Day 37 – Detourin’ Dirt

Sleep was hard to come by at the Raven’s Rest hostel. The open mike music went on late into the night, and then the random strumming and drum circle continued into the wee hours. Some thru hikers are funny. It occured to me that this is really one of the first times bikepackers have really …. [Continue reading]

Day 36 – Into Lake City, via mega super awesome singletrack descent? Pinch me.

Coming to conciousness, I slowly realized where I was. I had slept hard.

Oh, I’m warm and in my sleeping bag, but I’m inside! Eszter is getting the woodstove going again. I’m in a yurt, right on the continental divide, at nearly 12,000 feet. Snow capped mountains are all around, green meadows and huge …. [Continue reading]

Day 35 – Chased by snow over Coney Summit, down to a treeline Yurt!

Camp Cataract was warm enough, but not very restful. Â The wind didn’t die out until the middle of the night, and I just couldn’t seem to get much continuous rest. Â So it goes when you’re sleeping above 12,000 feet and it feels like a winter storm is moving in.

Â

It hasn’t …. [Continue reading]

Day 34 – Camp Cataract

There really are no words for this. Otherworldly, foreign, beautifully hostile. It’s unlike anything we traveled through so far, and unlike anything we’ll see anywhere else.

And we are camping in the middle of it. We’re perched just above Cataract Lake, just below a saddle between two rock outcroppings. It was the most sheltered …. [Continue reading]

Day 33 – In Silverton. It can’t be only 74 miles.

The signage claims it is only 74 miles from Durango to Molas Pass, but I’m not buying it. It has to be more. As soon as I get to a copy of TopoFusion I will have to do an investigation. Anyone who has ridden it, even unloaded and in the favorable direction (opposite of how …. [Continue reading]

Day 32 – This is Big country and a Big bear

We were all set to camp above Bolam lake, eating dinner and settling in. Then I saw a rather large bear walking just in front of us, heading down to the lake. “Hey Bear!”

It scurried off as soon as it heard us… but camp felt compromised. We had tried to stop early. There was …. [Continue reading]

Day 31 – Back on the trail

At long last we are back on the trail… homeless and with nothing but what we can carry (and a 20 pound bounce box). It feels good.

Durango was a super layover and we sure lucked out on the circumstances, but I was so happy to be rolling out all packed up and ready for …. [Continue reading]

CDTbike photos through Durango

I’m filling in the gaps in the photo story. Since I had my computer in Pagosa, I threw lots of photos into the actual daily entries. If I were really on top of things I’d have a Wifi camera that could transfer photos to my phone for direct posting. But I’m not that on top …. [Continue reading]

CDTbike photos – to Chama

The riding is done and the daily posts are up, but I still have a bunch of photos to share, all the way back from Grants — the last time I had solid computer access.

Merciful mesa on the flanks of Mt. Taylor.

Luckily the entire 5000′ is not gained …. [Continue reading]

Ten reasons bikes are awesome on the CDT

Note: Scott and Eszter are thru-riding the Continental Divide Trail this summer, currently waiting for snow to melt in Durango, CO, having completed New Mexico. They think riding bikes on the CDT is awesome. They also think hiking the CDT is awesome, and are continually in awe at the thru-hikers they meet. This list is …. [Continue reading]

Day 30 – Linking dirt to Durango

The goal was simple: a bikepacking route from Pagosa Springs to Durango. Quiet, primitive, dirt, singletrack if possible. It would detour us around the Weminuche Wilderness on the CDT, so we can rejoin the trail outside of Silverton.

Looking at the maps makes your brain hurt. There is a huge network of trails, roads and …. [Continue reading]

Day 29 – Way out there… leaving Pagosa

We stopped at the bike shop on the way out of town. Picked up a tube to replace the one I had to put in my rear wheel after simultaneously breaking a spoke and flatting. We also picked up a $1 map of the most popular trail system in town. As we were getting ready …. [Continue reading]

Day 25 – A dubious plan

It was a bit of a dubious plan. Snow levels were still high, melting fast and creating high runoff.

relaxing at Lucky Acres

We could have played it safe, staying in Chama with our awesome hosts, Dave and Bev. As attractive as that option was (mmm… Elk Tacos) we are action figures, as …. [Continue reading]

Day 22 – Into Colorado, then back to New Mexico!

I awoke sometime in the dead middle of the night, enough to rouse to full consciousness. Above me was the deepest and darkest sky I can ever remember seeing. I recalled there are no major cities for hundreds of miles. No light pollution. No clouds. I could see the swirl of the Milky Way intermixed …. [Continue reading]

Day 21 – A day of forests. Faint roads and real singletrack

It’s hard to describe today’s riding. I can’t even fully describe it to myself, or remember it all. I think that’s the sign of a good day, or maybe a good long day.

It rained enough drops overnight that we were happy we had the tarp up — just for peace of mind. …. [Continue reading]

Day 20 … leaving Ghost Ranch to northern new mexico!

At lunch in Ghost Ranch we talked with a fellow who told us of a horse packer who rode the CDT to ‘reassert’ pack access on the trail. It sounded like quite a challenge. It might be a way of putting what we are doing — reasserting bike access on the CDT.

We finally pulled …. [Continue reading]