Day 38: Friday, May 12

First thing in the morning, we crossed the Colorado River. It is weird to think that several hundred miles downstream, this same river carves through the Grand Canyon. We spent most of the day riding from Hot Sulphur Springs to Silverthorne. We gained close to 1,100 feet over 54 miles.









Along the way, we went around the beautiful Green Mountain Reservoir.









The gel pad that I bought in Oregon is not designed to handle this much use and it has been slowly deteriorating. I removed it this afternoon as it is actually doing more harm than good. I am hoping to stop by a bike store this weekend to pick up a new bike seat. Plus after 2,000 miles, I also need to replace my tires. We made it to Silverthorne by mid-afternoon where we met Doug. It was interesting trying to load both of our bikes and gear into the back of his truck with his hiking gear. With all of the melting snow, we had a difficult time trying to find a place to camp. The sun had completely set by the time we set up camp at the base of Copper Mountain.

Day 37: Thursday, May 11

My computer has a temperature feature on it, and when I woke up this morning it read 16 degrees inside my tent! That is the coldest it has been so far. Unfortunately, we weren't aware that there was a water outage scheduled in Walden this morning. Of course our water bottles had frozen over night. We rode the 21 or so miles to Rand, but everything in the town was still closed for the winter. We had no choice but to push on.

By late morning, we rode over the third highest pass on the trail, Willow Creek Pass (9,683 feet.) The next pass is Hoosier Pass, the highest point on the trip. Then it is all down hill to the Mississippi River (or so we hope!) The next town we came to was Hot Sulphur Springs, where we stopped for a well-deserved late lunch/early supper. As we were paying our bill, the server gave us a pass to get into the Hot Sulphur Springs Resort for free. We are really getting spoiled! This is the second day in a row that we have been able to soak in a hot spring. This resort is really nice. The water spills into 24 different pools built into the landscape.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the springs. I am certainly going to get a good night's sleep tonight! We set up camp in the city park that is across the street from the Resort. The plan is to ride the 56 miles up to Silverthorne tomorrow where we will meet Doug, Shayne's friend, who is planning on hiking in the area over the weekend. Then Saturday will be a leisurely day as we ride the 15 miles from Silverthorne to Breckenridge where we will meet Shayne's brother, Rex, who will take us back to their parents' place for Sunday. As I lay in my tent tonight, I am reflecting back on the seven days we spent riding through Wyoming. While it is hard to put into words, I would have to say that Wyoming's "theme" is the state that could have been a lot worse. Beginning with Yellowstone and the possibility of having to ride around the park to my stomach virus and the possibility of having to stop to the potential for 50 plus mph winds that either never materialized or seemed to always be at our backs.

Day 36: Wednesday, May 10

The sprinkler system went off in the middle of the night and sprayed water into the shelter where we were sleeping. Thankfully it only lasted about 45 minutes. This morning there were droplets of water frozen on the surrounding trees. Despite the nocturnal interruption, today turned out to be a great day! We rode the additional seven miles on Interstate 80 before turning off and heading south again. Twenty miles later, we arrived in the town of Saratoga. After eating a delicious breakfast, we learned that there was a hot springs run by the city that was free and open to the public. We went and soaked for about twenty minutes. It was a perfect way to let our muscles relax and our food digest.









The wind was at at our back's for most of today. By late afternoon...









...we crossed into Shayne's home state of Colorado!
There was a huge wooden sign that had fallen off its post, so we picked it up to take pictures. There was no place to camp after we entered Colorado, so we ended up riding an additional 22 miles to the town of Walden where we are camped in the city park. Today was our longest day of the trip as we rode 96.5 miles! Shayne's and my odometer are a little off. His says that we are over 2,000 miles from Portland tonight while mine says that we are about 14 miles short of that mark. Walden is above 8,000 feet and the temperature is really starting to drop as the sun sets tonight. Tomorrow we hope to cross Willow Creek Pass, which is about 32 miles from here.

Day 35: Tuesday, May 9

I woke up this morning and could feel the repercussions of my system "rebooting" two days ago. The good news is that my appetite has returned. Eating on the trip has become a delicate balancing act. It is necessary to eat enough to keep your energy up, but to not eat too much at one time to slow you down. While Shayne prefers to take a take a break in the middle of the day to eat lunch, I prefer to eat small snacks all day and then eat a big meal once I am done for the day.

I struggled this morning as we climbed to cross the Continental Divide again. However, I was feeling better by the time we made it to Rawlins in the early afternoon. I stopped by the Rawlins Post Office to mail home some pictures and another set of maps. (Rawlins marks the completion of Section Five.) We considered stopping, but it was still early in the day so we decided to push on. There was a city park in Sinclair, however with a "No Camping" sign posted, we figured we would be pushing our luck since the park was right next to the town's main street. From Sinclair, the route turned onto Interstate 80. We rode about six miles before we came to a rest area. The sun was close to setting so we decided to set up camp. Tomorrow we have about seven more miles on Interstate 80. I believe this is the only time we will have to ride on any Interstate for the rest of the trip. We are about 73 miles from Colorado, so we might cross the state line tomorrow, but definitely by Thursday.

Day 34: Monday, May 8

Despite the short night last night, I woke up this morning feeling better. Shayne has been riding faster than me the past couple of days, so I left ahead of him today. I figured that if I did run into problems, I didn't want him to have to backtrack to find me. The sky became overcast late in the morning, and it threatened to rain. I was waiting for Shayne in Jeffrey City when it finally started to drizzle.

Thankfully, everything has turned out alright so far as we rode over 72 miles today. I haven't had too much to eat since I don't want to push it. We set up camp (illegally, again) at Split Rock Historic Site. I am grateful that there is a bathroom here in case of an emergency.

Day 33: Sunday, May 7

I woke up this morning not feeling very well. We went to meeting, had lunch with the Majors, and then ran some errands around Riverton. Wayne Major Sr. and his wife were kind enough to drive Shayne and I back to Lander. Since it was late in the day, and I was still feeling bad, we decided to take the day off. Wayne took us to the Rise of the Sinks, a picturesque state park. The water flows into the mountain (below on the left) and then comes out about a quarter mile downstream (below on the right.)








This evening, the stomach bug caught up with me and I spent most of the night in the bathroom. I wasn't able to get to bed until 2:00 in the morning. For the first time in the trip, I am concerned that I will need to drop out. I hope that I wake up tomorrow morning and feel better. The scary part is that once we leave Lander, there aren't any big towns for over 100 miles. It would be awful to push on and then get stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

Day 32: Saturday, May 6

Today was a great day! With the exception of a couple of climbs, we rode downhill pretty much the whole day. Plus the wind was at our backs, so we were able to make really good time. I averaged a new record 15.1 mph! The scenery was a visual feast of canyons, rivers, mountains, and open plains.

In the morning, we rode through a cattle drive. That was an interesting experience. We made it to Lander where we left our bikes and our gear at the Sleeping Bear Campground. Wayne and Wanda Major from Riverton drove down, picked us up, and invited us to spend the night with them in their home. Tomorrow, we will go with them to meeting in Wayne's parent's home. An interesting side note: Wayne is Brett Major's uncle (who worked with me at the South Rim of the Canyon two summers ago.)