Week 5: Busy Colorado
Thanks for joining me on my trip along the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from Whitefish, MT, to Antelope Wells, NM. I'll be sending this newsletter about once a week. It will be in a narrative journal format with a few pictures. To see more pics, please check out my Instagram account.
Day 29: Brush Mountain Ranch to Steamboat Lake
Brush Mountain may win the blue ribbon for best cyclist haven on the Great Divide. It felt like home the instant I got there and Kirsten made it very comfortable to be there. The morning I left there were almost 15 cyclists who all got a nice breakfast, a portrait taken out front, and a ringing of the porch bells as we departed one-by-one.
The road rolled out at a gradual incline for several miles while I chatted with a fellow named Walter that was riding the Colorado section. He'd done New Mexico last fall. He was a retired robotics engineer that had dismantled munitions for the government. It's always fun to hear everyone's stories.
Walter pulled over for a break and I continued on until hitting a steep incline of very rocky road which I alternated between riding and walking for a mile and a half to the top at 9,800'. The truly tough part, however, was the steep rocky downhill on the other side which lasted for many forearm-aching miles as I gripped my brakes trying not to bounce off the road. I hadn't seen a road like that since Montana.
Overall it was a short mileage day. I found my campground at the bottom of the hill near Steamboat Lake. I opted not to ride into Steamboat Springs since accomodations there were pricey and surely would have fallen flat compared to Brush Mountain. The campground was nice, but a plume of smoke from the Morgan Creek fire in the distance put a damper on the view.
Day 30: Steamboat Lake to Stagecoach Reservoir
I woke early in a failed attempt to beat the morning traffic heading into Steamboat Springs on the few miles of highway I had to ride. Unfortunately it was still busy and there was little shoulder to the road. There was also a thick layer of smoke that had settled overnight from the nearby fire. Luckily Steamboat is a cycling hotspot, so the locals are used to sharing the road.
In town I found a bustling breakfast spot and ate my fill before heading south on roads that were full of day-riding cyclists, which was something I did not expect on a Tuesday. It was a fairly easy ride to Stagecoach Reservoir where I had strategically reserved a campsite. The Muddy Creek fire had closed the Lynx Pass road for several weeks which the route normally uses. A detour around the fire used paved highways, so I wanted to be close to the detour so I could get it over with earlier in the day in hopes of fewer cars.
As it turned out, the Lynx Pass road opened again that very day. So I was happy to know I could avoid the detour the next day.
Day 31: Stagecoach Reservoir to Kremmling
True to word, the road was open and I was happy to stick to the original route. The destruction from the fire was visible for about a mile stretch on one side of the road with plenty of blackened trees and, unfortunately, a burned home. Thankfully the fire didn't affect the top of the pass which was a nicely forested, peaceful dirt road in the Routt National Forest. After fording a stream and rolling through some roller coaster hills, there was a tremendous open descent down to the Colorado River.
What goes down must come up. Immediately after crossing the river, I began a hot, shadeless climb up the side of the Gore Gorge. To make matters worse, the gravel road was frequented by recreational rafting traffic. Nevertheless, I slowly made my way, enjoying the views down into the gorge until I found myself rolling into Kremmling where an RV Park had a grassy, partially-shaded tenting area and showers calling my name.
Howard, who had taken time in Steamboat Springs to visit family, caught up to me that evening and we've spent the rest of the week riding together again.
Day 32: Kremmling to Silverthorne
Our challenge for the day was Ute Pass. We climbed steadily up past Williams Fork Reservoir and the Henderson Molybdenum Mine where the road turned to pavement, making the pass considerably easier to summit. Before too long we were riding into the busy Silverthorne area. Campgrounds were full, so we checked out a hostel which turned out to be rather sketchy. We ended up at a motel. Colorado has been the busiest state of the route by far.
Day 33: Silverthorne to Hartsel
Leaving Silverthorne we followed a network of bike paths for almost 20 miles through Dillon, Frisco, and eventually to Breckenridge. Boreas Pass Road follows an old railroad grade over the 11,482' pass, which means the steepness is relatively moderate.
The weather forecast was calling for storms to move through in the afternoon, so we didn't linger too long at the high elevation and made our way down to the historic town of Como where we could see the approaching rain. It looked drier to the south, so we kept moving along toward Hartsel, feeling only a few rain drops fall. In Hartsel we could see dark storm clouds and lightning over the next mountain ridge, but it never brought more than a few sprinkles.
Hartsel is a small town in the South Park basin of Colorado. It has two bar/restaurants and a gas station. It's also a cycling crossroads since the Trans America Route also passes through here. One of the bars lets cyclists camp in the back for free. The environment is not ideal, but when you're tired and just looking for a place to sleep, it does the job.
Day 34 & 35: Hartsel to Salida and rest day
With more rain in the forecast, we got up early to cover the 45 miles to Salida before lunchtime. Only one small climb stood in the way between us and possibly the best descent of the route so far—a 3,000' drop over 10 miles on a good surfaced gravel road and a stellar view of the Saguache Range across the valley.
In Salida we found a now familiar problem: lack of accomodations. Camping is almost non-existent, the hostels were booked, and even most of the motels were full. We ended up in a more expensive room than I'd like, but I get to enjoy a pool and hot tub. Plus I got to do laundry which was desperately needed.
Salida is a cool little town which reminds me of a tiny Portland. We're taking a rest day here. It's one of the last full service towns I'll hit for a while, so I'm taking advantage of having a bicycle shop at hand. I've read about the nasty thorns which can cause daily, if not hourly, tire punctures in New Mexico. One way of dealing with that is to convert to tubeless tires which contain a sealant to fill the holes as they happen. I'm having the conversion done while I'm here.
I'm well over halfway now with less than 1,000 miles to go to the border, yet there are many tough sections to come with towering mountain passes, arid remote stretches, and uncertain weather conditions. Stay tuned!
The numbers so far:
- 1,521 miles
- 4 states
- 15 Continental Divide crossings
- 11,482' highest elevation
- 0 times I've checked the news