Aspen and happy elevations.

Day 15 - June 21st
47 miles
Total: 619.1miles
Moving Avg: 5.7 mph
Overall Avg:

Today was a bit of a climb. I don't really feel the altitude, but our pace shows it.

After an early wakeup, we made a small climb before descending into Vallecitos, NM. The town is dilapidated and tiny. We were chased by nearly wild dogs that were biting at my tires. Pedal fast, and bark back. In doing so, we almost missed the turn for the Community Center.

I called to Apricots to turn around and come back, so we could use the community center. The building was closed, but the water tap was on outside, so we topped off our water.

But, more importantly, there was a WiFi connection. I logged on to REI and placed an Order for a new tent. After Apricots spent the better part of ten minutes squishing bugs with tape (our makeshift flyswattwer), she was convinced that a tent was a good idea. Hopefully it will arrive in Del Norte before we do, so that we can swap out our tent.

We pushed another five miles to Canon Plaza, where a lady runs a tiny snack stand. We are talking about a village of ten to fifteen houses in the middle of nowhere. She sees enough people going to the mountains for hunting or fishing, so she opened up a 100 square foot shack of random treats.

Apricots and I pulled up on our bikes, and she drove down on her ATV to sell us happiness. My happiness was a soda, a coffee, two burritos, two small pies, some corn nuts, a gatorade, and probably something I am forgetting. Apricots had a little less than I did, but we chowed down on some nomnoms while talking with the owner for a long while.

Then we pushed on to make our climb up and over Burned mountain. The route was very steep at first, a definite pusher, but then alternated between short downhills and long steady uphills. We took lunch at an abandoned cabin next to a spring. It was wonderful being in the green of higher elevations. Aspen trees joined the Ponderosa trees, and sage and Pinon disappeared as elevation was gained.

Just before we crested, a thunderstorm rolled over. We took shelter in the trees for a little while. Then when the rain eased up, we carried on upward to an elevation of 10,020 feet, before descending to Hopewell Lake, where a camper gave us water so that we didn't have to filter.

Just as we left Hopewell lake, the rain started falling hard. We returned to the day use area and took shelter from the rain for thirty minutes. A southbound pseudo racer joined us. We exchanged info on trail to come. He has been out for about as long as us, yet he has covered 2000 miles to our 650 or so. Crazy man said he has been sleeping in ditches and outhouses.

After the rain died down, we pushed nine miles further to Cisneros Park, where we now reside. And amazingly, we have cell service, so I should be able to send this off tonight.

Our goal is Horca tomorrow. Summitville on Thursday and Del Norte on Friday.

Only 40.2 miles until Colorado. Woot woot!

Live life at a slower place.

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