Day 5 - July 4

What a way to spend the birthday of our country by riding through some of the most beautiful parts of the land. Today I got to see both the highs and the lows of this great land (literally). First I went through Independence Pass – also very appropriate for Independence Day! The pass reaches over 12,000 feet high. At the summit you can look down and see the roads as cars are climbing to the top. Taking 10 MPH corners with no outside railing at 12,000 feet takes some concentration and confidence in one’s ability. The lows came when I drove to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison Nation Park (west of Gunnison CO). Here you can look down into the canyon which is more than 2,000 feet deep in places and see the river as it continues to erode the canyon deeper and deeper. Through the canyon, the Gunnison River (which is the river my campsite for the evening was also on) drops about 95 feet every mile. This is what gives the river it great ability to eat away at the rock walls of the canyon. After viewing the canyon from the top, there is a road you can drive to get to the bottom of the canyon. This was amazing and challenging. The road dropped about 2,000 feet from top to bottom. It required 3 miles of road at 16% grade. Keeping the bike at the right speed (both going down and then going back up) are critical to keeping the shiny side up!

The downside of the day way a bad navigational decision I made. At one point I decided to take what appeared to be a very well maintained gravel road (packed and oiled so you could easily travel at 40 MPH) towards Crested Butte. Unfortunately, the well maintained road turned in to a regular gravel road part way through. Still it was not bad. However, it continued to get rougher and rougher. Do you turn back or do you hope it gets better again from the other direction? I choose to continue on. The bike and I survived, but a little dusty. I won’t be falling for that trick about a nice dirt road again any time soon!

Due to the fact that it is the 4^th of July weekend, I figured lodging may be a little more difficult to come by. Both the KOA campgrounds in the area on my route were full but I found a U.S. Forest Service campground that was open and convenient just north of Gunnison. I stopped here early today to make sure I could at least have some place to sleep tonight. I am also discovering that it gets much colder at night here than I thought it would. I’m going to have to pick up some extra gear to keep me warm at night!

Note: The trip log capture is not complete. I must have hit the wrong button and wiped out the data for the first part of today's trip.

p.s.

Dick – the sausage was great and thanks for the advice on the route for today. Also, you were right about the road being gravel – I should have followed your recommendation and gone the other way to Gunnison! Live and learn!