Weeks 9 & 10 combined for a meager 128 miles of forward progress along the trail, but we did a lot of other fun activities with friends and family between Lynx Pass Campground and Como, CO. This was all by design, however, as we had been planning to meet my brother and sister-in-law in Silverthorne for a week of hiking & camping in week 10, but were a week ahead of schedule. Fortunately our good friend Derek lives in Boulder, CO and was willing to let us crash in his apartment for the week!
The week began at Lynx Pass, and with a dwindling food supply we all looked forward to lunch a la convenience store in Radium. After a steep decent into the Colorado River gorge, we were nearly very disappointed to find there was no convenience store in the village. Fortunately, one of the rafting outfitters sold us candy bars, ice creams, chips and sodas minutes before he closed shop to lead a trip down the Colorado. We happily hid from the mid-day sun on the porch and enjoyed our goodies, then soaked feet and shirts (this feels amazing, also very impressive how quickly the water evaporates on a hot sunny day) in the river before climbing out of the gorge towards Kremmling. Our friend Derek surprised us as we were half way through the second climb, but we resolved to finish the climb and meet him on the other side – not even surrendering any of our bags or the trailer. The sun beat hard on our backs, but it turned out to be an enjoyable climb, and having a ride waiting on the other side of the mountain was an energy boost to our group.
After loading up and a making quick trip to Kremmling for dinner supplies, we cooked up a fantastic backcountry meal then hiked to a warm spring on the river to soak and watch more of the meteor shower (continued from last night). It made for a very late night, but was a great way to end our week with Andy and Silvia. It was such a pleasure having them join us for the week. It is a seriously tough thing to do, and then did a fantastic job. We had a great time and will certainly miss the company, as well as their fresh take on bikepacking in general and meals on the road. It was a relief to make it through the week with no issues other than sore legs, feet and bums. I hope they will look back upon these days fondly and that they continue thinking about their own trips for the future!
For the next several days in Boulder, we had a mix of relaxing and fun off-the-bike activities, while still covering a fair amount of miles on the Boulder/Denver bike paths, in the Valmont bike park and otherwise mountain biking in the Front Range where other mountain bikers admired our drop bars and suspension-less frames. Thanks for taking us in for the week, Derek, we can’t wait to explore more with you once we finish!
Better late than never! Awesome to see you ‘new’ pics. Can’t believe you’ve been off the trail for 9 months. Best wishes from the MBW crew!
Thanks, it’s good to hear from you guys! I agree it’s hard to believe. Now we’re starting to see #tourdivide posts come up on Instagram and it has me itching to get back out there, but this year we’ll be settling for a few short trips and dreaming about the next big one 🙂