A hiker asked me yesterday, why bike the CDT? I guess the answer is simple: 1) mountain biking is fun; and, 2) the CDT goes really pretty places. (Oh, and I guess—not something I would necessarily tell an inquiring stranger on the trail, but the fact that only a few people have done so. Getting to do something somewhat original is a huge part of the appeal.)
Morning was glorious—easy climbing into the alpine on efficient road and newly constructed trail.
Afternoon was hard—lots of hike-a-bike!
I took my first real crash of the trip today, pitching myself ass-over-teacups into a scree field. Fortunately, nothing is damaged that won’t heal or can’t be readily repaired with needle and thread. (I *did* put on my rain gear before sleeping to keep from bloodying my quilt…)
Overall, a nice mix of inspiring and challenging. Getting to finish the last ten miles on ridable trail today helped end things on a positive note.
Wow, what a lovely afternoon. After the quick and efficient pedal into Buena Vista this morning, I picked up my resupply and stopped by Black Burro Bikes for some new brake pads (yup!) and a little derailer TLC. While the bike was getting some love, I treated myself to a Beyond Burger and beer at Eddyline, then a mighty good cup of coffee and a pecan pie snack at the coffee shop next door. With my bike in good shape for the next thousand miles (not sure I’ll pass another bike shop between here and the end), I celebrated with an affogato, then pedaled three hours to Princeton Hot Springs. After a luxurious soak in their stream side pools, I pedaled another hour uphill to a lovely campground where I found level, flat ground for my tent and a pile of wood ready for the fire I’m now enjoying. Life is good!
The Colorado Trail (CoT) continues to serve up delightful and very ridable miles. Tomorrow I’ll leave the CoT to rejoin the CDT for a high elevation stretch to Monarch Pass, where the two trails rejoin.
My Garmin watch annoying ended yesterday’s activity prematurely, so the last half of yesterday and first half of today are their own separate activity.
The trail traversing along Mount Elbert was so fun I definitely scared myself a bit, ripping along far faster than I typically allow myself (I’ve come too far at this point to end my trip in a hospital instead of at the southern border). The aspen groves were an absolute delight—strikingly tall in some places, and with turning leaves in others.
I settled into a lovely campsite overlooking Twin Lakes and made good time into Buena Vista to resupply and get some fresh brake pads. It’s been nice having regular access to civilization for the last 10 days or so. From this point south, civilization touch points are going to become fewer, further between, and smaller, with increasingly remote stretches in between.
The 15-mile Searle Pass segment is almost certainly the best thing I’ve ridden since Canada. The climb up is very rideable, pleasant, and scenic, providing relatively quick and easy access into the alpine (reminiscent of the gentle climbs up the broad glacial valleys of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula). The alpine section offered epic views in every direction and had lots of friendly marmots. The downhill consisted of long sections of fast, smooth single track, punctuated with lovely aspen groves and the occasional spicy rock garden. It’s sunny and warm, and the trail is just a bit tacky still from the recent rains. Overall 10/10 mountain biking!
I passed a crew of AmeriCorps volunteers on the way down, who were pruning back trees and fixing eroded sections of the trail. It both breaks my heart (as an AmeriCorps alum) and greatly worries me (as a trail user who appreciates tree-free, not-eroded trails) that the current federal administration has chosen to defund much of AmeriCorps. It seems, increasingly, that if, as users of public lands, if we want well maintained trails, it’s going to be almost entirely on us to maintain them.
I’ll admit: being on the Colorado Trail (CoT), it feels nice as a bikepacker to be a primary user. It’s somehow nice to see other tire tracks on the trail, and for hikers on the trail to have some conception of what I’m doing with by bike loaded with bags. It’s also quite nice being on trails that get ridden a fair bit—not just that the trails have more flow, but also all the visual indicators of the optimal line for bikes. Aside from the gnarly Gold Mine trail over the Tenmile range, the CoT has been very well maintained, ridable, and fun—in keeping with my expectations!
While stopped off at the top of Searle Pass, a marmot, lazily lounging in the sun, partly raised itself, looked around, yawned (yup, I saw a marmot yawn today) and flopped back down. Cutest thing I’ve seen all trip!
Sleeping at 12,000’ Webster Pass last night wasn’t my first choice, but it was the only way that yesterday made sense. Arriving shortly after sunset, I found a somewhat sheltered and reasonably flat spot, pitched my tent, and settled in the night. Prying myself out of my quilt was quite the struggle this morning with a steady breeze and the first real frost of the trip. Once packed and pedaling , I noted with a bit of satisfaction the thin skim of ice on top of the puddles in the trail.
I enjoyed a few miles of excellent alpine riding this morning before dropping down to Georgia Pass and joining the Colorado Trail (CoT). I’ll ride the (bike-legal) Colorado Trail for the next ~250 miles.
The first 15 miles of the CoT were a rootin’, tootin’ good time—the purest Type 1 fun I’ve had on the bike since Butte. So good to be on bike friendly singletrack!
Crossing over the Tenmile Range (between Breckenridge and Copper) was more of a slog—lots of hike-a-bike up and dragging the brakes down the chunky trail down. (While stopped off in Breck and looking for dinner options in Copper, I accidentally got Google Maps directions to take the flat shared use path *around* the Tenmile Range to get to Copper in 70 minutes—not what I wanted to be thinking about while slogging for five hours *over* the range!)
The change of seasons and loss of latitude is most pronounced in the shortening days. The sun set at 7:35 pm tonight. The shortening days mean more tent time and less trail time, which is already slowing down my pace.
