Bikepacking The CT: Retrospective

I guess I've really been writing this for myself so I can come back here,  relive this, and refresh my memories of this stuff once they start to fade. However, on the chance that somebody else is reading this and considering The CT ride here's my advice for what it's worth. Do it - BUT - this one should not be your first bikepacking trek. Even if you are in touring mode and know what you're doing, this can be a monster ride physically and mentally. I would schedule extra time, a rest day, know where you'll be able to get a motel room and keep a couple thousand calories of food on hand at all times. Do not even think about putting yourself on a 4 or 5 day schedule unless you've done this before and/or are an elite rider with extensive experience and are willing to accept the risk of riding extreme exposure at night when weak and hallucinating a long way from any kind of help.

One of the things I regret not doing on this ride was taking the time to photograph the people we met along the ride. There was our fellow bikepacker Reid from Durango, the three dog girl, the alpaca couple, the horsepacking man from Missouri, the day rider from Denver and others. I also had a momentary encounter with Jesse Jakomait and he gave me words of encouragement as we passed. Wow, a whole new level of respect for the people racing this trail.

Would I do it again? I am undecided about that. There's a lot of hike-a-bike. Maybe in the other direction. The first time Jesse Jakomait rode this route he vowed he would never come back. Then, this year on his 5th attempt he set the course record. I think it's unlikely I'll be back as a thru rider because there are so many other routes out there I have not yet done, and I'm closing on 60.

By the end I was schooled by the CT & mother nature and acutely aware of my own human frailties. I had to fallback on civilization; car rentals, motels and restaurants to get to my goal, but that's OK. I rode and walked hundreds of kilometers of the CT. I ate and slept on the CT. There was a little blood,  lots of sweat, and a few tears. I did it all with my son and we still ride together. I'm proud that I can say that.

Bikepackng The CT: Montrose, Ouray, Silverton, Durango

The morning of Tuesday July 28th we were at the Econolodge Motel in Gunnison Colorado after having pulled the plug on the ride yesterday. Our plan now was to drive to Durango and get some trail riding in before it was time to fly out. After making a few phone calls, I rode over to the airport and rented a Kia Sportage. We checked out Double Shot Cycles and the sporting goods store where James picked up some running shoes (I had my flip flops) and then considered a side trip up to Crested Butte but decided we better just head to Durango.

Main Street Silverton

We stopped in Montrose at the DQ for a snack then drove on to Ouray, a small town nestled between steep mountain slopes which was hosting a jeep jamboree. It was a long, steep, winding road up out of Ouray before we reached the pass and drove down to Silverton. A train runs between Silverton and Durango so a challenging adventure might be to take the train to Silverton then ride the CT back to Durango. We got to Durango with time enough to do some reconnaissance while we had the car. We located The Spanish Trail Motel, our accomodations for Friday and The Mail Print & Copy Centre which we hoped would ship our bikes. Pizza for dinner then we navigated to the Junction Creek camp ground near the CT trailhead and paid $20 to pitch our tents beside an outhouse. It was smelly but convenient for nature breaks  compared to camping wild.

Junction Creek Campground

July 29th - Got up at 7:00am and drove to the Durango Diner for steak-n-eggs. Tried to find  a Hertz office and ended up at the airport seventeen miles south of Durango to return the rental. Put the bikes together and hung out at the airport to drink coffee, use the WiFi, and plot a route back to Durango. We ended up on the Black Canyon Trail System, then after stopping at a coffee shop in town found Velorution Cycles were we reserved bike boxes - cool shop. Picked up some beer then back up the five mile hill to Junction Creek, had a campfire and scoped out trail riding for tomorrow.

Black Canyon Trails Durango

July 30th - From Junction Creek we rode the CT and did the Hoffeheins Dry Gulch loop. Later we rode down to Durango and checked out another bike store, an outdoors store and the Durango Brewing Co. Camped at Junction Creek again this day.

Gudy's Rest

July 31st - after breakfast got the bike boxes at Velorution and walked them over to the shipping office. Breaking down the bikes and packing them for shipping turned into a marathon effort to get the boxes to the optimal size for the best shipping rates. After this we walked from downtown Durango to the Spanish Trails Motel and got some food at the grocery store across the street. I arranged a ride to the airport with the desk clerk.
The next day I left the motel early to catch a flight to Denver, James was flying out later in the day bound for Vancouver. Not the best way to end our trip, so it goes.

Bikepacking The CT: Sargents Mesa, Hwy 114, Gunnison

 Rose shortly after sunrise on Monday July 27th to another sunny day in the high country. The hikers that were camped nearby at Tank Seven Creek were already gone. This was day nine on the trail and the established routine was filter water, make breakfast and coffee, wash pack and then try to turn circles with the legs.

Sargents Mesa

One thousand feet of climbing  in the first five miles doesn't even seem noteworthy so I guess the first point of interest this day was Sargents Mesa, a grassy plateau at about 11,300ft that looked like it would be a good place for grazing elk.

Flowers near Baldy Lake

Further down the trail we came to the turn to Baldy Lake but we were good for water so didn't want to detour down to the lake. Continuing on we passed from the San Juan National Forest to the Gunnison National Forest and encountered a herd of cows while descending a jeep road to Highway 114.

Gunnison National Forest

At highway 114 we stopped for coffee and a map check.
We had seen Jesse Jakomait pass earlier in the day and now a second competitor in the Colorado Trail Race passed. For them to be at this point meant they had to be riding all nite on this terrain with maybe one hour of sleep. Ouch!

Highway 114 descending through Cotchetopah Canyon.

We agreed that based on the way things were going at this point, we would most likely not make it to Durango on time for our flight out. We were looking at The La Garita Detour of fifty miles before we could resupply at Lake City and then a monster climb up to Coney at 13,200ft if we tried to stick to the original plan. We needed an alternate plan so we decided to ride down to Gunnison, take a motel room, rent a car in the morning and drive to Durango. This would give us a couple days to ride the trails around Durango and figure out how to get our bikes shipped home.

Everything fit in the Kia Sportage no problem.

The next thirty miles were descending on Hwy 114 through Cotchetopah Canyon with almost no traffic. After the turn towards Gunnison we rode with a cyclotourist from the UK who had started in Virginia. At Gunnison we turned in at McDonalds and I think James had two meal combos an extra large coke and a McFlurry then we checked into the Econolodge had a shower, raided the vendng machines and used the WiFi.

Bikepacking The CT: Princeton Hot Springs, Foos, Tank 7.

July 25th started on segment 13 at Cottonwood Pass.

Passed the trailhead to 14r Mount Shavano near the highway 240 crossing.

Our ride started with a steep 1000ft of climbing then we quickly dropped 2000ft descending into Princeton Hot Springs where we had ice cream and resupplied. I was a little disappointed as this place struck me as more of a tourist trap then a place where I could soak tired legs. After Princeton there was another quite steep rocky hike-a-bike and the rest of segment 14 was a lot of up and down on rocky rough trail. A camping place near Cree Creek not far from highway 50 is as far as we got today.

Cree Creek camp dinner.

We met a group ride coming the other way today. They had support vehicles meeting them at the segment trailheads and so only had to carry a little food and water. 

Reid caught up to us today and his father rode out and did part of the trail with him.

This was a very tough day for me. We had single digit low temperatures overnight and my summer sleeping bag was not good for this. I put on everything i had and was still too cold to sleep. Next time I will have a better bag and down middle layer.  Today my eyes had puffed up and I was hurting from the start which just got worse as the day progressed. By the days end the body was starting to shut down and I was worried about falling but luckily had only one minor tipover. Hopefully tomorrow will be better as it starts with a 3000ft climb up to Foos.

Top of Fooses Creek Trail

July 26th - Cree Creek to Tank Seven.
Followed Fooses Creek Trail for nine miles ascending 3000ft on nice trail up to the last mile which was super steep on loose aggregate. It was five miles to Marshall Pass and then on to segment 16. We rode as far as Tank Seven Creek and camped.
We met Reid twice today. The first time  at Marshall Pass where I bought two freeze dried packets from him and then again nine miles later. We noticed that he had dropped his stormshell on one of the descents. James picked it up and we returned it to him a few miles later where he had stopped to camp. I think he was pretty happy about that.

An eroded section near Marshall where motorized vehicles use the trail 

Bikepacking The CT: Copper, Leadville, Buena Vista

On the morning of Thursday July 23rd once again I crawled out of my sleeping bag at sunrise after a well earned sleep. We packed up the sleeping stuff and rode down to the Copper Mountain Ski Resort hoping to find a place to get breakfast. Somebody, I forget who, had told us about a Coffee Bar in the Copper Mountain Sports building so this is what I had in mind. After a little riding around we found the coffee bar which also had breakfast sandwiches and other stuff as well as a place to charge the phones, nice washrooms, and only a few golfers this time of day. Jackpot.
Our next resupply point would be Leadville. We found the trailhead and ended up traversing the ski runs passing under a couple of lifts and then back up to 12,000ft to Searle Pass then Kokamo Pass, Camp Hale, Tennessee Pass, and on to The Holy Cross Detour which took us around the Holy Cross and Mount Massive Wilderness areas and down to the town of Leadville at about 10,200ft. I think it was this afternoon that we passed the Lama Lady. Not actually sure whether they were Alpacas or Lamas but they were carrying all her gear.

After cruising down the main street of Leadville and checking out a couple motels we decided to take a room at The Silver King Motel. Yay, we can cleanup, use the WiFi, get dinner at Pizza Hut across the street and resupply at Safeway. We didn't know it at the time, but Leadville was world famous for silver mining in the late 1800s, had a population of 30,000 fortune hunters and made many fabulously wealthy including H. Tabor whose nickname was The Silver King.
The next morning we took full advantage of the Continental breakfast at The Silver King. Waffles, bagels, eggs, OJ, Coffee etc. We met Reid from Durango this morning. He had also started in Denver and was riding the CT home to Durango. We rode togethor through Twin Lakes to Buena Vista. I picked up my care package at the Buena Vista Post Office which was a nice moral boost then we found a burger place as we were craving greasy food and had burg fries and coke in the park. Later we rode on to Segment 11 and camped at Cottonwood Creek.





Train tunnels along the road beside the Arkansas River approaching Buena Vista.