Great Divide

I was able to join the Randy, Jeff and Ron on the first leg of an amazing self-supporting bike trip, which starts in central Colorado and will end at Copper Canyon in Mexico. The trip follows the Great Divide trail, which are mostly dirt roads through some of the most remote areas in the western United States.

The last three days we rode our bikes through mountain resorts, over mountains passes, along high alpine meadows and past miles of sage brushed high plains. Colorado is truly an awesome state with bright morning sun, ominous afternoon clouds, and striking sunsets.

Each person carries their own gear, food, and water on their bikes. Randy pulls a trailer called a Bob trailer, and the others use saddlebags called panniers. For the long trip each uses a mountain bike with front shocks and wide tires. For the three-day journey, I used my touring bike with road touring tires and no shocks. It was somewhat of a challenge staying up right through the 123 miles of dirt, sandy, muddy, rocky roads. But I rode cautiously when needed and rode fast when the roads were hard packed and clear. Coming down the passes my wrist ached from pounding of the washboards and my hands cramped from braking. The guys flew down the mountain past me but would stop and wait every few miles. It gave them a chance to inhale the vistas and me a chance to catch up. Read more · Lee más →: The first three days

Just a quick entry because I don't have much time in the library in Del Norte, Colorado. We had a glorious ride over Marshall Pass from Salida, then down to Sargents. It was so beautiful up there, right near timberline.

Along US 50 we stopped at a ranch to ask if they would let us camp - and they set us up in a hunter's cabin, complete with running water and a *hot* shower! It was a delight.

Then on over to Old Cochetopa Pass, which was a hard, hot climb, but another beautiful day. We stayed in Luder's Creek campground and could have stayed for days - could be the nicest campground we'll see.

Today we rode over Carnero Pass toward La Garita and then found some really funky doubletrack to ride into Del Norte on. Could it really be the planned Great Divide route? We don't think so. But it was a lot of fun. Real Mountain Biking.

All are well!

Jeff sez: If your ever get depressed, go for a bike tour. You meet the most wonderful people and it completely changes your outlook on life.

In Del Norte we met Alex Colville, 71 years old, who runs Casa de Madera Sports. Why does he go to work every day at 71 years old to bring in $20-$100 total sales? Only because he's helping people like us who pass through. It's an aid station disguised (thinly) as a business. He will top off your bottle of white gas. (Everybody else makes you buy a quart or a gallon.) He has one BOB trailer in stock, but has never sold one. He uses it for parts so that when somebody comes in with a problem with their trailer, he can send them right on their way. Then he gets the replacement parts from the BOB trailer people.

Alex has entertained visitors to Del Norte with woodcarving, photography, and as a climbing guide since the 1970's. He can talk your ear off, of course, but in a very nice way. He's still climbing! How many 71-year-olds are still climbing 5.8 and 5.10 routes? He says he put up a lot of fairly easy routes when he was in his 50's just so he'd have something to climb now. And he can still climb all but one of them.

Alex even provided a place for us to stay right at the foot of Indiana Pass, so we could get right up there and start climbing the pass in the morning, breaking up the climb.

Since Salida we've been doing basically a pass a day. Some are easier than others, but we've just taken them one by one:

• Marshall Pass, 10,842 ft. Discovered in 1873 by Lt. William L. Marshall when he wanted to find a quicker way to Denver from Silverton because he had an amazing headache.
• Old Cochetopa Pass, 10,067 ft. Discovered 1869, Toll road 1874. This is the way Marshall would have gone if he didn't have a toothache.
• Carnero Pass, 10,166
• Indiana Pass, or Grayback Mountain, 11,910 ft. The highest piont on the Great Divide Route
• Stunner Pass, 10,541 ft.
• La Manga (10,250 ft) and Cumbres (10,022) passes

Otto Mears, the "Pathfinder of the San Juans," seems to have built nearly every road originally and operated it as a toll road. He built the first road over Marshall Pass and the first over Cochetopa. And he built roads all over SW Colorado.

The following was phoned in by Randy to Nancy (who may have taken some liberties to embellish the adventure as told by Randy)

Coming down from Summitville and Indiana Pass we got our first good taste of rain.

Summitville is known for its designation as an EPA Superfund disaster. The late 1980's mining activity leached cyanide into the river and killed the river. (For more information see below...)

The rain forced us to seek shelter, which was offered by an old cabin that had seen better days. What was left of the roof leaked like a sieve so Jeff and Ron got out their tarps and put them up inside, which gave us true refuge from the rain. The Dutch couple, Wim Van Hoorn and Tiny Van Der Werff, soon caught up with us and joined us in trying to stay dry and warm. We got the stove out and cooked up some hot chocolate and shared the rest of the afternoon. A wonderful warming touring experience.

[More reading about Summitville superfund site]

This 1,400-acre site is located in Rio Grande County, approximately 18 miles southwest of Del Norte. The mine site is in the San Juan Mountains at an elevation of 11,500 feet, surrounded by the Rio Grande National Forest. The Alamosa River and its tributaries flow from the site through forest and agricultural land in Rio Grande and Conejos Counties and past the San Luis Valley towns of Capulin and La Jara. The Terrace Reservoir, used for irrigation, is on the Alamosa River 18 miles downstream from the site. Read more · Lee más →: Caught in the storm!

The following was phoned in by Randy to Nancy (she may have took some liberties to embellish the story as told by Randy)

This is a good story. Sorry Jeff. :-)

Alex in Del Norte gave us permission to stay on a property at the foot of Indiana Pass. It was a nice campground, tepee included. We had no neighbors until late that night when a father and his young son joined us. The child was about seven or eight and was one of the most hyperactive kids you would ever want to meet. The kind of kid that gets into anything and everything. We wondered if the young child was a candidate for Ritalin, a good drug for hyper kids needing to settle down for a while.

In the morning Jeff went in search for an outhouse which is always a wonderful thing to locate when the need arises. Well, Jeff goes sits down when all of a sudden he hears a rattle at the door and a click. He now finds himself in a small crisis he has never faced. Darn it! The impish boy has locked Jeff in the outhouse. Yes, there was a lock on the outside and now he is locked in. Yikes! He yells out in a very stern deep voice “Unlock this door NOW!” Which, the kid obeyed. He opened the door, peered in and then locked the door again with Jeff inside, just sitting there fuming.

This was not the way Jeff wanted to start the day. No relief for the needy.

So when Jeff eventually escaped from this awkward jail feeling somewhat abused and confused, he got on his bike and stormed away, away from this unruly child who strikes fear into grown men’s hearts. Read more · Lee más →: Jeff gets locked in the outhouse

After descending from Platoro, Colorado, the Great Divide route goes over La Manga Pass and then takes off into the New Mexico boonies toward El Rito and then Abiquiu. We had hoped to go that way, but feared that the afternoon rains we've had every day would make it impossible.

Well, we tried to go that way today, but got a mile or so down the route and talked to a rancher who had turned around due to the incredible slick and difficult adobe mud he ran into. He thrilled us with his description of the territory - he talked like something out of an old movie, describing the places and how awful they are. But we decided that discretion is the better part of valor and turned around.

We've experienced adobe in the bicycles before. What happens is it gets all caked around your tires, then fills in the spot where your brakes are, then your wheels won't go around any more. You have to poke it all out with a stick to even push your bike again. Then you get more. It just wouldn't work. So we took the alternate route to Chama, NM, and will ride to Abiquiu on the highway tomorrow.

By the way, Ron's road rash is healing nicely, and he's riding strong. He still has no feeling in the two little fingers of his left hand, so hopefully that will come back.

Of the three of us, Ron is the one who seems to have the knack for negotiating. (It must be all those years in business) We send him into places to get the best deals which is usually when we are looking for a campsite or a hotel. For those who know Ron, he has a quiet unique wit yet there is always a twinkle in his eye. He is definitely at his best when negotiating a business deal. I would like to share with you some classic examples of his these talents.

In Abiquiu, New Mexico while looking for a campsite, we sent him into the office where he reportedly said: "My buddies have a spot already picked out by the river but I thought I would check in with you first.”

In Chama the female host of the campsite commented on how bad his bandaged road rash must be. He replied to with an impish smile "This is nothing you should see me with my clothes off."

In Horca, they quoted a price of $65.00 for the night. Ron replied, “I guess that's ok but we will not be able to afford to eat tonight” It worked; we ended up spending $50.00 for a room.

He met his match at the Sands Hotel in Grants, NM. He said the hotel owner “Wow, $35.00 dollars is a lot for a room. The place down the street has a room for $19.95. Which the owner replied "Go on down there and tell him I sent you, I have a deal with that guy. I send him all the first rate cheapskates that come here wanting a better deal." Yes you guessed it, we spent the $35.00 for a softbed and a warm shower.

:-)

Of three major sections on the Northern New Mexico Great Divide Trail, we have only been able to do one. It has been raining here every afternoon. The mud is so thick we could not get our bikes through it if we had to. We have had to take alternate routes on pavement.

In one place when we did ride on some adobe mud, our tires picked up big globs of mud. The wheels refused to go around, the mud jammed between the brakes and the forks, creating one heck of an adobe mess.

We hope we can do the next off road section from Grants to Pie-town. We will see tomorrow.

Hello from Silver City, NM, in the far south of the state. We've covered a lot of territory!

Since the last time I posted, we've had two occasions to do what we call a "dry camp". That's where you carry all your water for the day, all the water you need to camp at night, and the water you need for the next day.

The first time we did this was leaving Abiquiu and going to Cuba - We had a really steep incline to climb on a fairly rough road. And we each carried 9-10 liters of water (2 to 2.5 gallons of water). that's 16-20 pounds of additional water for the ride, on a big uphill! We were successful, but actually had carried too much water and were pouring it out the next day.

The most recent time was in the Gila National Forest, and we each carried 7-8 liters of water, and that was adequate (this time - it's hard to guess how hot the day will be!)

In a dry camp, we don't waste any water for washing if we can help it, and don't throw out any water from cooking. And after doing a dry camp, it's a mighty wonderful thing to make it to running water (or some other water source) the next day!