Great Divide: Colorado ⛰
Welcome to my reflection on state #2 in our northbound journey through the middle of America (and Canada). Six months ago, my best friend Will Reynolds and I embarked on a life-changing experience on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. The Colorado portion of the GDMBR shocked our systems with elevation gain, outstanding generosity, and radical landscapes. This is the second of 4 blog posts outlining the characters we encountered and the adventures we experienced.
All photography taken by Will Reynolds
Chapter 5 Country & Family Inn
We start the climb into Colorado quite late (if you read my New Mexico post, you know why) and we're equally as impressed with the landscape the second time as we were the first. This climb follows an old railroad track that winds through the mountain, crosses streams, and weaves through the aspens. I get captivated by the landscape and the lack of fluids in my body and fall far behind Will. We reach the top of the ~1,000 ft climb and are introduced to snow, 40-degree wind chill, and a long descent into Horca, CO. As we entered Horca, we were greeted by two friendly individuals informing us of the road ahead and offering us the last donut of their baker's dozen. Our bodies are confused by the change in temperature, but we press onto Platoro, CO. The road is rocky and we put on all layers as sleet starts to fall from the sky, 30 miles later we reach an idyllic mountain town with a sign displaying "Market & Deli", we reach the market and all of the lights are out, the sun begins to set and the precipitation picks up. I knock on the door and a nice group of people answer offering to make us dinner, explain the power outages due to the wildfires, and convince us to stay in their renovated airstream. We wake up the next morning to two familiar Canadians ordering breakfast and making the staff laugh. Will and I are relieved to reconnect with our "trail parents" and set off for the highest point on the Great Divide.
Indiana Pass is steep and long, but the miles pass quickly as we ascend above the tree line. We reach 11,000 feet in elevation and our lungs, feet, and hands can feel every bit of it. We prepare for the descent with every layer we have and didn't touch our pedals all the way to Del Norte, CO. We share a celebratory beer with Andre and Greta, learn more about their lives, and part ways for the night. Will and I scramble to find lodging...again and come across the Country & Family Inn. We remember Andre pointing out their 1-star reviews, but pay no attention as the rates are cheap. We bike to the motel, ring the doorbell, and are greeted by a member of the Addams Family who had just been electrocuted back to life. Will and I view the premises and immediately identify with their Google rating. Gomez walks us to our "room" as we pass cars with no wheels, mattresses across the parking area, and boarded windows. We enter the room, our nostrils fill with smoke, we take one look at the single twin bed and decide we'd rather sleep literally anywhere else. We continue our Google search and determine it is okay to sleep in the town park.
The park is relatively welcoming, the grass is lush, the bathrooms are decent and park attendees are winding down their picnics. Will and I make some calls, check the forecast, secure our food in stuff sacks, and establish camp under some nice trees. We both fall into a deep sleep after a long day… two hours later we are awoken by the sound of water obliterating the sides of our tents. I think we're in the midst of our first Colorado rain shower, but the sound is too irregular for normal rain. Will yells over to me and we both realize we had set up camp amongst an army of sprinklers. Will jumps out of his tent and places water bottles over the sprinkler heads, this works for a moment, but we soon realize that nothing can save us from the showers. We give up on a solution and choose to face the consequences in the morning. Luckily nothing got too wet and we're relieved we didn't wake up at the Country & Family Inn.
Chapter 6 Madison (Mad Dawg)
We leave Del Norte in shock, but eager to get to Salida, CO for a rest day. We continue to crisscross paths with G & A, we share pie, stories, campsites, tea, and coffee all the way to the next town. Will and I find the energy to finish a climb and complete Marshall Pass around sunset. This is one of the most beautiful climbs as the light pierces through the trees and the setting sun bounces off the snow-capped mountains. The descent is chilly and we decided to camp at the base for a short ride into town in the AM. The next morning we quickly pack up camp and make it to Salida right as my tire goes flat and my headset wriggles loose. At this point in our journey our first trail angel, Madison Reynolds enters the picture. Madison is Will's sister and made her way from Colorado Springs to spend the day with us. We hit the bike shop, slam some pancakes, go thrifting and walk along the water font. We began the Google search for lodging and find the last room in Salida, the family suite at the Salida Hostel. Madison drops us off, helps us settle into our 6-bed suite, and makes her way back to Colorado Springs. This is the first moment we get to settle down, reflect on our time in New Mexico and do a proper load of laundry.
We make pizza plans with Andre & Greta at the famous Moonlight Pizza and Brew Pub. This is one of my favorite meals with G & A, we laughed at the Del Norte Sprinkler incident, learned some useful tips for a long-term relationship, and shared two large delicious pies. We head back to the hostel and Will and I eat 4 ice cream sandwiches each. The morning is spent writing postcards, drinking coffee, making calls, and reading...hard to believe we're still living off our bikes. The morning blends into the afternoon, I get a haircut from Debbie at the skate park barber shop while Will searches for bike tools and water vessels. We end this night the same as the last, sharing pizza with Greta and Andre at the Moonlight Pizza & Brew Pub... Oh, and Will puked from the ground beef on the pizza, we've recently discovered his allergy to red meat.
Chapter 7 Mike
We get a late start out of Salida after picking up our freshly serviced bikes and indulging in everything bagels. Neither of us really wants to leave, but we muster up the strength and depart around 11 am. We have a 75-mile day ahead and start it off with two buddies from Denver headed in the same direction for a single track Saturday. Will and I settle into our respective conversations and find our new friends a great way to pass the climb. We depart ways, the climbing gets steeper, the day gets hotter and the bodies are still in rest mode. We knock out 50 miles or so and all I can think about is how frustrated I am with Will. We ride to Hartsel, CO completely silent and hardly speak at lunch. It's pretty late at this point and we see a fellow rider roll in and make conversation with Mike who is on the Transamerica Bike trail that runs from the east to west coast. Mike is from Ireland and tells us how much he hates America after this trip. He dreamed it would be full of open landscapes, little traffic, and complete freedom. Instead, he found the trail to be dominated by trucks rolling coal, vicious dogs, and gun owners. Will and I can relate to the unexpected outcomes of a trip and feel sorry for Mike.
We depart from Hartsel and make our way toward Como, CO. Will and I continue the awkward silence and knock out the remaining 25 miles. We land in Como late as we read signs warning of heavy snow and trail closures. We ask some locals for the best camping options in town and they're uninterested in providing accurate answers. At this point, we receive a text from Andre who has made camp a couple of blocks down and made friends with a local. We pitch our tents next to theirs, share a cup of tea and settle in for another 30-degree night. Andre and Greta make for Breckenridge early and Will and I follow an hour behind. The silence breaks and we unleash our gripes. Our first fight, we all knew it was coming. The complaints and petty insults run back and forth for a good ten minutes. But we work through it and we soon realize we're two best buddies in the middle of America riding our bikes... What's there to complain about? That's when we run into an unleashed German shepherd showing his fangs, I knew we needed to watch out for bears, but not domesticated pets. Our goals are immediately aligned and make our way carefully around this disobedient, military-grade animal.
Chapter 8 Zach & Chris
We descend into Breckenridge and are immediately surrounded by hot people, e-bikes, and adventure-wear apparel. We spend time refueling at a café and make our way toward Silverthorne where a hip hostel awaits our presence. Silverthorne is great, we hit the REI and refuel at a delicious toasted sub joint, Cheeba Hut. Here we are approached by Zach & Chris who are enthusiastic about our bikes and we invite them to join us. Zach buys us some beers and we swap stories about our adventures. The people we have encountered on this adventure are truly the most generous individuals. Zach & Chris give us some tips on the area and we part ways after exchanging insta handles. Will & I arrive at the hostel (that could be mistaken for a WeWork) and check into our shipping container bunk room eager to start the next day.
Chapter 9 Emilee
We leave the hostel and coordinate with our friend Emilee who planned to meet us at the next campsite. Radium Campground is famous for its natural hot spring and Emilee let us know that a warm meal would be waiting for us as we arrived. The journey to Radium was not easy, we outran a storm and encountered the Misty Mountains (I was listening to the Hobbit audio book & Will was listening to Led Zeppelin). The winds picked up in force and blew us all over the road, we turned on our lights and prepared for the worst. The storm had bark, but no bite, we made it to Radium safe and sound for a nice natural soak and a delicious spread of burgers, salad, IPA's and butterfingers. It was incredibly refreshing to hang with Emilee and share stories from the trail, we made a fire (yes, it's legal right now in CO) and had a proper car camping experience. The next day Emilee made us coffee (what did we do to deserve this kindness?) and all three of us departed for a quick group ride. We hugged Emilee goodbye and embarked on our most intense ride of the trip to Steamboat Springs.
We continued to climb and climb and climb all the way up 18% grade dirt roads, creek crossings, and crosswinds. My front cage broke from the loose headset vibrations and we used electrical tape to complete the ride. The scenery passed the time and we arrived in Steamboat Springs just before sundown.
Chapter 10 Kent
The Bunny Ear Motel greeted us with open arms as we checked into this pink-themed lodging experience. Will had a new seat post bag waiting for him and we were ready to experience this lovely little town. We checked out in the morning after filling up on a continental breakfast and I hit the bike shop to assess the damage from yesterday. Orange Peele is a world-famous bike shop and the guys are super chill. They let me know that the previous shop had placed a bearing upside down causing the headset to pop loose. We spent a couple of hours here on the community stand and got to know the shop. At this point my repairs are complete and Will and I are goofing off outside. We hear loud chatter from across the street and around the corner comes our first bear sighting. I jump back and let the bear run by. Who knew our first black bear sighting would be in downtown Steamboat Springs?
The rest of the day is great and we make friends with Kent, the owner of Taco Cabo (best burrito we've had on trail). He sits down with us and shares wisdom of being a business owner and the importance of failure. We write postcards and hit the town aquatic center for another hot spring soak. We kill some time and make our way to a burger joint for our last in-town meal. The place is lively and covered with golf bros and mountain bikes. Will and I slam our meal and are soon informed that the waitress has covered our meal. I mean....what in the world is with people in Colorado extending a helping hand? I am absolutely amazed by the generosity and kindness this state has shown us.
We make camp just outside of town and are awoken by a mountain biker informing us of road closures blocking our path. We descend back into Steamboat for a hipster cup of coffee and buy flight tickets back for July 7th (3 weeks ahead of schedule). We decide to make one last stop at the bike shop for a refill on air and low and behold Greta & Andre are there. We greet them and hug goodbye as they were taking a rest day and we are making the trek to Wyoming.
Chapter 11 The Ladders
The last stretch of Colorado is filled with headwinds, beautiful mountain ranges, and reroutes due to snow. We make our way towards Ladder Ranch where we hear there is camping and hot meals for Divide riders. Ladder Ranch is located just south of the border of Wyoming. We pull into the ranch after a long day in the saddle and are greeted by Pat, the boss man. He lets us know that each meal is $10 and don't show up to dinner after 7:30. Will and I get to the cookhouse at 6 pm and find Mike. Mike is an older man in a recliner watching a cowboy reality TV show. We watch this show with Mike for an hour and a half until the cookhouse fills with the ranch workers sharing stories from the day. Will and I are so out of place but relieved to have other individuals to share a dinner table with. We leave dinner in shock as the grandchildren hop in their side by sides ready to rip through the creek. The ranch is beautiful and truly a blessing as we completed our time in Colorado. We shared breakfast with the Ladders in the morning and made our way to Wyoming.
