Northwest
Here we go! Starting off
Here we go - we're leaving right now. There's a picture on the front page of us loaded with our gear. Nancy has about 30 pounds of gear and I have about 65 pounds loaded in the BOB trailer (too much!).
Our route: First southwest in Colorado to Gunnison for my 30th high school reunion. Then I'll continue on to the Northwest through Wyoming, Idaho, Washington state, and British Columbia to Vancouver. Nancy will fly up to Vancouver to ride the last week of the trip. Full details on the route page.
Wish us well!
-Randy and Nancy
Hayman Burn Area
We rode through the incredible Hayman Fire burn area (from the 2002 fire seasn) on the second day out. People told us it was like World War III, but we found it quite different. There was lots of ground cover, lots of green. The black trees were quite stark, but it was really a pleasant day. But the Goose Creek road we took had us gaining more than 4000 feet of elevation, and it was rough! What a day1
Mud!
There's not much I dislike when touring more than MUD! We got caught in a thunderstorm while riding (illicitly) on dirt roads in Antero Reservoir State Park, and we were just completely stopped by the mud. Nancy went down in a slippery section. I had to stop because the BOB trailer's wheel wouldn't go around any more. Mark had to clean everything out. It was bad. But we got enough mud off to continue riding, and eventually got to the end of the day!
Mark Shimoda
Mark Shimoda joined us for the ride from Denver to Gunnison and has been a complete delight. It was his first-ever bike-packing bike-camping, even though he's toured extensively. Mark rode strong and wonderfully and was a great travelling companion... And is eagerly planning more touring!
Trevor and Leanne
On the way down from Taylor Park we met English bike tourists Trevor and Leanne, who started in Phoenix and plan to ride all the way to Jasper, Alberta. Like us, they are taking back roads and they've hiked the Grand Canyon, been to Zion National Park and Moab, and are incredible travellers. The catalog of their travels would take days.
We stopped and camped together and have yet more European bike tourist friends!
Nancy, Mark, and Linda go home :-(
Well, we made it to Gunnison and had a wonderful weekend of riding, but Nancy, Mark Shimoda and his wife Linda all just packed up in the car Linda drove over on Friday, and they're all headed back to real life. Now I start a new adventure, heading for the Northwest!
Nancy: I ride in the snowfield
Here are Nancy's thoughts riding up to 12,000 ft Cottonwood Pass:
I ride up Cottonwood Pass
To the snowfields
From Buena Vista to Gunnison
I crank, I pedal, I rest
I ride to the snowfield.
I pedal, I spin, I eat and rest.
I ride to the snowfield
I join Randy; I join Mark
We ride on to the snowfield
Clawing, focus, bit by bit.
I ride in the snowfield.
Dandelions grow
Bonsai trees scratch a living, surviving in the snowfield,
as I ride
I ride in the snowfields
in the June sunny day
Sun encouraging me up the pass
Afternoon showers teasing
but never do they open up upon us, as I
ride in the snowfield.
The pass appears at the end of the snowfield,
I ride the line, the grade
Up past the trees, the flowers,
up into the snowfields.
I am strong, I can ride
I breathe the air from the snowfields.
I ride above the snowfields
I plant my feet
I am here.
Michelle and Myrtle in Crested Butte
Michelle (Mik-ELL) Veltri was an assistant scoutmaster for my Boy Scout troop when I was 11 years old in Gunnison. I liked him then and I still like him now - even though we've had no real contact in the 37 years since!
Michelle and his mother, Myrtle are trying to run the family ranch, hanging on by the edge of their being. Right now they have just a few cattle (15?) and had to sell off quite a few for cash last year.
They're the last holdouts of old Crested Butte, the Crested Butte of Italian immigrants who worked in the coal mine and ranched a bit on the side. Even though the town is now a completely different place, Michelle still hangs on as a bit of a museum of the old place.
Over the top from Paonia
I lived in Paonia in the early 1980's and stopped there on the way to visit a few people and thank others.
It seemed that I remembered a way to get over the mountains to Palisade directly from Paonia, and I found it on the map and checked with the Forest Service, and ... it works. But it was a gruelling pull up 3000-4000 feet on a dirt road (a good one). It was a delightful journey. I was happy to figure it out! (Stevens Gulch to Buzzard Divide Road to the Colbran-Silt Road, if you must know :-)
Baxter Pass
My dad and brother Collin have told me about the old railroad pass (now a dirt road) that runs north from Mack, Colorado up to Bonanza, Utah, so I've been interested for some time. Collin succeeded in making me believe I wouldn't get lost and die, so I tried it. I rode the 40+ miles west from Palisade to Mack, Colorado, which is *just* east of the Utah border. It wasn't hard to find the beginning of the route, but that was the last marking. It was a decent road, though, with lots of gas pipeline activity showing. Not much traffic - I didn't see a car for 20 miles on either side of the pass.
It was a dry and hot day - I went through more than a gallon and a half of water just to get over the pass. And it turned out to be quite a pass. I have no idea how a railroad could have gotten over it - it looks too steep, and the switchbacks too sharp. At one point I thought I was doing OK with the climb but stopped for a rest. I pulled out my red tarp and laid it in the middle of the road and promptly fell asleep. Very refreshing. But that shows you how much traffic there is on the road and how energetic I actually was.
I camped that night at beautiful McAndrews Lake on the far side, still in Colorado. I was very happy to find water like that that I could filter for the coming day, and it was a beautiful place to camp.
