Day 6 - Rocky Mountain Campout

June 01, 2012 3 Comments

Thursday - May 31, 2012 @ 7:30AM

Location: Marshall Pass, Colorado
Elevation: 10300
Temp: Cold - 27
Planned Miles: ? Wyoming Maybe
Total Miles: 281

- I'm typing this at our campsite at Marshall Pass - 6:45AM now. I was up before sunrise. brrr. was it cold. The rest of the crew is just now getting up. A bunny just hopped by about 4 feet from my chair and the birds are singing their morning songs. The sun is in front of me and is slowly burning the chill away. The numb fingers are hard to ignore but surrounding beauty dominates my thoughts.

- We had a 2nd night of Coleman Meal in a bag. Man, those things are good after a hard day of riding. The JetBoil stove is probably my favorite piece of gear. It boils water in under 2 minutes!
I have to go for now b/c the iPad battery is down to 1% and I think my left pinky just fell off.

Highlights:

- Boreas Pass into Breckenridge was beautiful.

- Today will be know from here on as The Creek Crossing Day. It was marked on our route as Deep Water. I didn't think much of it and took off for the deep section to spicy things up. I knew I was in for a challenge when the water came over the front wheel. No big deal, just gas it.... wait why is the bike cutting out? Did I already suck water in the intake? No, dummy you didn't turn traction control off. Luckily I had enough momentum to get out of the hole and to dry land. Surely Dan will see how deep it was and take a different route. I was shocked to see he followed me straight through the deep spot. Unfortunately, his trip through wasn't as smooth. It took all four of us to pull him out and then we had to tip the 990 on it's tail to drain the water out of the pipes. The group rejoices when the big 990 fires up. It was shooting water 6 ft long out of the twin pipes. I regret not getting footage of the water evacuation it was quite a spectacle.

Now it's Joe's turn to forge the crossing but there is one problem..... He left his key on to come help Dan and his, already weak battery, was now dead. Thanks to some quick thinking from Lane we used the SAE power wire from my mini air compressor and charged the KTM from the Yamaha. This would have made for a good Yamaha commercial. After 5 minutes of charging the KTM fired to life.

I will try to post the video of the crossing. Be warned, there could be some adult language. :)

- Because it was getting late we cut out 40 miles of trail and slabbed it into Steamboat. My boots were full of cold creek water and I was ready for a shower. We grabbed a room at the Fairfield Inn. Oh yes, I almost forgot... I lost one of my shoes on the route. After we checked in to the hotel I rode over to Sports Authority in search of a Size 11 Brooks running shoe. I got a funny look when I asked for the left one only.

- We grabbed the free city bus for a quick ride to downtown in search of some good food and beverages. It felt good to let the dirty bikes rest for a little. We had an outstanding mexican dinner at the Rio Grande.

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3 Responses

Sarg
Sarg

June 01, 2012

The water crossing video posted to YouTube is hilarious. Who is the guy riding with you who didn’t want to get wet? He just kinda mostly watched. We didn’t blame him, it was just funny! THAT BIKE WAS BURRIED!!! :O)

PS-You should have asked me about the Brooks running shoe…Sports Authority only stocks the right one for single useage!

Larry Skidmore
Larry Skidmore

June 01, 2012

this is fun to follow your trip. Sure is beautiful country. be safe

Dave lee
Dave lee

June 02, 2012

Jason
Looks like a great time. Send some of the cold weather down this way. Ride safe

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