. I'll miss these guys when I go back to the real world but plan to meet them again down the road, for sure!
The road out of Silver City was a drag. Uphill, headwind, traffic and I was tired from the previous 6 days of challenging riding. I had doubts as to whether it was worth continuing since all the "real" riding was behind me. I did get to ride through Tyrone, New Mexico. Being that I grew up in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, there was some novelty in seeing that. Although the monstrous Tyrone copper mine was a disappointing eye sore. My mixed feeling about bike riding today all changed when I got on to Separ Road. The road was good and relatively remote, the weather nice and my motivation to finish soared. Around 1PM Dave and Charlie caught up with me with a deluxe late lunch, then I rolled on to Separ. The route follows along the Interstate 10 for about 10 miles and it was 4:30, so I threw my bike into the back of the truck as we cruised to Hatchita. That leaves 46 miles to the border tomorrow. Somehow in the 30 minutes that I was in the truck, I tweaked me left knee to the point where I was limping. Go figure, 2 months of bike riding injury free bike riding then I tweak my knee sitting in a truck. There must be a message there somewhere. We free camped on BLM land outside of Hatchita and enjoyed an nice dinner and sunset.
We camped under the stars tonight. Hard to believe that less than 2 weeks ago we were dealing with snow.
Mexico tomorrow! Hard to believe.

October 5, Day 68 Upper Black Canyon Campground to Silver City 57 miles

2009-10-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

Started the day with a big climb and 15 hard miles. By noon we only had 20 miles in. Being that today is supposed to be about 55 miles, it's looking like a long day. Fortunately, the road smoothed out as we road 7 miles on the continental divide ridge line with nice views, then downhill into Mimbres. We were very happy to find a good restaurant (the only restaurant) in Mimbres that provided us with mucho calories and energy. Club sandwich, french fries, chips and salsa, and, of course, Coke. It was a late lunch but worth the wait. I did experience some "Hangry" moments until food actually entered my stomach. Hangry is hungry and angry. The angry part has to do with low blood sugar and the fact that I'm not immediately being fed. The guys at work have seen me this side of me and know to wait until after lunch to talk to me. I should have warned the posse. After lunch, I found that I had good legs today as we climbed up over the hill to Silver City. We passed the huge Santa Rita mine as we turned into a big headwind towards Silver City. About 2 miles out of Silver City, a big green pick up pulled up beside me. After a brief, uncomfortable second, I realized that this truck was my ride back to CA. Charlie and Dave had just came through town and spotted me as I fought the headwinds and rolling hill towards Silver City. After a brief pow-wow along the side of the rode, we escaped the mind numbing headwind at the first motel that we came to - the beautiful Silver City Motel 6. After a hot shower, we headed to the Silver City brewery. Fine place with good beer. I had the Amber and the Nut Brown, the Nut Brown being preferred. A good time was had by all. We ran into a group of Adventure Cyclist tourers at the brewery. They were going Xcountry on the Southern tier. One gentleman told us that his nephew had just completed the GDR from south to north and his name was Paul. Turns out that Jo and Scott met him on their first day and I met him in Fernie on my 4th day. He thought that was great. I had asked Charlie to bring some jeans for me to wear home, so tonight I wore jeans for the first time in 2 months. I was sure Charlie grabbed the wrong jeans because I had to wear a belt to keep them up. Should be interesting when I step on a scale.

October 4, Day 67 O-Bar-O Creek campsite to Upper Black Canyon Campground 46 miles

2009-10-09T20:26:00.001-07:00

This morning, I was up early to "See a man about a horse." I made a point to be within view of the pond to see if elk would come down for water, and sure enough, about a dozen elk came down for water. They didn't hang around long though, as I think they caught wind of our camp or me.
The first 15 miles today were pretty easy then we got into the steep hills of Gila National Forest. Steep up, steep down. We watered up at a Ranger station and met Keith a hunting guide that was working in the area. He invited us to his camp for steaks, hot showers, and sleep on cots. As enticing as that offer was, ultimately that didn't give us enough miles today and we would have a really big day tomorrow going into Silver City. I felt bad turning down his generous invitation.
We bounced into Upper Black Canyon campground around 5PM after an arduous day. I was surprised that we road mostly in pine forest today. I assumed New Mexico was all desert. There were even oak trees in our campsite. I was happy to see a small creek in the campground, too. Cleaning up after a long day of riding has been a challenge lately, so I was able to clean up a little. We have been dry camping quite a bit lately, so I went to bed - unclean. As they say, "A cold shower is better than no shower." In this case, a cold water creek is much better than no water. At times, I tried baby wipes to clean up but they only work so far.
I'm glad to say that the rain forecast today did not happen.
Everybody went to bed early tonight and I sensed that there was a somber feeling since we would be parting ways soon as Silver City and Mexico approach.

October 3, Day 66 Valle Vences to O-Bar-O Creek Campsite 50 miles

2009-10-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

NITRO CIRCUS DUDES

After chatting with "The Giants" this morning, we headed down the road. Shortly after, they zoomed by en route to another Nitro Circus-like day. (We don't need no stinkin' helmets!) Travis and Greg are not necessarily following the GDR route verbatim and bee line whenever possible. Still, their 100 mile days powered on Muscle Milk and energy bars is impressive. I'm sure there is a Red Bull sponsorship, also. Somehow, they managed to only camp twice in 2000 miles.
Today, the weather was nice and I had good legs as we went from Ponderosa pine forest to high desert back to forest in Gila National Forest where we camped along O-Bar-O Creek (dry). As water was scarce today, we were lucky to find a pond near our campsite. Credit goes to Scott for finding this fine campsite surrounded by Ponderosa pines and as it turns out, elk. The elk bugled all afternoon and all night, and I was OK with that. What a great outdoorsy sound. At dusk, curiosity won out as we went in search of the bugling elk. I spotted 3 elk before they spotted me. These were the first live elk that I saw on this whole trip... in New Mexico!
I didn't even know that there were elk in NM.
We had a small fire this evening. Chris asked me if I was ready to go home, yet.
I thought a bit, and honestly, today was such a pleasant day and I enjoyed the company so much, at that time, no - I wasn't ready for this trip to end. I had my doubts in the snows of southern Colorado, though.

October 2, Day 65 Pietown, NM to Valle Vences Campground 30 miles

2009-10-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

We left the Toaster House and had a big breakfast at the Pietown Cafe. I fought the urge and skipped pie for breakfast. The Pietown experience was great. I was able to get cellphone coverage so I called Rich Cromwell and congratulated him on his GDR finish and I called Charlie and confirmed that I would meet him in Silver City on October 5. I also had a message from Patrick, one of the Louisiana "boys". He left a brief message basically stating, "Ben and I are at the border!" Now that leaves, how, when, where to be yet determined. Last we heard, they were behind us in Antonito (calling from a bar). Since I was leaving town (and cellphone coverage), all these questions will have to wait until we get to Silver city in 4 days. Ben and Patrick are great guys and I'm impressed that they tackled this trip right out of college.

Even though today was a short day, I was feeling slow and tired. I didn't sleep very well after the afternoon pie and coffee(s). Otherwise, it was a beautiful day as we rode through Pinon pine, Junipers and finally Ponderosa pine forests. The "posse" was a full strength as we pulled into Valle Vence Campground with Bruce,Sue,Jo,Scott, Chris and myself.
Rumor today was that there is rain on the horizon, so to speak. Bruce and Sue decided to push on a little further tomorrow to hopefully minimize mud issues with the car. Bruce and Sue are 2 of Montana's finest. Hope to see them in Silver City.
After dinner,a couple of big guys with BOB trailers rolled into camp at dusk. Turns out that they were Travis Pastrana and Greg from the MTV show Nitro Circus. They were riding Giant TranceX bikes and Giant clothes (one of their many sponsors). Since I'm reading The Odyssey which many references to giants (quite often, man eating), Travis and Greg became the Giants. We had a little social fire, where they came over and socialized. They are riding huge miles in true Nitro Circus fashion. For example, topspeed on mountain bike with BOB trailer was 49 mph... no hands... Scott asked where their helmets were and Greg said that they haven't got around to getting one yet (2000 miles into the trip).
Entertaining guys for sure. Nitro Circus is on MTV at 10PM Thursdays and of course they have a website www.nitrocircus.com
As the fire died down and we readied for the tent, I couldn't help but notice the constant drone of an RV generator from across the way. Maddening, since we've been camping remotely for most of the trip. It didn't turn off until after 11.

October 1, Day 64 Cerro Brillante trailhead to Pietown 45 miles

2009-10-09T20:21:00.000-07:00

Today, we were on the road to Pietown, NM. With a name like Pietown, expectations were high. We bombed through the 45 miles with great anticipation and arrived around 2:30PM at the Pie-O-Neer (not to be confused with the Pietown Cafe on the hill). As we walked in the Pie-O-Neer, we were met by the proprietor, Kathy, and a host of good looking pies. Turns out that Chris got here early and was waiting for us to show. I started off with peach pie ala mode with coffee and then went for a slice of coconut creme. A very civilized afternoon and very good pie. Good medicine.

Another unique feature of Pietown is the "Toaster House". The Toaster House is a biker/hiker shelter set up in a house with shower, laundry, kitchen, beds, etc. Basically an open house. Toasters decorate the front gate (for some reason). There was room for 6 of us. As an added treat Meagan from the Pie-O-Neer came over with cookies and played guitar for us. Many thanks to the owners of the Toaster house. What a awesome and memorable display of hospitality for a tired group of cyclists.
You can't help but like Pietown! I could have easily stayed there another day (lots more pie to sample.)

September 30, Day 63 Grants to Trailhead camp near Cerro Brillante

2009-10-02T07:50:00.001-07:00

The Weather Channel promised highwinds today as we headed south. High winds aren't always bad if they are at your back but today it was a mind numbing headwind with gusts to 50 mph. The gust would almost bring my bike to a standstill and the dust and sand penetrated every opening. This could have been a really nice ride but the high winds created challenge.
Today's route offered an alternate route through El Malpais National Monument. (El Malpais = The Badlands) The alt. route was also on pavement the whole way and almost 20 miles shorter. Considering the headwind conditions, I mentally debated the pluses and minuses of taking the alt. Everybody else was taking the regular route and I have been on pavement a lot lately, so I put my head down, plugged in my mp3 player and chose the regular route. Part of the adventure, I guess.
The area south of Grants is very volcanic and our route followed the Chain of Craters Backcountry Byway. I carried extra water today in my Platypus bladder. This is New Mexico and water is scarce. There was a windmill near where we camped but there is no guarantee that it will be drawing water. We eventually dry camped at the trailhead near Cerro Brillante. Chris got up early today and pushed on to Armijo Canyon. We're hoping to meet up with Chris in Pietown, tomorrow. Chris has been a real fun addition to our "posse" or Chris might say, in jest, that we have become a good addition to his "posse". His great sense of humor and wealth of knowledge makes his straight faced (sometimes)outrageous comments a challenge to believe. Scott is generally there throwing verbal logs on the fire as their banter provides constant entertainment.

September 29, Day 62 Grants, NM Rest day

2009-09-29T08:37:00.001-07:00

I finally got my hair cut today. When I would take my helmet off, I found that people were actually talking to my helmet hair with a puzzled look. Time to get a haircut...
I loaded up on groceries, did laundry and updated my blog (or trog).
For dinner, we met up with Charles Price and his wife Kate. I met Charles in Fernie, Alberta, Canada on my 4th day of GDR while he was riding the Great Parks North route. He said, "Let me know when you get to New Mexico", since he lives in Albuquerque. Seemed like a long way off back then but here I am in Grants, 2 months later. We ate at the Badlands Burger. Turns out that the Badlands Burger had just won the title of "Best Green Chile Cheeseburger" in the State of New Mexico. Business was brisk, as we sampled the #5 Millie burger. Tasted OK to me but at this stage of the ride everything tastes great. Charlie and Kate are very nice people and I sure appreciate them driving up to Grants.

September 28, day 61 Puebla Pintada area to Grants, NM 62 miles

2009-09-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

Head wind all day - Uggg!
I need a day off

September 27, Day 60 Cuba to Puebla Pintada area campsite 60 miles

2009-09-29T08:35:00.001-07:00

Convergence

At a mini-mart on the Navajo reservation, Chris rolls in on his bike after me not seeing him since Montana. Shortly after, Bruce from Helena rolls in. Camped under the stars on a mesa.

Another long day.

September 26, Day 59 Ghost Ranch to Cuba 61 miles

2009-09-26T20:05:00.000-07:00

I didn't set my tent up last night and slept under the shade roof at the campsite. It wasn't nearly as cold as previous nights so I slept pretty well except for the dreams about marrauding raccoons in the campsite. There was a sign at the campsite warning about raccoons and apparently it stuck. I had a nice breakfast at the Ghost Ranch cafeteria before we set off. I must admit that I was dubious about the Ghost ranch but it really grew on me. I could have hung out there another day, I think, but I am getting anxious to move forward to Mexico.
Today's ride was on pavement on Highway 96 to Cuba. Lots of ups and downs through red rock cliff bands and pine forests. Nice ride but kinda long and not as interesting as yesterday.
Ended up in Cuba, an interesting little town.

September 25, Day 58 Chama, NM to Ghost Ranch 48 miles

2009-09-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

Woke up to cold temps and blue skies. After days of rain and cold, decided to motel it, last night.
I was able to pack a dry tent for a change.
After reports of adobe mud on route and lots of rain and snow, we detoured south from Chama to Ghost Ranch. Not sure how to descibe Ghost Ranch but it has a campground and it's very pretty. Today's ride went through some classic New Mexico bluffs and red rock along Highway 84.
Very pleasant ride today.

Check out: http://www.joandscottride.blogspot.com/ for more Great Divide photos and videos.

September 24, Day 57 Antonito to Chama, NM

2009-09-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

Rained last night in the campground then froze.
Frozen tent, frozen bike, frozen Alan.
Took the Cumbres&Toltec Steam Train to Chama, NM. Big snowstorm (for September) on the way over the mountains. Not a good day for bike riding but a great day to be a tourist on the train. On the train, everybody was interested in our trip, with one exception. One woman called us idiots, actually twice. After asking about the bike ride, she basically said, "You're idiots." Then after lunch, I overheard her say, "Oh, there are the idiots on the bikes." What can you say.

Hard to believe that I'm in New Mexico!

September 23, Day 56 Stunner Campground to Mogotes Campground near Antonito, CO 48 miles

2009-09-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

Very cold last night. Water froze in my bottles.
Cold riding but very pretty.
We had a coffee break at Horca. At much discussion, we decided to take the Cumbres & Toltec stream train ride from Antonito, CO to Chama, NM tomorrow. This was unplanned to say the least but sounds like fun.
We camped at the Mogotes Campground outside of Antonito. Great campground that provided a cell phone booster, laundry, wi-fi, hot showers and a community building. The community building was great as it rained again this evening. Mark, the owner, built us a fire while we stayed warm and dry as we ate and relaxed.
More to come

September 22, Day 55 Del Norte to Stunner Campground 48 miles

2009-09-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

Very cold morning so we went to a restuarant to pore over our options. We could see snow in the mountains and more snow and cold in the forecast. We checked the map for a detour around the mountains, if necessary - plan B. We finally decided to try Indiana Pass since it one of the focal points of the GDR. Up the road we went, passing frozen puddles and a dusting of snow but we made it (with much effort). Then continued past Summitville and ond of the EPA Superfund clean up sights. Basically it's an old gold mine that the owner walked away from. The bombed out site was a huge contrast beautiful surrounding landscape. Hopefully, somebody learned something here. Your tax dollars at work. It was cold all day as we rolled into the Stunner Campground. Our first task was build a fire and make hot chocolate. As we sipped our cocoa a woman from the campsite across the way came over and chatted. Her and her husband (Sharon/Tom)are from Arkansas. Tom is a elk hunter (archery) and they were camping in Colorado for several weeks. Sharon invited us over fro a very nice dinner and socializing. Very nice people. It started snowing after dinner as we hit the tent. tough day

Tough ride over Indiana Pass. Over 4000' of climb in freezing weather and snow flurries.
More to come

September 21, Day 54 Poso Campground to Del Norte, CO

2009-09-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

When I woke up, everything was wet. Shortly after, everything froze. Kinda strange.
The sun came up and we hung out until our ice on our tents melted and dried (mostly).
"Easy" day today into Del Norte. For some reason, the easy days are never as easy as expected.
Early on in the ride Jo planted the seed for Subway for lunch. We could only hope for a Subway in Del Norte since it's such a small town. By the time we got into town, I was Subway-centric. Anyhow, we were very happy to find a Subway and lunch was great. When I get home, I'll probably never eat at Subway again. After lunch, we heard that a big, cold sntorm was about to blow through. Since tomorrow is the big climb over Indiana Pass elevation 11,910 we were concerned. Forecast was 8" of snow. Something to sleep on.

September 20, Day 53 Luders Creek Campground to Poso campground 32 miles

2009-09-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

We said our goodbye's to the "Sideways Gang" and Luders Creek campground this morning. Great folks! But, before leaving the campsite after I had everything packed, I discovered my wallet missing. I looked all around my campsite and no sign of it. I assumed that it was buried somewhere in my gear but I decided that I had to find it. I literally tore everything apart and the very last thing that I looked in, my sleeping bag of all places, I found it. Then I got to re-pack. I wasn't very happy with myself...
Today we headed over 10,166' Carnero Pass, another aspen,pine forest followed by a nice downhill. Our plan was to stay at Storm King Campground but the lever on the water pump was missing so we pushed on to Poso Campground with the idea that we would take it easy today.
We got in to Poso with the sun shining and the place to ourselves. A small stream ran through the campground so I was thinking "fishing". In short order, a big cloud rolled in followed by rain. At that point we didn't have our tents set up so we had to hang out at the outhouse hoping that the rain would blow over (which it did). After the storm we set up tents, cooked dinner and built a camp fire. Just about the time the fire got going good, it started raining/snowing which put the fire out. At that point we gave up and went to bed. It's getting dark by 7:30 now.

September 19, Day 52 Sargents to Luders Creek Campground 49 miles

2009-09-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

After a very comfortable night in the teepee, thanks to the gas fire place and cots, another day dawned. We headed across the backroads of Colorado for 49 miles and to a challenging (only because it was the end of day) climb over Cochetopa Pass to the Luders Creek Campground. Before we even got off our bikes, a gentleman shouts out, "I've got a cold beer for you!" As luck would have it, we stumbled into the 23rd year of the "Sideways gang" weekend campout. These folks went to college at Western State in Gunnison and get together every year. Very diverse and interesting people. The hospitality was fantastic! They shared dinner, desert, beer, campsite and lots of laughs. Also, the Luders Creek Campsite was a very pretty aspen grove, fine camping location. Great time with the Sideways gang!

September 18, Day 51 Salida to Sargents 43 miles

2009-09-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

Beautiful day today. Right out of a John Denver song.
We did get rain with 5 miles left into Sargents.
Camping in a teepee tonight.
Scratch that off of my life list... not sure if it was there to start with.

September 17, Day 50 Salida Rest day #2

2009-09-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

Scott and Jo rolled into town yesterday afternoon. We met for dinner at Amica's for pizza and microbrew, always a favorite. I had the Amber.
We had a great time swapping stories. When Scott and Jo started their ride in Canada, they had a Grizzly bear charge them. In Colorado, they had a raccoon encounter where the raccoon tried dragging off Jo's pannier. These animals just love Kiwi's. Check out their blog at: joandscottride.blogspot.com
Jo and Scott were planning on a day off today so I decided to hang out another day,also. My mental battery is running low, so having somebody to ride with will definitely give me a boost.
Salida is a fine place to hang out and I seem to have a lot of unfinished business to do, like read my book and eat. My legs are still sore from Climbing Mt Ebert. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to jump on my bike and ride 60 miles the day after Elbert.
Live and learn.
Today for lunch I went to Pizza Hut for their $4.99 buffet. Seemed like a great idea at the time but I overloaded. I'll try not to do that again...
More T-storms in the forecast until next week.

September 16, Day 49 Salida Rest Day - or should I say Rain day

2009-09-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

Easy day hanging around town today. I like Salida. Nice old town/down town with bike shops, outdoor store, restuarants, parks and a river runs through it. What I can't figure out is how Walmart comes along and squeezes into this nice little town competing with all these nice small stores. Doesn't seem right.

I can't help but notice the healthy bicycle population in Colorado. In town here, bikes everywhere.

I got word from my forward scout, Rich Cromwell, that the off road trails in New Mexico have turned to sludge. There is a warning on the maps that some of these trails are impassable when wet. I might be looking for a detour until things dry out a bit. It's supposed to rain to some degree through the weekend. The mornings are so promising with blue skies and sun but by noon the clouds take over. Started raining by 1PM today and then off and on.

My legs are still sore from that Mt Elbert hike.

September 15, Day 48 Leadville to Salida 61 miles

2009-09-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

It rained last night but it was cold and dry this morning. Apparently, there is a "cutoff low" (weatherman speak) that is slowly revolving around me. So, everyafternoon, the clouds build and T-storms happen. Apparently, it's a little late in the year for this pattern but it becomes a daily concern, not knowing where I'll be. The temperature was 34 degrees when I started this morning. I noticed several cars that had frost scraped off the windshield. I had to put on my leg warmers and full fingered gloves as I headed downhill from Leadville's lofty perch. My legs are very tender from yesterday's hike, but it was pretty much downhill hill to Salida. It was all pavement today with mostly 8' shoulders. The ride to Buena Vista was especially tranquillo. Leadville = 10,000', Salida = 7000'
I followed the Arkansas River the whole way. I stopped to fish but was skunked (again). I'm due for a good day, otherwise I'm mailing my fishing gear home!
The ride today was down scenic Highway 24 in the shadow of the Collegiate Peaks. Mt Yale, Mt Princeton, Mt Harvard, all over 14,000' high. There must have been an oversight, though, because I didn't see Mt Penn State.
I'm taking tomorrow off to get my legs ready for the big climb over Marshall Pass. Towns are few and far between, so finding a town with basic services like bike shop, library, grocery store make it a good layover location. Salida has it all and the location along the river surrounded by 14,000' peaks makes it very attractive.