The full route from Waterton Canyon south of Denver to Durango.August 3rd at 730am I start my long ride south
This is the beginning of a long detour around the Lost Creek Wilderness. It’s exposed and desolate through the Hayman Burn area and not a great place to be in these storms.More stormy skies on the Matukat Road. I manage to stay dry enough with those nasty purple skies staying out in front.End of Day 1 near the small isolated town of Tarryall. It was a very windy and wet night as those clouds finally spilled over the ridge during the night.Early morning on Day 2 near the Tarryall reservoir. It was cold out here and my hands were frozen stiff.The infamous Stage Stop Saloon. The owner of this place was sitting on his porch and greeted me by name as I pulled in! He had been tracking me on the race website…pretty cool. He opened up his bar for me to get some water, gave me a cup of coffee and we chatted for a bit.Finally getting closer to the high country near Kenosha Pass. After the 75 mile Tarryall detour I am back on the Colorado Trail here.Beautiful early afternoon on Georgia PassMorning of Day 3 nearing the crest of the Ten Mile Range. Gorgeous wildflowers this year in the mountains.The brutally-difficult-to-get-to-hike-with-a-bike crest of the Ten Mile Range! This one killed me last year, but I managed pretty well this year and did it an hour faster.My emergency fix on my broken spoke using my fancy kevlar replacement! One piece of gear in the ‘you never want to have to use’ category.Janet’s Cabin tucked into its beautiful mountain hideaway. Part of the 10th Mountain Division hut system.Stormy skies abound atop the Elk Ridge near Kokomo Pass. I didn’t linger long as the thunder was booming in all directions.Atop Elk Ridge. This is a great spot that I have now been to three times. It’s way above treeline, windswept and full of squeaking Marmots running all over the place.Outside Leadville…beauty!Nice camp on Day 3 – one of the only nights it wasn’t raining while I set up my tent. This is my new tent, the Tarptent Contrail. It was a great piece of ‘comfort’ gear to have.Riding through everyone’s favorite railroad tunnels outside BV. I had a tailwind here and was absolutely flying along this road!Nice early morning near Twin Lakes…another beautiful spot in the Collegiate Peaks area.Davin at Boneshaker Cycles fixing my rear wheel using his own wheel. Very good guy who got me back on route taking 2 hours out of his day to do so.Starting to feel the effects of all this climbing and hiking with the bike. Tough climb here on a misty morning. Good views though of the Chalk cliffs.Cows! One thing you just never expect to see in the backcountry…elk, deer, fox, even bear yes. But Cows?! Always make me chuckle.Starting to get wet and cold now. Terrible weather in Segment 14 near Salida.Officially soaked through and demoralized here. Unsure what to do and where to go, so I just keep moving forward but not for long. I hit US-50 shortly after this pic and decide to go to Gunnison instead.Seeking shelter and trying to warm up in the abandoned Monarch Mountain Lodge.Nice view of the Gunnison River on the beginning of Day 5.Storms and cliffs outside Lake City. The routine of the afternoon storms was amazing, like clockwork every day and night. Bad weather is certainly more exciting than clear blue skies, but more demanding to deal with for sure.Anyone for the Vickers ‘Nude’ Ranch?Another rainy evening on Day 5 outside Lake City. But it was quiet and peaceful out here, and the peaks hiding in the fog and mist was very pretty.So green! So much rain! Beautiful valley here along Lake San Cristobal.Why don’t I live here? Spectacular cabin here outside Lake City nearing the Cinnamon Pass road.End of Day 6 and muddy! I camped here high above Cottonwood Creek which was running pretty high. Made for a peaceful camp, but rained all night again.Early morning on Day 7 on the Cinnamon Pass road and cold, cold, cold! Man it was nice to see the sun here.Classic early morning blue bird day with big 14ers in the distance.More beautiful wildflowers climbing up Cinnamon Pass.Nearing the top of a long climb up to Cinnamon Pass, all I could think of for most of the hike on the last couple of miles (can see the road behind me) was Neil Young and ‘Cinnamon Girl’!High Point of the trip at 12,600 feet. Couple guys on big loaded up dirt bikes took this photo. They were traveling the Trans America trail, dirt roads from N. Carolina to Oregon.Big mountain country in the Animas River valley looking toward Silverton. The descent was fast and furious.Looking out high above the old mining ghost town of Animas Forks.Year round homes of some seriously hardy 19th century miners. Above treeline, so far from any help, all but cut off in the winter…impressive acts to follow. There is something awfully inspiring about those old pioneers that blazed trails and narrow-gauge railroads into these big mountains.Setting sun on 14ers above Silverton before the skies opened up and drenched me yet again, with pea-sized hail mixed in this time!The result of an impressive downpour and hailstorm that caught me full in its fury. I was only a mile or so from town…so close!Soaked again! But at least I was in town and able to get into a restaurant to dry off a bit and have about 10 cups of coffee!450 down, only 50 miles left!The beautiful San Juan range in southwestern Colorado.A little friend I picked up along the way on the side of the road 🙂Getting a beer in Durango after 500 miles in 7 days.Weather on the drive home at the top of Wolf Creek Pass. Wild weather in the Rockies during the week I was out!
Hard to put into words exactly what this trip meant to me. It’s certainly not as glorious as it might look, or as I thought it might be…at the end of the day it’s cold and wet and lonely out there, and you’re sore and tired every morning, and sick of storms and cold food and wet gear. But every day I realized the incredible opportunity I have to be able to head out and live this kind of adventure in the big mountain country here in Colorado. It makes you realize how much we take for granted in our day to day lives: simple, yet incredibly vital things like shelter, running water, electricity, soft beds, heat. I stand inside the house now looking out the windows at the big storms rolling through and I get the chills thinking about my cold, dark, wet camps every night out there.
It’s a beautiful country though and any misery I may have suffered was all self-inflicted, and in some ways, to be expected. You don’t travel any sizable distance through the Rocky Mountains without experiencing Mother Nature at her most extreme. I was always praying for clear skies (and I got a few hours most days) but the storms make things awfully exciting.
Thanks to Wendy for all the support and for taking care of the kids and the dog and her job and the house and the bills…you made a dream of mine come true!
I tell myself that I won’t do this race again, two failed attempts at following the CT the full length. But this year was a success in more ways than I expected and I feel like I can finish the rest of the CT on my own some day.
But there are some pretty cool multi-day races popping up in places like northern Scotland and Israel and South Africa…hmmm 🙂
