Adventures in Bike-packing; 3 Days in Colorado, Day 1

It’s been since March in the Chihuahuan Desert of Texas that Isabelle and I last went bike-packing. Then, it was a solo, two-day/one-night affair in familiar territory. This time I was joined by three other hearty cyclist-friends for three days/two nights on trails that were mostly new to me. A different trip but no less exhilarating, challenging and rewarding.

Starting out late Sunday morning from down-town Leadville, Reilly, Kimberly, Philip and I took to the road before hitting the Colorado Trail; beautiful single-track and stellar views greeted us as we made our way to Tennessee Pass. The first of six eventual passes we’d summit during our three days, Tennessee Pass reaches an elevation of 10,424feet. We carried on a little further to the Tennessee Pass Nordic Center and Cook House. Working there was John, at whose house we parked the Sprinter for the duration of our trip. We took on water, emptied our bladders and even rolled away with a couple of scrumptious cookies for the trip. Thank you John!

Back on the Colorado Trail, we pedalled mile after mile of perfect Alpine single-track with the occasional climb thrown in for good measure, all the while surrounded by aspens and pine. Soon enough, climbing the Gore Range began in earnest with several sections that were just too steep and too loose for too long to ride. Yup, we spent a goodly amount of time plodding along one foot in front of the other as we made our way towards Kokomo Pass.

At one point we stopped to dunk our heads under a trail-side waterfall. A little while later and nearing the summit, we arrived at the source of that waterfall. Quite a feeling to see the origins of a waterway high up in the mountains. While Kokomo Pass is at 12,022 feet, the trail actually kept us climbing higher-still. After taking in the majestic vistas all ’round, we rolled, bumped and smiled our way down hill before climbing back up to our third pass of the day, Searle Pass., elevation 12,027 feet.

As we sat admiring the view, the dark blue and grey clouds to the east beyond Copper Mountain were making their way towards us, armed with lightening and thunder. Being exposed above the tree-line we decided it prudent to start heading down and in search of a decent camp-site for the night. As we descended the trail became fairly technical and particularly difficult to negotiate with bikes laden with bike-packing gear. Eventually, it happened; one of us went down. In hindsight, Reilly admits he should have got off his bike before that particular section. Instead, the trail removed him from his bike, throwing him to the ground and a waiting boulder; a rather deep 1″ laceration on his left bicep but no broken bones. Soon enough, we were again under the treed canopy with Guller Creek to our right.

Within minutes of erecting camp, the rain began to fall, continuing on and off all evening. At times the the lightening claps felt awfully close! Regardless of the weather, after riding for nearly 7 hours and climbing over 5300feet, we all slept well under the trees.

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Kimberly, always stoked to ride her bike

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