August 15

During the night, the rain began to fall and Don became worried that the creek might flood and take our bikes. We got up and pushed our bikes to the closed bathroom that had a porch. As we were pushing our bikes, we both got to experience peanut butter mud, the type of mud that sticks to your wheels and is very hard to get off if it dries. We probably only pushed our bikes for 10 feet but that was enough to get the wheels completely covered. We also had about an inch of mud on our sandals. Nothing we could do about it till morning so back to bed we went. When we got up the next morning we saw our wheels, what a mess. We decided that it was best if we just push our bikes up to the pavement and load our gear there. Walking back and forth to the tent was a lesson in perseverance. The mud would be thick on the sandals and we would have to go to the creek to wash them off. Glad the creek was here. We packed up our bikes and tried to remove some of the mud, with not a lot of success.

We were lucky and only had mud on our wheels, some bikers have gotten it into their drivetrains and the bike can’t move.

We tried walking with the bikes and then thought it might be better to ride quickly to see if we could scatter the mud. The road out of the river bottom is steep so we alternated between pushing and riding. Eventually most of the mud wore off.

The road was not fun as there was plenty of washboard and plenty of traffic. A grader was also working and had part of the road not ridable for bikers. Amor Fati!

When the road went thru an area called Gore Canyon, we stopped to read why it was named Gore. Gore was an early white man explorer who shot 1000’s of bear, bison and elk. Much to the Native Americans dismay the animals were just left to rot. A van pulled into where we were stopped and I asked if they had any extra water. They did and gave us a couple of water bottles. We weren’t in desperate need, but this will make the next miles go better. Our bad road finally turned to pavement and took us to the town of Kremling. The mercantile there was well stocked and we enjoyed fruit and yogurt on our cereal. We also met a couple from Switzerland which we had met before arriving to Pinedale. After eating some more donuts, we decided to purchase some bagels and cream cheese to eat later.

The road out of Kremling was a great gravel road, unlike the one to Kremling. The sun was shining, but in the distance storm clouds were building.

We knew that we had some high areas to peddle to day and needed to beware of the weather.

As we continued on. we saw some lightning strike some of the high peaks and then the rain started to fall. We didn’t want to go any higher so we put our rain gear on and parked the bikes to see what this storm was going to do. Initially it was just some rain and when it let up I ran to my bike and got the tarp which we just threw over us. I also grabbed the bagels and cream cheese so as the storm continued we were able to fill our stomachs. The rain and thunder intensified so we were glad not to be on the top of the pass.

Afternoon build up and then came the storm.

Finally it seemed we were going to get a break in the weather. We packed up our bikes and thought we would ride onward until another storm cell came through. We decided to head back to a farmhouse that had a barn nearby. When we arrived back to the house a woman was letting her dog in so we asked her if we could take shelter in her barn. She gave us permission and we waited out the hard rain. We finished our last bagel and ate some M&M;s We were able to warm up and hopefully ride the last 7 miles to a campsite.

The rain stopped and off we went. We went over a section that had boots on each of the fence posts, unfortunately there was too much moisture in the air to take photos. We were also pleasantly surprised that there was a lot of downhill to the campsite so we made good time getting there. The two bikers from Switzerland were there. They had hidden out in the bathroom when the storm was occurring . We got our tent set up and had dinner before the rain started falling again. It was a good feeling to not have to worry about a creek rising tonight and we are on gravel so no peanut butter mud.

Campsite Horseshoe Campground

Miles peddled 45

August 16

It was a good night of sleep, not having to worry about mud or a rising creek. We were off early to go up and over Ute Pass. After about 3 miles of gravel we hit pavement which will take us up and over the pass. It was a steady up with more traffic than we had anticipated,. We found out why when we passed the Henderson mine, a Molybdenum mine. It is a very large mine that employees lots of people. The sun came our at Ute Pass and we enjoyed having the good weather.

Glad we went over this morning instead of yesterday.

The decent of Ute Pass was all on pavement and quite steep. Needless to say it was a fast ride to the bottom. We hadn’t gotten any water around the pass due to all the mining. We stopped at a forest service campground to see if we could get some water there. There was no potable water and the host said we would either have to drink out of the creek or get some at a store 10 miles away, We had enough for breakfast and a little more so decided to eat and then continue heading south. We noticed a small park on the way down that had water so we were back into having full water bottles again. Don was happy to find a gas station that had coffee and I got a bottle of ice tea. We are now on a nice bike path that will take us by the Dillion reservoir .

The bike path is great,. but the weather is deteriorating .

We are planning on camping at Heaton Bay tonight which has over 300 campsites. We didn’t think we would have any problems getting a site, but were we wrong. There weren’t a lot of campers in the campground and the sign at the road alluded to the fact that there were still sites available. As we checked out the numerous loops all the signs said reserved. It was starting to rain pretty hard and we were looking forward to getting out of it. At one point Don slammed on his brakes and I didn’t notice till I found myself sprawled on the ground. He thought he had seen an available sign, but that wasn’t the case. Fortunately other then a broken cradle bottom holding my Salsa fork bag and a few bruises, we were shortly back on the mission of finding a site. We stopped at the host site and were told by the man we were out of luck, there were no sites. His wife, however, was quite helpful and called another campground in the area. They assured us that we should have no problem there. So off we went to the next campground. At least we are on bike path. There is a lot of traffic here!. We decided to stop for lunch at a small marina. As we were heading that way we noticed a familiar looking biker. It was a women from Wales that we had met about 3 weeks ago. We did some catching up and then headed to the small restaurant which had been given the award for the best burger in the town of Frisco. Don agreed that the burger was a 10. The rain started coming down hard so we hurried to the campground. Alas when we got there, we also saw lots of reserved signs and no open signs. We went to the host site and were informed that due to all the rain, they hadn’t checked to see if there were any vacant sites. We are not liking this theme. She did say that the last campground in the area should have a place as it is mostly a parking lot. We found out that there was a concert in the area so that was the reason for no availability. We headed there and indeed found a site. We really didn’t care what our site looked like, we just needed a place to set up our tent. We did some quick teamwork, got the tent up and headed to bed.

Campground Pine Grove Campground

Miles peddleded 38

August 17

It rained most of the night, our hyperlite tent does fantastic in the rain. By morning the rain had stopped and we were ready to be on the route. We had cell service this morning and were glad to get the election results for the primary from Alaska. The results made us smile. Even though the sun was out, all the rain from last night had soaked our bikes and putting the tent away wasn’t pleasant. We were damp and the temperature was in the low 40’s. I put on my leg warmers and they felt so good. We were thankful that the bike path went all the way to Breckenridge. A cousin who lives in Denver recommended the Blue Moose for the place to have breakfast in this busy town. It was quite busy, but we were able to get seats outside and enjoy a fruit smoothie and coffee . The meal that came afterward was outstanding!

Our waitress whose name was Brittney told us of her thru hike of the Appalachian Trail. She now lives here with her family and gets her kids out as much as possible. When she brought us our bill, she smiled and said and here is a little trail magic. When Don looked at the bill, there was a 50% discount. She said that she can gift a 50% discount to friends once a week and she chose us!. People can make us smile!

Breckinridge used to be a major stopping point for trains in the west.

There are a lot of remnants of this era.

After breakfast we did laundry and then headed up Boreas Pass. This is the pass that the railroad used so the grade is quite rideable. The road to the pass is about 10 miles. Don had lived here in the 70’s when it was mostly a sleepy mountain town with a small ski resort, not any more! We were not sad to head out and get away from all the noise.The route up was quite scenic with information kiosks.

Finally the Pass

The highest we have been so far, we still have one higher !

One of the original railroad buildings. Some of the buildings here can be rented out in the winter

What goes up must come down and that it did as we descended to the town of Como. Several weeks ago we had met a biker who told us of the hospitality of Jeff who lives here. He told us to look for a green garage next to the gallery. I went into the gallery and Don checked out the green garage. The folks in the gallery weren’t very helpful and said there was no place to stay here. When I asked if they knew Jeff, they just said he drives a blue truck and they didn’t think it was here. As I headed out to find Don to tell him the news, he had talked to Jeff’s wife, Colleen and she welcomed us to stay in the green garage. This is going to work out great as our cousin from Denver is planning to meet us here and is bringing dinner. Jeff who did show up and his wife Collen were missionaries in the Philippines for 28 years. We enjoyed hearing their life stories and their gift of giving There was no charge to use the facilities which had beds, a kitchen, and bathroom..

The gallery, which also has the post office for Como and the green garage next to it.

Our cousin Aislynn arrived and the picnic feast began, She brought what our bodies were craving, kale salad, lots of fruit, chicken, bread, cheese and of course chocolate.

Campsite Green Garage in Como

Miles peddled 30

It was a good night of sleeping at Como. We really enjoyed meeting Jeff and Coleen and the timing was perfect to catch up with Aislynn, We even slept in some this morning and didn’t depart till 7:00. After doing a couple of short days, we hope to increase our mileage today.

We stopped in the small town of Hartzel, which seemed to be made up of real estate offices and a cafe. Apparently a lot of ranches are dividing up their land and selling 5 acre hobby ranches. After having a chocolate milkshake and blueberry pie, we purchased some Palisade Peaches for lunch later.

The cafe permits bikers to camp behind the cafe in a field. The waitress said that there were 7 bikers camped there last night. They were gone before we arrived. We often go the whole day with not seeing any other bikers.

Lots of cows in along the road, we imagine that this was buffalo territory at one time.

Roads this morning are really good gravel.

Finally we see a buffalo!

We are enjoying the sun today and so far good roads.

We stop for lunch to eat under a rare shade tree and enjoy the peach we bought this morning,

The plains of Colorado. One can see for miles!.

On some of the plains are travel trailers and small houses. We are assuming that these are the small acreages that were purchased. It definitely breaks up the landscape and for us not in a good way.

The road continues on with the good condition of the road deteriorating to a very washboard surface. When this happens our bike speed slows way down.

We also begin to run into very muddy sections which we are fortunate to be able to go around them. We can see why you wouldn’t want to ride this road if it was raining.

As we get near a pass, the road steepens and we appreciate the ability to walk when needed. We have passed very little water today that wasn’t in the middle of a herd of cows. Glad that we carried extra water and can dry camp tonight.

We found a beautiful spot to wild camp tonight.

Campsite pass before Salida

Miles peddled 60

It was a beautiful spot last night and oh so quiet. Chilly morning waited us as we packed up and began our descent into Salida. When the trees opened up to give us a view , we saw some of the 14,000 foot peaks of Colorado.

August 19

In 12 miles of downhill we will find ourselves in the town of Salida.

We had been told of this downhill and that we should have good brakes. After having done it I can see why we were warned.

There were lots of scenic views along the route with very large houses that were also enjoying the view. It had been a cold descent so we were looking forward to some hot drinks at a coffee shop in Salida called Bonnie and Clydes. By the time we finished our drinks, the sun was out and we were no longer cold. We headed over to the nearby Safeway to buy some food and check out what they had in case we were not able to pick up our resupply box. Don set outside while I went in to shop. A woman approached him with a bag of food and gave it to him. I guess Don looked hungry. We are in the mode of passing it forward. We had sent our resupply box to a friend. We had planned on arriving on a certain date, but then received a note saying we could come anytime. Their plans had changed and we didn’t have cell service for a couple of days so when we got to Salida they were not there. Fortunately they lived next door to a neighbor who had a key and was able to find the box and give it to us. We had taken our bikes to get some sealant added and brake pads changed so when Don went to get the bikes I repacked our food. There was a storm warning for early evening so thought that we should take off while the weather was still good and find a camp. We were heading towards Ponchas Pass on pavement then we would turn on the road to Marshall pass. There was thunder in the distance and it was hard to tell how long we could peddle. A man driving in the opposite direction actually turned his truck around and said we could put our bikes in the back of the truck and he would take us to the top of the pass. We thanked him, but declined the offer. Once we turned on the road to Marshall Pass the rain began. We knew there were several informal sites which we could stop and camp. We checked one out that looked good, and first put up the tarp , then the tent. We pulled out a meal, ate and went to bed. The rain is still falling and the ground around us is saturated. We wonder what the roads are going to be like if the rain doesn’t stop.

Campsite Near Shirley trailhead

Miles peddled 27 miles