Bikepacking the Colorado Trail: Part 3
Day 4:Jefferson Cr. CG to Miners Creek Trail just past Breckenridge
Stats: 29.25mi, Elevation Gain: 4045ft, Moving Time: 5h14m, Elapsed time: 11h47m (including dinner stop)
The morning started out beautifully. We had a lot of climbing to do in a short amount of miles, most of which were single track so we knew we were in for a big day. We were on the trail pretty early with some refreshed energy, which we would definitely need. We immediately started climbing up towards Georgia Pass. The clouds were grey and it was chilly, but not too bad as we got started. We expected that the climb would be difficult, but it was actually pretty rideable…until it wasn’t.
The trail turned from turned into baby heads, turned into goat heads, turned into boulders, even on the descent. From what I remember this didn’t last forever, though, and once started the descent proper down into Breckenridge, things turned for the better. We flew down the flowy descent, making all the switchbacks (for the most part) and had views for days. Our energy was pretty good, from what I remember, I think boosted by the fact that we’d have a good dinner in Breckenridge. At some point Aliza’s bike crank started having some issues, so we were in a rush to also get into town to make sure we could get to a bikeshop.
As we got off the trail to hop into town, it wasn’t obvious which way we needed to go right off the bat. We spent a bit of time faffing around because the bike/pedestrian path that is supposed to be the easiest way to get into town was closed for construction, so we were unsure what our options were. We connected with Patty Sag and made our way to Tiger road where he met us and we piled in the van. We were lucky that we made it when we did because sure enough, the thunderstorms moved in and the sky grew dark. We made the stops we needed for Aliza’s bike and to try to find me a handkerchief (failed attempt), and found a great spot for dinner, a couple of blocks off the main strip so it wasn’t as busy and we were able to immediately get a seat. As we were filling our bellies, the rain started to pour! I felt so glad to be inside and not shivering out there in the rain. Both Aliza and I knew, though, that from here on out we would be chasing storms for the rest of our trip, which we were not excited about!
It was getting late, so we picked up Aliza’s bike from the shop and Patty Sag took us over to the Peak’s Trailhead. He had suggested this way as the best way to get over to Miner’s trail where we would be camping. “It’ll be fun,” he said. “It’s not too climby,” he said… Half way through the up and downs of this “fun” trail, Aliza and I had cussed all the cuss words we could muster. Our legs, after spending a few hours at dinner, no longer felt the need to do what we needed them to. Plus the jump line we encountered on the trail wasn’t that spectacular on a hardtail 70lbs bike.
Either way, we finally made it to our camp just before dark. Tired, full, but warm, we set up camp quickly and fell asleep just our heads hit the pillow. The next day, we knew, would test our grit and stamina, so we needed to sleep well and get up early. As I was drifting off to la-la-land, I heard quiet voices and the sound of free-hubs next to our camp. Some of the racers who were traveling the opposite way as us were riding through the night. Glad to not be one of them, I drifted away and didn’t wake again until morning.
Day 5: Miners Crk to just below Searle Pass
Stats: 15 mi Elevation Gain: 4094ft, Moving Time: 4h32m Elapsed Time: 10hr05m
The weather had officially arrived. This day, we knew we needed to try to get over the pass and up 10-mile before the thunderstorms came in for the afternoon. We also knew that there would be much much hike-a-bike, but what we didn’t know is really how much hike-a-bike there would be. A lot of the 10-mile section is very technical and very steep. (See pictures below). At one point, there is a spot where the hill is literally straight up - I don’t even know the grade, but it was unrideable, shit it was un-hikeable unless you paperboy’d your way up.
So up we went, pushing and grunting, a tremendous heave with our loaded bikes. We saw one hiker through-hiker going the same way we were. Most of the hikers we had passed/run into along the way were generally good natured, easy to talk to and generally have a sense of the same passion that we have for being outdoors.
This one man, on the other hand, had a different countenance. From the onset, nothing but grumbles spilled out of his mouth. Grumble this, and grumble that. He was complaining about the steepness of the climb, and explained that whoever built this trail didn’t know what they were doing and that, “on the Appalachian trail, this never happened. There were always nicely cut switchbacks up the steep parts..” etc. etc. So, he didn’t appreciate the way that the trail followed basically the only way up this stretch of mountain, and he was letting everyone that passed knew about it, which at the time was only us, so we got an earful. We acknowledged that yes, it was steep, but just kept on going. Of course, we were saying all the cuss words in our minds as well and stopping to breathe every three minutes, but for me, trying to keep a positive mind about things is every bit as important as keeping my body fueled so it could push forward.
Ten-Mile section of the CT ascends 3,300 ft in 8.4 miles. It then descends 3,000 ft in 5 miles through 1.7 billion-year-old basement rocks that cover the crest as well as the valley below. As you travel along the CT on this portion of the trail, you cross under six or seven different passes and crest above the tree line for several miles of tundra riding with astounding views of the surrounding mountains below. You literally feel like you are on top of the world, surrounded by green and wildflowers and you can see for days. The riding through the tundra section wasn’t the worst, but was generally slow going at times with short technical, unrideable sections and some descent exposure (that I don’t deal well with).
Once you crest on 10-mile/Miners and head towards Wheeler, you start to descend down towards Copper Resort. We had staved off eating lunch until Copper because we wanted a proper place to sit, a cold coca-cola and any other fun munchems that the market might have. One part of the rocky descent just down from the crest got a little rowdy.
Aliza is a daredevil, and as I mentioned in a prior segment, likes to do anything she can as to not have to walk or push her bike - partly out of the condition of her knee, but I think also to do with a little with her pride. The trail was getting precariously steep and while I definitely would have ridden it with a not-fully loaded bike, with some suspension, with a dropper, I chose to get off my bike and take a look. It seemed a bit too risky to me, so I got off and started walking. But Aliza? Not to my surprise, Aliza started bumbling her way down the bumpy pathway, trying to navigate her way down without gaining too much speed and not hitting any of the human-head shaped rocks in our way. She got about a quarter of the way down when her front wheel got bumped off course and away she went like a lost cow, stampeding through the brush. I thought she was in for, but she managed to slow herself enough eventually to where she just tipped over into the brush. It was a sight to see! I had to stop hiking my bike because I was laughing so hard and was grateful that I didn’t have to pee, cause I surely would have wet myself. Needless to say, I was very satisfied with my decision to hike my bike and myself down the rest of that part of the trail.
Me, making smart decisions!
As the trail re-entered into the tree line, the descent became more rideable and more fun, flowing into a few switchbacks and more wildflowers. We were almost to the bottom when I managed to take myself out and landed on my tush off my bike. I got distracted by all the beautiful landscape and suddenly I was on the ground. I didn’t get hurt though and laughed about how ridiculous I felt for falling over on such a non-technical part of the trail.
You can see Copper Resort as you descend off the hill, but it seemed to take forever to get there. What I thought would take us just a bit of time ended up taking quite a bit longer because it was up and down and up and down. I was ready for lunch! Also, it was early afternoon and we could see the storm clouds rolling in like clock-work. It was here, on the roller coaster trail that we ran into a couple of other cyclists who were racing and going the opposite direction from us. One especially looked haggard and talked to Aliza for a bit while she waited for me to catch up. Little did I know that two years later, this guy, Mike, would become one of my good riding buddies and would ride the Kokopelli trail with me in 2023! It’s such a small world!
We arrived in Copper resort and made our way to the market just in time for it to start raining. We sat on a bench near the market and I warmed up my dehydrated refried beans for my bean burrito lunch (yay for hot lunch!) Aliza was also snacking on the smorgasbord of nom noms that she had in her pack as well as what we had picked up from the market. Our glorious lunch was brought to a halt as a raging storm blew through. Crazy hail and wind bombarded all the tourists and they scattered like sheep. We hunkered down along with a few other CT racers who had stopped for lunch and a recharge as well. They were contemplating whether and when to go back out on the trail, as they were starting to head up the mountain the other way towards 10-mile. I, personally, would not want to be up there during a thunderstorm, but some of the guys were saying they were going to risk it. All for the race, right?
Calm before the storm. CT racers had made a pitstop as well!
Aliza and I hunkered down trying to decide what to do and finally decided, after the clouds broke just a bit that we needed to make it as far as we could until the next storm system. So we bundled up in all of our warm gear, and our full tummies and started the climb up to Kokomo Pass. On our way out of the resort we ran into one other lady racer so we cheered her on with our words of awe and encouragement! The rain cleared just for a bit with only sprinkles and we were immediately too hot in all of our gear, so we had to stop and strip down. But, as nature would have it, not even 30 minutes later, it was pouring again.
We could tell that there were going to be a few storm systems rolling through, each bringing with it wind, more rain, and then ebbing just a bit before the next one, so our plan was to make it as far as we could get just below the tree line, and then call it for the day. We were wet and tired and ready to be done. On our way up, we kept looking for a site that was somewhat near water that one of our friends had mentioned on his CT trek. We even had a pin dropped where he had stayed, but when we got to that point (or what we thought was that point) there wasn’t really any where to camp, so we kept going. Finally, we found a little spot just off the trail that seemed to be a little covered by trees, which we thought might help keep things a little “dryer.” The only problem was that we weren’t near water, but we didn’t want to risk going any further up and not having a camp spot. So, we pitched the tent in the pissing rain. Aliza agreed to start some hot water if I would go on the hunt for water that was about a mile up the trail. So, I got most of the bladders so that we would have enough for the rest of the day and the next morning and went for a hike.
The hike was actually quite enjoyable. It was all uphill on the way up, but not too steep and it was absolutely beautiful in that area, overlooking meadows, a ton of trees, and even with the rain and setting sun was quite magical. I got to the water source, which was just right off the trail and easy to get to. I was just minding my own business passing the time in my own head, when guess who I would run into at the water source? Our Grumpy Curmudgeon friend from earlier that day. I said hello and at first didn’t recognize him with all his rain gear on, but as soon as he started talking, I knew his cynical voice instantly. He had a lot to say about the rain, and then asked if I knew if there was an open campsite ahead and that “there better be an open site because he’d walked all this way and wasn’t going to go over the *#$% pass tonight…” and other grumblings of the sort. If any of you have ever read Bill Bryson’s book, “A Walk in the Woods” about his Appalachian Trail experience, you could probably imagine that this person is similar to Bill’s friend that accompanied him on the majority of the trail. If you haven’t read it, you should - it’s a great read. Anyway, he trudged on and left me in peace and I hurried my way back to our camp and arrived just at dusk.
We huddled and cooked our food quickly…in fact, I’m not even sure if I ate a hot dinner that night because we had had lunch so late. Either way, our bed time could not come early enough. We planned to wake up before light the next morning and ride in the dark up the hill so that we could most assuredly get over the pass before the thunderstorms hit, which proved to be a very very smart move on our part.
PS: No matter how much I try to remember to get pictures of the grumpy/no good/rainy and cold parts of the trip, I always forget. So, pretty much we had no pictures of our trek after our rainy lunch at Copper Mt Resort. I’m sure you can use your imagination though.
