August 5th Day 36

August 5th – Day 36

Monarch Pass!

After looking at this pass for the past week on the map, we were fully prepared to kick it in the butt. We were expecting the worst and it actually turned out to be fairly easy. Yes, it was high and long, but it really was not too steep. So we just had our bikes in a low gear and methodically cranked it out while really only taking one break for the entire morning. We both thought that the climbs in the Smokey’s were much tougher. It could be because we think that they are graded higher or it could be that we have been biking now straight for over a month. Most likely it is a combination of both. Regardless, we made it up to the top when this jeep could not. We were passed by a huge number of motorcycles on our way up, which at our one stop for the day came to find out was the BMW club having their annual 100,000 ft of climbing ride. There were 330 bikes that would do over 350 miles of riding and 100,000 ft of ascent and descent in just one day. Oh, it must be nice to have a motorized vehicle.

Unfortunately the traffic camera on top of the mountain did not quite work out like we had planned. We were not smarter than the camera, and it did not update every 10 minutes like we had thought, but pretty much whenever it felt like it. We have heard from several people that there was a sighting of our bikes and trailers there, but not us. What also didn’t help was that there was no cell phone coverage for either of us up there. Trust us, we did make it up and hopefully this picture can support our claim.

Our weather for the climb up was great, which helped to make it easier, though was a completely different story on the way down. After about two minutes of flying down the other side of the mountain, it decided to hail on us, which made for an extremely cold ride down. This weather pattern was not limited to just our descent, but turned out to be a continual rain for the next 40 miles…awesome. Despite our best efforts to stay dry, we were both soaked and didn’t really feel like setting up our tents in the rain. Once we rolled into our final town of the day, Gunnison, we decided to spring for a motel room to try and dry up all of our gear. We quickly realized that Gunnison was booming this night and not one room was available in the whole town, which included about 15 hotels/motels. What reason could possibly explain such a shortage of rooms? The monster truck rally was in town….

Anyway, while we were trying to decide what to do for the night in the check in of the Super 8 Motel, we were fortunate enough to run into Dan. Dan worked at the motel and offered for us to stay at his place for the night if nothing turned up. He worked at the motel part time and also in Crested Butte, where he is able to get in 100 days of skiing a year. His flexible schedule allows him to do what he really enjoys, which is spend time in the outdoors. After only a few days in Colorado, we are both really blown away by the relaxed attitudes and passion Coloradoans have for the outdoors. We have both been to the state before, but never quite experienced it like this.

Dan is a very intense back country hiker and has already climbed 32 of the 54 14ers in Colorado in just two and a half years, which is very impressive. He turned out to be a very nice, laid back guy, who was nice enough to offer us a place to stay for the night in his trailer.

We roamed around Gunnison, had a great dinner at Katie's Kookery with live music, and enjoyed some beverages at a local bar. Gunnison quickly rose to be one of our favorite places so far on the trip. It is a great little mountain town.

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