GDT Day 33 - Stunner CG to Elk Creek CG at Horca

Fri. Sept. 2, 2016

Start - ~9800'
High pt  10582'
Lo pt 8725'
End Elv ~8725'
Climbing 1000'

Miles 33.9
Total time 5:30
Ride time 3:45
Day with BOB 31

Short day today, and I use a bit more time before departing to try to let the intemittant sun try to dry out gear,  though not alot of success. Day starts with a 700 ft climb over Stunner Pass and a switchback downhill to Plataro.
I get some good views of the red mountains, with their colorful mineral rich ore exposed to sun and rain.
I stop at the lodge in Plataro and have a hot lunch for a change. That burger tasted good. They have a board where the divide racers sign in. They sometimes stay open late during the race to feed late arriving racers, as it is the first place to get food since Del Norte.
Then it is an easy 20+ mile cruise down the beautiful Conejos River vale, dodging dark clouds, and chasing sun patches.  Nice looking mountains are quilted with patches of aspen groves. I will be back in the fall sometime, and perhaps to fish.

I wander into Horca early, and the one retail restuarant/grocerye stablishment is shutdown, another in an unfortunate pattern along the route.
I take the back way to Elk Creek CG since it appears the route road is washed out. I score a campsite right next to the creek and the weather is sunnier down here, so
I start drying things out. With all of the rainy weather, I have been careful to segregate gear to always make sure I have dry change while biking, and dry socks, shoes, and clothes for camp. That said, I am cold much of the time in this rainy weather pattern, both ascending and descending. I am hoping for dry biking shoes and socks for the morrow, and it looks like Mother Nature will help this afternoon.

GDT Day 32 - Del Norte to Stunner CG

Thur. Sept. 1, 2016

Start - ~7874'
High pt  11910'
Lo pt 7874'
End Elv ~9800'
Climbing 4800'

Miles 44
Total time 9:00
Ride time 6:45
Day with BOB 30

This the BIG DAY; the most climbing in any given day to the high point of the route. I think this os the highest I have been on a MTB. The highest the BOB has been.

I got up early today and packed up. Mostly to partly cloudy, though the clouds retreat quite a bit with the growing reach of the sun. A good sign. No cooking as I grab a coffee and a yummy breakfast burrito at The Perks on my way out of town. It is about 24 miles from town to the summit of Indiana Pass. It is about half paved, half good gravel road, but most of the climbing is on dirt. I did have to ride in the ditch for a mile on the paved section due to fresh tar road work. Nice ranching valley followed the pavement, with the valley narrowing and getting quite a bit steeper as the pavement ends, and it stays climbing for 12 miles non stop after that point. I can see there are dead groves of conifers up higher. As I reach those lofty elevations, I can see that spruce genocide has occured, at least for a certain age tree.
I crest the pass, which is right at treeline at this latitude, having escaped the dark clouds that were building during my ascent. But breaching the pass, it is quite clear I will not escape their fury for long, as there is a large rainstorm occupying the basin further down. This does put some square top mountains in ever fading relief until they are drowned in grey, not too far distant I am afraid.
I change to dry and warmer clothes and rain gear and head on down. I get a mile or two before I need to hide under a friendly group of firs. I have lunch to bide the time and wait out the heaviest of the rain.
I restart and start peddling down toward Summitville, an old gold campsite and current superfubd site. This leg of the route it is advised to carry extra water since a long strech of the route is contaminated. Don't see much of the devastation other than the brightly covered creek as I a in the middle of 2.5 hours of steady rain, and my reality has narrowed to the road and the odometer mostly. There are a couple of modest climbs out of the Summitville basin, and I  am actually glad for them, as they help keep me warm and hypothermia at bay. I soon reach the top of the climb, close to the continental dividen near Elwood Pass, and the long downhill to Stunner begins, and so does a growing chill. The bike is showing the aftermath of a long wet ride, everything has mud or grit on it.

Setting up camp in the empty campground helps get the blood flowing good again. Despite reports of a pump, I  can't find it and it looks to me it was removed. The local portion of the Alamosa river is contaminated as well, in part due to natural breaching of heavy metal ore, and also some mining. Good thing I hauled the extra water, as I have just enough to make dinnet anf breakfast work.
Partially cloudy as I prep dinner and go to bed, but I detect 4 or 5 rain showers over night. The next morning, the sun breaks through as oft as not, helping warm my body and spirits. Cool clouds are born in the forested ridges and set free into the morning light to drift to their destiny (likely to rain on me layer 😉)