TD 2016 Never Give Up - Idaho

On to Idaho. There is a sign out there someplace for the Idaho - Wyoming state line but I have yet to see it and my GPS wasn't very clear on the subject, but with a slightly muddy road I think I made pretty good progress from Flagg Ranch to Squirrel Creek. 

Snake River valley in the distance

I stopped and got some lunch, Bundy was already there, and the two of us left together and set out for the rail trail.

Warm River from the Rail Trail

Again, as last year, the first part of the rail trail is really really pretty. It climbs along the Warm River which has lots of waterfalls and you can hear the rapids and the soil underneath is pretty good. Then it starts to level out and things begin to go awry quickly.  The good thing from last year is that the ATV guys weren't all out there.  Last year, it was 4th of July and every crazy fool in the Island Park area was out there on his lawnmower drinking beer and just having a grand old redneck time of it. This year, they were still at work, but the underlying soil was still nearly impossible to ride on. It took forever and then some. There were a couple of dirt roads to the side and I thought of taking them, but stuck to the GPS track and finally got through it. Made it to Macks Inn and we got a camping spot in the campground/RV park and a good dinner at Connie's restaurant.

Rail Trail

Dirt starting to wash off in the rain

Mother and baby moose

Found some great breakfast burritos at the Chevron station next door in the morning, so breakfast was pretty good and set off for Lima and Montana. On the way there, watched a bunch of cows breaking out of their pasture, seems there was a piece of fence down and every cow in the adjoining several acres was making a bee line towards that little section of the field. The grass looked just as good on the other side as where they were, but they sure were putting a lot of energy into getting out of that field. Also saw two pickups going by towing bear traps behind them, they pulled into a ranch just short of Red Rock Pass. 

Before Red Rock Pass

So climbed up Red Rock and we were in Montana !

On To Montana

TD 2016 Never Give Up - Wyoming

From Brush Mountain to the Wyoming line, it's about 15 miles of mostly downhill and was great in the early morning chill. At Savery, Bundy and I stopped to refill our water and get ready for the ride to Wamsutter. Wish the Little Snake River Museum had been open, it looked like a really cool museum to check out, but no waiting around, we had a string of rollers to tackle. I likened it to a third grade writing exercise where someone once wrote "the little airplane went up up up up .... and then down down down down .... " for 100 words. Finally get to the top of this thing and start to run into more southbound riders, including Hal Russell, who has done this at least four times.

The view of the Red Desert is simply stunning, this is a beautiful place, but being ruined by fracking and oil exploration with big cleared areas with industrial junk sitting around on pads behind fences.  There is a pretty 50 miles, the first part, followed by an ugly 26 miles where the majority of the oil stuff is. It's a slight uphill going north, we had a wind in our faces and there is just enough gravel to slow you down. Then added to that, my backside was starting to really bother me, more then ever before and each washboard would hurt.

Beautiful

Bird nests in a Quonset Hut on the way to Wamsutter

The road goes on forever

Hal Russell

From the bluff on the connector trail

Against the Wind

So little Wamsutter, nothing much other than a Love's truck stop on I-80 was good to get to. We ate at the Mexican restaurant and took a nap near the health center on some nice grass, waiting for the sun to start to go down and the wind to lie down. Finally rolled north about 8 pm and got in another 15 or so miles in the early darkness as a head start on what would be a hard day. I found a camping spot that looked pretty nice, setup the tent, got in it and twenty minutes later was awakened by a bright light about 1/4 mile away, seems I was pretty close to one of the oil things and they were doing some nonsense at 11 pm on a Sunday night !

Up the next morning in what was probably the coldest night of the whole ride, and headed for Atlantic City. I really liked the connector that we took, riding and sometimes pushing along a bluff high above some of the desert. Had a Fanta soda with me and it bounced out and destroyed itself on a rock, not a drop to be salvaged !

Getting to Atlantic City was hard, with more west wind in my face. I stopped at Diagnus Well, didn't need the water, but wanted to see the well. That last few miles to the Sweetwater River just went on forever and the backside issue was now starting to really hurt.

Atlantic City was open, got a burger and fries and pie and Cokes and iced tea and we found a cabin next to the Mercantile to stay in for the night. On to Pinedale the next day, the ride was actually pretty pleasant, with not much wind and a to-go burger from the night before to eat on the way.

In Pinedale, I bought a mirror at a hardware store, and coupled with my flashlight, a tube of Neosporin and my knife, did a little bit of lancing on a spot on my bottom, rather than waiting for a clinic. Wasn't sure that was going to work, but it did !

Tog Pass and Wilderness Beyond

Delicious !

When you leave Pinedale, it's on pavement for quite a few miles then hits dirt at the Forest boundary near the Green River. I knew from last year this place is full of mosquitos and it gave me great pleasure to pull out a larger sized spray can and kill about 20 of the things on my legs ( dead mosquitos stuck in sweat and bug spray ! )  We climbed up towards Union Pass and took the Continental Divide Trail piece that I got confused on last year, with a great tailwind and a storm brewing. It was spectacular up there !  Then around a turn where you could see Togwotee Pass and made it to Lava Mountain Lodge where the restaurant was open with some of the better food I had on the whole trip.

Jackson Lake

Had plans the next morning to stop for breakfast at Togwotee Mountain Lodge and we got there at 10:02 and they would not serve us breakfast as their hours went to 10.  One of the few things on the whole trip that really just infuriated me. Got a burrito at the gas station and then a good lunch at Grass Valley Cafe just before Moran Junction.  The ride along Jackson Lake is pretty, but there are way too many cars and RV's ... it's just one big string of motorized junk. We stopped for the day at Flagg Ranch, got a tent site that was kinda marginal. Some fool parked next to us decided he had to start up his bloody pickup truck to drive someplace at 10 pm ( there is no place to go, he probably drove to the store about 1/10 of a mile away ... just lazy ) then comes back and beeps his car alarm.

The next morning we left and headed for Squirrel Creek in Idaho.

TD 2016 Never Give Up - Colorado

Into Colorado, with a cold morning wake up ( I did not know that mosquitos could move around in temps where my hands are freezing, but they can and do ! ).  Met Mike J in Platoro and we started for Del Norte, up and over Indiana Pass.  Was a good day of riding, no weather events and I felt pretty strong most of the day. Del Norte was a pleasure to get to, rode a couple of miles with Michael Grosso who had several bike problems to deal with and we ate together, then off to find the cheap hotel.

Colorado snow

More snow

The ride to Sargents is long with two passes to cross, and I finished around 10 pm after riding along US 50 for several miles in the dark with fast traffic uncomfortably close to me. As I passed the two reservoir lakes I saw Mike Hall heading south. At this point, I have done perhaps 900 miles and he has ridden all the way from Banff.  Tented on a grassy spot in the RV camp, up the next morning on over Marshall Pass, into Salida for some new pads on my brakes.  On the way into Salida I stopped at the deli in Poncha Springs and saw Chris Plesko who was looking strong with a really tight bike setup.

Climbing to Marshall Pass

Marshall Pass

Was fun hanging in Salida with Michael G and Bundy and some other folks, getting repairs, could have just stayed there and drank beer all day, but off to Frisco the next day with a big climb over Boreas Pass. This year I knew where the bike path was taking me and I got to Frisco several hours earlier.

Just a bit of snow on Boreas Pass

Wide open spaces on the way to Hartsel

The ride to Kremmling went well, with plans of stopping after making the Radium climb, but got thwarted by a big thunderstorm. I had stopped at the Mexican restaurant in Kremmling even though it was a bit off route and when finished I stepped outside and the biggest raindrops I had seen in a while were coming down, so across the street to the Days Inn and bagged it for the day.

Osprey nest near Kremmlin Reservoir

Looking west from Ute Pass

Radium went rather well, I stopped at the Colorado Outfitters place ( couldn't last year because of the cattle drive ), and I rode the whole hill getting to the top.  I did stop a couple of times, but I didn't walk any of it. The mosquitos were fierce up there however, that whole forest area until you get to where Lynx Pass is was just full of them.  Once again, Steamboat Springs was good, but the hotels were filled up for some reason and I ended up with the last room at a Hampton Inn for $$$$.

Climbing out of Radium

Radium

The next morning, I went to the Post Office looking for my maps that Susan had sent to General Delivery and they weren't there yet. So I waiting an extra hour or so for it to open and then no result. Also got a valve core replaced in my rear tire. Turned out that it was defective and when I tried to check the pressure in the rear, the air all leaked out overnight when we were camped at Horca. Takes a while to inflate a 2.2 wide 29'er tire with my little Topeak pump !  Once fixed that was the only tire problem for the whole trip.

Don't mess with the sheepdogs

So screwing around with the Post Office would cost me. I ate at the Clark store and then started for Brush Mountain. It was raining a little bit on me and a lot someplace else, and I found that someplace else was over in Slater Park where I would get hopelessly stuck in the mud. The section between the Forest boundary and a little concrete bridge was pretty much impassable. I felt the ground giving way and the mud build up on the tires and then the rear wouldn't roll and then the front wouldn't roll. It was really pretty hopeless, you are stuck in the middle of nowhere with cows all around, the bike won't move, with the mud it's too damm heavy to pick up. I dragged it for perhaps 30 feet leaving two giant furrows in the ground ... that was pretty hopeless also.  Used a sagebrush stick to clean the mud and trudged and then repeated over and over. You couldn't even roll/ride downhill !  When I got to ground that would actually allow me to move, it was just awesome. There were 4 or 5 southbound folks on the same route and I hope they fared a bit better.

Brush Mountain 

Brush Mountain

Finally got to Brush Mountain, pretty beat up, and Kirsten was a pleasure to see once again. A pizza and lots of water and a beer and a good night's sleep made a world of difference. Thank You Kirsten !!!!  In the morning the roads toward Wyoming were in good shape and Bundy and I moved along
nicely.

TD 2016 Never Give Up - New Mexico

Well, that was hard. My second completion of a northbound Tour Divide all done, I felt pretty good as I took my obligatory selfie at the Spray River West Trailhead in Banff and rolled towards the Fairmont Hotel ( no I did not stay there ).  I saw a moose grazing and took her picture, the second moose of the trip and then made a beeline for a hotel to get a hot shower and get out of those wet socks that I have had on for two days.

Me .. in front of Trailhead sign

Moose

Was a pretty good day, I had my only grizzly bear encounter that morning and rode in rain and slop all day long. Such a contrast from the first day on the ride, way, way back there in New Mexico, where I sat on the wooden porch of the Continental Divide Trading Post at Separ and contemplated asking someone if I could catch a ride to Tucson because I was toast.

Paul and I drove to Deming, got a hotel, supper at Blake's and early to bed. Up at 5 or so and off to Denny's and then the drive down to AW. We saw a rider right at I-10, and then some more later, turned out to be Mike and Norman Jolly. Then on to the border, out of the car, and a line up with Adam, Kevin, Michael and myself. A prompt departure at 8 am and the 4 of us go towards Canada.  The first thing I noticed is that my aero bars were completely crooked, so I had to stop, dig out the hex tool and readjust that. I thought I hydrated right and ate enough on the ride up, but by the time I got to I-10, I was bonking really badly and by the time I got to the store, I was toast. Adam was there a bit before me and handed me some ice, I drank a few Arizona iced teas and started feeling a little better, but wasted a good hour and a half.

Heading to AW

The Start

When I left a familiar thing happened, I got caught in rain. This time I wasn't lucky and I got stuck in the mud on Thorn Ranch. Enough mud that the tires on the bike would not move, just scoot along on the ground. Found a sagebrush stick, cleaned up some mud, moved along a bit and found a drier place. It was getting into the evening and it looked like more rain, so I pitched the tent some 30 miles short of Silver City and then had a thunderstorm sit right on top of me. Enough wind that a couple of stakes pulled up and I just pulled the tent pole down onto me and slept. The next morning the road had dried a little bit and I got to Silver City, ate at the Adobe, and on to the CDT.

CDT 

The CDT went well, I had a minor crash in some loamy soil, and got up FR 150 into the Gila. I really like this area of the route, it's pretty, it's isolated and going northbound you still have your strength. On to the Beaverhead Work Center where the coke machine was fully operational and I met up with Mike Jolly and we rode together into the night getting to Horse Springs Church for water resupply.

Mike Jolly at Collins Park

Looking Towards Black Canyon in the Gila

Pie Town the next morning and we elected to head on to Grants with a to-go cheeseburger packed in our bags which we ate at El Malapais Monument. Always good to cross I-40, bit of a marker telling you that you are getting someplace and a room at a Motel 6 where three days of dirt get washed off in the shower.

New Mexico Apple Pie

The ride to Cuba is all pavement and went well, stopping again at Chaco Wash ( laundromat, post office, community center, general store and gas station ). Bruno's for supper and I met Bundy P and away we went the next morning into the Santa Fe forest.

I turned a corner on the pavement section close to where the campgrounds were and spied a black bear walking in the same direction as me. Had good distance and called out "hey" and got no response. Then I called out "Hey" a bit louder followed by "Bear" and he stopped, stood up, looked in my direction and left the road.  ( as if to say "you talking to me ?  ... I didn't know you were talking to me" )

That descent down Polvadera Mesa to Abiquiu ranks as one of the harder sections .. I certainly would hate to try to ride up it, with those tire grabbing cracks in the slabs of rock and sandy sections that threaten to pull you down, followed by a bunch of washed out rutted sections and a giant hole in one of the cattle guards. But getting to Abiquiu was great and Bundy had gotten there earlier and found a larger room and we split the room cost between myself, Bundy and Mike J.  We met Adam, who had trouble earlier with a pedal and was waiting a replacement.

Bundy getting setup for the night at Hopwell Lake

My House

The Coke can says "I'm on top of the world" and I am at over 10,000 feet on the Brazos Ridge

On the next morning towards Hopwell Lakes, where we camped with a chilly wind blowing. The next day we crossed the Brazos Ridge and on the descent found a family walking with 3 kids having broken the steering in their truck ... we all let some ATV riders know of their predicament and moved on towards Horca. Found the restaurant there had closed again, but a little gift shop up the street had microwave burritos and sodas, got an evening meal out of that and Mike J and I camped in a mosquito infested campground. Amazingly cold and yet the mosquitos were still moving about unimpaired.

Learning Things

Some new stuff for the bike and time to go on a ride. Thought I would go over to Sonoita and either hang out at Kentucky Camp or checkout Empire Ranch.

I just recently got a full frame bag for my Pivot. And yesterday picked up an MSR Dromedary water bag, thinking that it would be the thing for the dry spots on the Divide.

Box Canyon Road

Did a ride up Mt Lemmon on Friday, all the way to the top, for about 60 miles and 7700 ft of climbing on the road bike and then slept in a little bit on Saturday. Bad idea because it was getting hot already, but started down the Loop to Valencia and then was going to go down Mission to Green Valley, take Box Canyon Road over to 83 and on to Sonoita.

Didn't rain, but looked like it

So a few miles into the trip, I discovered that just a couple of fills and empties on the MSR bag didn't quite get rid of the plastic taste ... my water tasted like dishwater.  Kept on going and then I almost got ran over when a car was going in the opposite direction and one was overtaking me. Somehow the idiot overtaking me managed to lock his brakes and he turned sideways in the road !  Fortunately I was ok, and he was ok and he drove off.  Jackass was going way too fast and I'd bet his brakes were out of whack.  Enough of that, on to Mama's Place in GV for some breakfast.

Las Cienegas NCA

Beautiful Old Cottonwoods

Got myself filled up and went to the Chevron to get some water. Made the mistake of buying only one 32 oz bottle and as I got up Box Canyon Road it was getting hotter and I didn't want to drink dishwater ...  glad to get to the top and roll over to 83.

Pony near the corral

Ranch House

El Toro

Stopped at the Steakout in Sonoita, got a steak, got more water and headed for Empire Ranch.  Empire Ranch is on part of the Las Cienegas NCA administered by BLM, and a lot of restoration has been done on the ranch headquarters buildings.  Fun to look at everything and it's all open.  It was near sundown, so went up a little hill and bedded down for the night.

Now is where it gets interesting. I have a Mountain Laurel bivy, a Thermarest pad and a sleeping bag liner. The daytime temp was pretty warm, so figured I would be good. About two or three hours later, around 10 pm I was freezing.  Condensation from my breath and the temp differential between the outside air and the ground and whatever was making my legs wet and then ice cold.  I got up and dug out the SOL emergency bivy that I have and added that to the mix. Nice and cozy warm, I drifted off and then woke up with wind blowing and freezing again !  Same condensation and wet cold legs, I am shivering in this thing wondering how to make it through the night. Finally said screw it and packed everything up and went back to the ranch headquarters. Thought of sleeping in the head, but mosquitoes in there, so found a spot in the breezeway of the ranch buildings and got to sleep. Woke up about 5:30 am freezing again !  Fortunately the sun was up, so packed up and headed home.

Nice hot warm and windy ride home.

Well, the bivy is what I was going to use for the AZT as I thought it was lighter and thought I had my bases covered, but it just didn't work at all. So we are back to the EZ Pack Hexamid Solo Plus tent which worked pretty nicely last year.  Being cold and wet in the middle of the night is seriously uncomfortable.

So lessons are, get the MSR bag cleaned up to get rid of the rubber hose taste and pack my tent.
Three weeks or so to go, Yikes !

Time to Get Real

Last posting I had a bunch of possibilities for this coming year.  Didn't make the lottery for Leadville, and thought I would do the AZ Trail 750.  I practiced hiking up Tumamoc hill here with 40 lbs of bricks in a backpack and thought I might have a chance at actually being able to do the carry the bike on your back through the Grand Canyon piece ( yeah really ! ).

Automatic Closing Gate - AZ Trail Ripsey Segment

AZ Trail at Freeman Road looking North

Then I got out and started riding some more pieces of the AZ Trail.  The AZ Trail is pretty hard, there are sections that have a lot of hike-a-bike in it and a few sections that are pretty rideable. I rode Passage 2 ( more walked than rode ) down in the Canelo Hills and got my butt kicked that day with lots of walking and pushing the bike ... something like 5.5 hours to go 15 miles.  I rode Passage 15 from Freeman Road up to Kelvin and that went a lot better. The piece from Reddington Road over to Molino Basin was fun until you get to West Tank and then it's one big hike fest up the side of a mountain and then walking down the other side, because I suck at real mountain biking and was afraid of dying.

Looking off toward Kearney 

Above West Tank close to Molino Basin

West Tank

After all of that, I decided to leave my full suspension BMC at home and take my trusty Pivot hardtail and was signed up on the tracker to do the 300 mile version. Finally signed up on a Saturday before the race start on Friday and on Monday ended up with a light version of the flu that kept me asleep with a fever for about 3 days. Went out into the garage on Thursday, looked at the bike and said "this ain't gonna happen".

I think I have most of my strength "whatever there is" back from that little episode, and so here it is with less than a month to go and I am looking forward to getting back to Antelope Wells the morning of June 10 and heading back north for TD.  Hoping that the knowledge that I got from last year will allow me to do it a little bit quicker, I would love to knock 5 days off.  The main thing is to finish and get to Banff.

Off to Sonoita on Saturday morning for a single night out and in two weeks do a 2 night out trip and declare myself ready for this.

So

Fence Sitting

Decisions, decisions.

Missed the lottery for Leadville. And Stagecoach was scheduled for the same weekend as 24HOP but then it got moved into March and then I thought I would end up with too much on my plate to try to do it and the AZ Trail.

Yeah, pretty sure I am in for the AZ Trail. Have been hauling 40 lbs of bricks up Tumamoc Hill and doing a bit of riding. Some days I feel pretty good about it and then I go out and do the Ripsey segment and come home and look at my time and realize I am like one of the slooooowest people to ever ride that piece and begin to really doubt myself.

Whatever, I plan to get down to Parker Canyon Lake early on March 19 and see how long it takes for me to get to Patagonia, and then I will have ridden most of the 300 mile course, except for Oracle Ridge, a piece near Bloodsucker Wash and the 40 miles from the Gila to Hwy 60.

750 or 300 ??  Would love to do the 750, that's what the hauling bricks nonsense is all about. Right now I plan to start at the Border and do the 12 miles or whatever of dirt road to get to PCL, do the 300 and see if I am still alive :-)  I may set a new record for slowness on the Arizona Trail !