It was very cold overnight. I think it was partially due to us being more in a bowl, with mountains on all sides to trap the colder air down below. Apparently Anderson had been traveling with only a thin sleeping bag liner and no sleeping bag. He said he put on every piece of clothing he had in the night, and was still freezing. He said that the first thing he plans to do when he gets to the next town, Gunnison, is to buy a warm sleeping bag. This was their first experience with higher elevation on their trip.
Parker directing the selfie with me, Jess, Sean, and Hamish
We all pretty much packed up at the same time and left the campground together. We would be sharing the first 10 miles on the route together, before Parker and Anderson would continue on west to Gunnison. This was a stretch of highway, so being in a pack is always good to improve visibility with motorists. There was a situation when I saw a vehicle in my rear view mirror with an “Oversized” sign on the front and a truck not too far behind towing a full sized mobile home. The house was sticking way over the shoulder. I yelled to the others in front to pull off the road. The driver of that truck did pull into the left lane, but what would he have done if an oncoming vehicle was in that lane? 😳
Our turn southwards onto quieter gravel roads was just ahead and we wished Parker and Anderson fair winds and safety as they continued on. I rode with Hamish and Jess for a while until they wanted to stop for their mid morning tea break. They have an alarm set on their phone for each of their stops. 😄 Hot tea didn’t appeal to me so I kept going.
Hamish and his loaded down bike
Sean and I leapfrogged each other towards the pass. The road was pretty dry and dusty heading up to the pass and luckily there amuck four wheeled traffic on the road. The ascent to the pass was pretty tame compared to some we had already done.
Me..
Rain in the distance.
We camped at Luders creek campground which was very nice in terms of a National Forest campsite. It had a small pipe with clear spring water. I doubt we will see anything like that going further south.
Good day..
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