Day Thirty-six (57.3 miles, 1641.33): One Mountain Bar Above The Rest

5:30AM Joel's alarm drifts over from his tent. That soft melody is just enough to wake you up. I can hear him shuffling about, packing his gear away. I unzip my sleeping bag and Ella jumps out from behind the foot of the bag. She rushes for the screen as soon I as I open it up. Out she flies, a furry ball of lightning dashing back and forth through the grass. While she is running around, I stuff my sleeping bag away, roll up my pad, and jam my tent in the bag. Joel makes some coffee and I make a bowl of granola and blueberries. After breakfast, I fold up my tarp and load my panniers onto the land yacht. By 6:30AM, we are cruising out of the KOA and into the Rocky Mountains.

Our first mile of the day is downhill into a lush green valley. The valley is surrounded by walls of rock towering into the early morning sky. As we ride further into the depths of the valley, elaborate arches and gateways mark the entrances to many Colorado ranches. We admire the work put in to the gateways as we cruise toward the end of the valley. We reach the first climb of the day and it was no easy task. The sun was beating down and the day was already warming up. We climbed and climbed, pushing further into the mountain.

Fighting the heat and incline, we were swarmed by flies launching themselves out of the tall grass. We make it to the top, sweating bullets and thirsty enough to drain a lake, but warmed up and ready for the day. A quick snack and we are powering down the highway. Despite the hills, Joel and I were making great time. Our surroundings were absolutely beautiful. It didn't matter how hard the climb was, the pure astounding beauty of the Rocky's was worth it.

We were still in the high desert, but the low alpines were in view, far ahead of us. We were in no rush, so we stopped quite often to take in the mountain air and snap a few pictures. As we rode on into the day, the ranches grew larger, the decorative arches growing farther and farther apart. We spot a few antelope perusing the desert shrubs as we ride on past. Mostly, we see cows dotting the landscape like little black, brown, and red dots among a vast green sea. The mountains are growing with every pedal forward; their peaks becoming more clear and distinct. With each new pass we reach, it's a little victory toward our journey west.

Reaching the final pass before Hartsel, the mountains stand on the horizon like an immense stone fortress. The ride down from the pass is long and we fly along the high desert like we are untouchable. The highway becomes straight and flat with a slight incline toward the shadow of the mountain walls. A cyclist headed east, Tom from Boston, stops us and talks to us for awhile. We talk about the trip and what kind of gear we have, what the conditions are like in either direction, then we head our separate ways. Still under the brilliant glow of afternoon sun, we race west to avoid the growing mass of grey creeping up behind us. Right before Hartsel, we pass a Buffalo ranch with some mangy looking buffalo lazily meandering about the fields.

Finally we reach the one horse town of Hartsel, Colorado. There is an ice cream shop, a bar/grill, and a convenient store along the one strip of road. After grabbing a Gatorade and letting Ella run around, Joel and I head for the bar. Ella sits right at my heel when we sit down to order food and drinks. A cold beer and a BBQ Bacon Burger are the perfect lunch after a great day of riding. There is nothing to do in town, so the bartender tells us we can hang around until closing if we want. We leave to set up our camp across the street and then head back into the bar.

We talk and hangout with the locals until Bill and Carol show up later in the afternoon. Bill looks beat and could definitely use some electrolytes and some food. A couple of cyclist headed east come into the bar to get some food and right after them a few Continental Divide mountain bikers show up for some grub as well. We all sit, drink, talk, eat, and enjoy each others company for awhile. Eventually Celia shows up as well and we are all a big group again. Bob is still a day behind us back in Canon City. As we are all eating and drinking late into the day, a huge thunder storm rolls through and stays for quite some time. It was fun to chill with old friends and new as we waited for the storm to pass. Thunder rolled, drunks slumped around, we drank and ate, Ella was getting love from all, and we generally had a good time.

Late in the evening, the rain subsided and the lightning moved far into the distance. The bar was no longer serving food and we all had a long day ahead of us. Ella jumped into the tent and I shimmied down into the bright yellow cocoon right after. It was a good end to a good day. Thank you for following Ella and me; and we hope you continue to enjoy our adventures as we conquer the peaks of the Rocky's!