I’d heard that Al in Indy was really fascinated watching my Spot track on the web, probably much the same way we enjoy watching his track across the ocean in Dragonfly.  So as I climbed the next 3 passes I kept wondering if Al was fixated on his computer hitting Refresh to see how I was doing.  I hadn’t published the site beforehand because I wasn’t so sure I would complete the journey, but Stanna let the word out as people checked in and learned I was quixotically challenging myself.

With a couch to sleep on and a warm shower it was easy to manage an early start, hoping but not planning on summiting two of the last three passes on my limited Great Divide route.  I knew I’d have to camp, it was just a matter of how far and when.  The butt butter got me much farther than I’d imagined and the only thing stopping me from the second pass was the terrific blasts of thunder and lightning not to mention dark black skies threatening to stop me just about at the summit.  So I bailed out about 3 miles from the top of Cochetopa Pass and hunkered down in some tall pines.  As it ended up, not a drop of rain came but the storm front winds sure blew hard.

Over the pass, I learned three young ladies were just ahead when I stopped to ask about water from a camper.  They weren’t that easy to catch on the downhill and it took several hours to catch them just starting uphill.  These gals each had a mountain bike with a Bob trailer carrying “I don’t know, probably 35 pounds” each.  This was the third year in a row they tackled a one-week segment of the Great Divide Trail and were happy to manage 35 to 50 miles a day.  They reported never having to “hike-a-bike” any of the route so far which is impressive considering they were pulling trailers.

Here’s a shot of my alpine bike packing camp just before Chochetopa Pass halfway between Salida and Del Norte.  Click on any of the photos to enlarge.