Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (Rawlins to Salida)

After Rawlins we had our first horrible day of the trip. It was 37 degrees, no shade, no breeze, no vegetation, no surface water and relentlessly steep hills.

By noon we were very low on water, so we stopped a car and asked a local couple (who were on their way home from a camping weekend), if they had any spare drinking water. They gave us four bottles of cold gatorade and one bottle of water! We were in heaven!

The next morning we emerged from the moonscape into aspen forests. We were so happy to see trees again!

In Slater we crossed into Colorado and were back into the mountains. We received a wonderful welcome at Brush Mountain Lodge with cold water, pizza, home-made ice cream and a lovely shady porch. It was a fabulous place to spend the hot afternoon chatting with fellow cyclists.

An early morning start after a lovely night camping....

.... and another steep hill to climb.

Steamboat Springs is a fun resort town with natural springs. A great place to have a day off, do some bike maintenance and resupply.... and a visit to the brewery.

Climbing up to Lynx Pass.

Our first encounter with the Colorado River at Radium. The trail was a roller-coaster of up and down until we emerged in Kremmling through the amazing Gore Canyon.

Silverthorne, Frisco and Breckenridge are ski resorts with spectacular mountain scenery. Below, downtown Frisco and Oktoberfest (in September!) in Breckenridge.

Dillon Reservoir apparently provides drinking water for Denver through a 37.5 km long tunnel, which took 20 years to dig.

The autumn colours of Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) are stunning! The trees look like they glow!

Boreas Pass is the second highest pass on the trail and we happened to get into a hail storm. It was absolutely freezing! The positive side was that we finally got to wear all our wet/cold weather gear that we have been carrying for eight weeks! The scenery was amazing!

After eight weeks of sunshine we seem to be getting caught in afternoon thunderstorms. The locals call it the New Mexico monsoon, which is (hopefully) supposed to end mid September.

Coming into Hartsel, the weather didn't look too good for camping, so we decided to stay in luxury at Hartsel Springs Lodge. How nice is a log fire when you are wet and cold!

We spent a lovely morning chatting with Gail and Faye, who were also staying at the Lodge.

In Colorado, the people seem to live within fences, while the cows roam free. They call this "camping"!

The descent into Salida was spectacular, since the town is surrounded by 14,000+ foot peaks.