We made it to the continental divide and the first flat ground with minutes to spare. Lean bikes against tree, evaluate possible camp spots. First drops. Get the tarp up! A few minutes later the downpour began. We sat under the tarp, cooked dinner, and marveled at the good timing.
Earlier in the day, it wasn’t so sure we’d even make it here. We knew this stretch was going to be challenging, and should have taken the warning of wanting to give up while riding roads back to the CDT a bit more seriously. Still, the weather forecast promised lots of rain and only a short window. We wanted to keep moving and move on past Jackson. There may be a hot spring and restaurant there, but not much else.
Had there been an earlier bailout that put us anywhere near Wisdom, we would have surely taken it. But the way the roads run, all we could do is pop out 5 or 6 miles north of Jackson — right where we were before. We’d then have the same problem — no groceries to continue down the trail.
It was a tough situation, and the trails we faced are even tougher.
They are exceedingly beautiful, too. High alpine riding of the highest order. Pristine alpine cirques. Rushing creeks. Treeline surreal forests. Sinuous singletrack. Rock strewn singletrack. Definitely lots of rock strewn singletrack.
The day started out well — a mega challenge descent from camp that was just rideable. A reasonable climb to Lena Lake. Some contouring goodness over to the Slag-a-melt drainage. Steep but reworked ATV trail cilmbing to Slag-a-melt lakes. We took the side trail to the upper lake and were wowed by the beautiful lake and stunning cliffs. We get to ride bikes here!
Err, push bikes. The climb to the pass above the lakes is a doozy, and the downhill gives little respite. It’s hard, hard riding, and not a good place to be with failing motivation.
Ez tired
Ez isn’t the first to lose her will bikepacking here. When I rode this stretch with Mike Curiak in 2008 he struggled like I have never seen him struggle — before or since. He called the day early — well before sunset. He dabbed on stuff he should have been able to ride. He fell and dislocated his pinky, then ended up sending me on solo.
So, to say that this isn’t easy country is a pretty fair statement. Ez got more and more quiet and finally voiced that she was done with the CDT. It wasn’t fun anymore.
I can try to be encouraging and realistic, but there’s only so much a ‘significant other’ can do in that department, especially in a situation like this. I didn’t actually think she would quit (impossible at the time), but I didn’t want to see her struggle and slog through the remaining long and difficult terrain.
I posted the above photo on facebook and asked for encouragement. Within a few minutes a dozen people had chimed in. People are awesome.
She got up from her nap. The thunder boomed behind us. It was time to get moving. Motivation was back, and the trail conditions improved.
We passed numerous other small lakes as we pulled techy move after techy move to keep moving. The trail contoured to the divide and the Idaho border much sooner than expected.
New trail continued into the spud state, and it was nothing short of dream trail. Well built, and views that have to be experienced to understand. We couldn’t believe there was a trail at all where it was taking us, let alone one so rideable. Just awesome.
Then the trail turned to mega chunk and we were fighting our way down. Then the rain came. The first waved missed us directly, but soaked us in the end — the brush was tight on the trail and there was no way to avoid getting drenched as we descended.
Second wave doused us again. We sat it out under the tarp, eating a second lunch. The downhill eventually did end, putting us on a very old road. Time to climb back up to the divide.
The climb was laced with rasperries, so we took little breaks to pick all the way up. As it pitched steeper we readied ourselves for a huge push — lots of walking.
Out of nowhere a new CDT sign directed us onto singletrack. Wahoo! I wish we had a bit more energy to ride it all, but it was easier than the road. The top half mile was rideable, taking us to ‘Big Hole Pass’ #1 (there seem to be multiple) where we hurredly set up the tarp.
The first storm lasted nearly a hour and had us bailing water from under the tarp and building little moats. We thought that was it, but as I finished typing this, it’s sprinkling again.
Energy and motivation or no, with this much rain and predicted worse tomorrow, it’s an easy choice to take the dirt road into Wisdom. I’m quite happy we made it this far under very difficult circumstances!
What an odyssey! Stay strong.