I'm leaving out the first few paragraphs, which deal with current politics, and moving right to the histories and stories. Click the clipping below if you want to read what you missed, here.
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Sunday, December 4, 2022
Knave: sinking of "Central America" in 1857 - Albert E. Norman reminisces about his neighborhood - gold rush in London Times, 1848 - Oakland Tribune - 25 Sep 1955
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I'm leaving out the first few paragraphs, which deal with current politics, and moving right to the histories and stories. Click the clipping below if you want to read what you missed, here. The Central America has been in the news lately, as its precious cargo of gold - from California - is up for auction.- MF
Hurricane California
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Modern 'Homesteaders' Buy Another Slice of Historic Contra Costa County, Dec 23, 1953, Oakland Tribune
Modern 'Homesteaders' Buy Another Slice of Historic Contra Costa
County
Wed, Dec 23, 1953 – 17 · Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) ·
Newspapers.com
Modern 'Homesteaders' Buy Another Slice of Historic Contra Costa County
Another historic real estate deal has taken place in what used to be called El Rancho de Laguna de Palos Colorados.
Saturday, November 12, 2022
INA COOLBRITH, POET, IS DEAD - Oakland Tribune, 29 Feb 1928
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Poet Dead INA DONNA COOLBRITH, California's poet laureate, who died at the home of her niece in Berkeley at the age of 85. |
INA COOLBRITH, POET, IS DEAD
Woman, 85, Laureate of California, Dies at Home of Niece in Berkeley.
California's gifted and beloved poet laureate, Ina Donna Coolbrith, is dead. News of her passing spread a note of sorrow over the entire state, and today messages of condolence and regret poured into the home of her niece, Mrs. Finlay Cook, 2906 Wheeler street, Berkeley, from every section of California as the press wires broadcast the word of her death.
Thursday, August 25, 2022
Colorado Trail 2022; Prologue
Prologue
Heart fix
In March, 2021 I had a procedure done called an arthroscopic mini maze, to "fix" my atrial fibrillation. This was the fourth surgical procedure I had done to fix it, the first three being normal, internal ablations. None of them fixed it, but this one did. It also seemed to lessen my ability to go harder, have higher heart rates. It felt like it took away my zone 4 and 5, but maybe that was just the long recovery, and getting old. (53 years old in 2022, before I undertook riding the whole CT.) But, the problem was gone. I was looking forward to doing the Colorado Trail without afib!
Sunday, August 14, 2022
Bikepacking the Colorado Trail, Summer 2022, Denver to Durango
Can a recreational, middle-aged cyclist from sea level bikepack the Colorado Trail? Yes.
History
Read: Bikepacking the Colorado Trail, Summer 2013, segments 23, 22, 23
Read: Bikepacking the Colorado Trail, Summer 2015, segments 25, 26, 27 & 28, Silverton to Durango
That triggered the idea; we should ride the whole thing. Since 2015, Mark and I have been planning a ride from Denver to Durango. He'd be retiring soon, and I'd just take a month off. We'd ride the whole thing at a gentleman's pace - taking breaks in towns, swimming, enjoying it. That was the idea. Mark did retire. I asked my work for a month off, letting them know a year in advance. In July/August 2022, we'd ride the whole thing. It was harder than we remembered.
This is the story of that trip.
Thoughts about bikepacking the Colorado Trail
These are my thoughts, advice about bikepacking the Colorado Trail. I've done a first 2013 attempt on a subset of the later part of the trail, a 2015 trip to complete what we left unfinished in 2013, and then in 2022, the whole thing, Denver to Durango. Each time I learned something. This page is not perfect, complete, or done. I might add things, as I think of them.
Colorado Trail, 2022; Epilogue
After reaching the end of the Colorado Trail on 2022/08/07, I spent a few days in Durango, couch-surfing at Matt and Liza's house. They were gracious hosts. Mark and I had driven to Durango together, and the original plan was to drive home in his Subaru, but he'd already returned home. My first plan was to rent a minivan and drive home. I even had the perfect audio book purchased, to listen to on the drive home through Nevada, on Hwy 50 - Basin and Range, by John McPhee. But I got quotes for a mini SUV - no minivans available - from Hertz in Durango, and it was a no go; $1300 from Durango airport to Oakland airport. Budget was no better. I briefly considered buying a $1000 car in Durango, driving it home and selling it, if it made it. Lauren, had a better idea, she got me a plane ticket from Durango to SFO for $400. That left the bike and gear, what to do? I ended up dropping the bike at Durango Cyclery for shipment, via bikeflights. I was able to cram all the rest of my stuff into my duffel bag, except clothes, which went into a smaller duffel as carry-on.
Saturday, August 13, 2022
2022/08/06 Segment 25 Molas Pass to Segment 26 Hotel Draw Road
I thought I'd finished for the day, but the campsite options weren't great, so I continued a bit more:
2022/08/05 Segment 23 to Silverton (wilderness bypass)
Segment 23, about 3 mi from the finish
Someone went by my tent with a headlamp, playing bluegrass around 4:00 a.m. A coyote started howling nearby at 5:00. When I got up there were two other tents nearby, one of them was Pepa. I started packing up. Everything was wet, as usual. Sky was calm and clear, dawn was breaking. When he was up, I suggested the idea that I give him my food. I brought it all over and he laid his out, and after a while he agreed that it would work. I was happy to give him my food because I would be getting more, and I would be going down to Silverton very soon. It was a good solution. We talked some more, finished packing up and then we both headed out. The next rise was not bad at all and the singletrack after was very nice. The single track dumped me out on Stony Point road and then I had a climb of about a half a mile to the summit. I said goodbye to Peppa and John and Lisa, I got happy birthdays in return. And then took the descent to Silverton. While it would be nice to go fast, it's very rocky, and it's a good way to tear a tire, so I took it leisurely and took pictures. Met a British or Scottish bikepacker coming up, he had very little on his bike, looked fit, but how is he going to stay warm? We had a brief chat. I talked about how, once you climb the mountain, you can see the mountain, a realization I came to in 2013, when I first climbed Stony Point road to the CT. Getting closer to town I noticed what seemed like a lot more side by sides and RVs, like a whole camp of Texans off to the left, above town. Also I saw signs prohibiting OHVs in town. And I saw a sign advertising $20 parking for OHVs. Arriving in town, I found the post office, got the resupply box, sat in front of the post office, changed my phone from airplane mode to regular network mode and started texting with friends and family. After a while of that, I called the number Christine gave me and she gave me directions, it was a block from the post office to her house, on Reese. She welcomed me, made me an egg and cheese sandwich, was very friendly, Josh as well. My memory of it is all a blur at this point, but I was able to take a shower and do some laundry and use their Wi-Fi, hang out in their airstream, and it was very nice. Christine showed me pictures of their house remodel. The house is very adorable. I helped Josh move some wood and put some motorcycles on a trailer. I met their friend Bevan, who helped them put the house together, and also bought a house on the same street. He has a dog, Gordo, who is brother to the Fonner's dog Reese. They also have a dog Buddy, a rescue. I kind of over-did it with Instagram and my phone shut down, because it was so hot. I had to charge it and let it sit on their Wi-Fi and upload pictures to Google photos and ignore it, which was hard for me. I studied the Databook. I went for a hike with Christine and her friend, real estate agent Melissa. I met Melissa's partner, Skinny. They're both really nice, and their house felt really nice to be in. The hike took us up the side of the valley, looking down on town, the view was amazing. We talked about cult movies, Georgia O'Keefe, New Mexico, Indian tribes in New Mexico, dogs, careers, self-promotion, branding. A little later we all went to dinner at the Eureka Station, the best restaurant in town, according to Christine and Josh. Bevan joined us. I treated, the food was good. I had a beer. Plenty of water. We got back to the house around 10:00, I started packing up the bike to be ready, I had made an agreement with Josh that he would shuttle me to Molas Pass at 4:00 something, I would get up at 4:00 a.m. I made myself busy getting the bike ready and all my stuff ready, took a CBN gummy and melatonin tablet, read, but could not fall asleep. The bed in their airstream was very comfortable, I think I just had too many thoughts in my head, and the nearness of 4:00 a.m. to the hour of my retirement, something like 11 made me think too much, and I just never fell asleep.
2022/08/04 Segment 22 to Segment 23 Stony Pass
About 9 mi into segment 22
I set an alarm for 4:00 a.m. I had trouble sleeping. The location I chose in a hurry, as the storm hit was as flat and as low as I could find, but I was laying on a slope in two axes. I was nervous about getting over Coney summit the next day, the storms probably affected my psychology. I normally eat a CBN gummy to sleep when I'm camping, I did, but I didn't sleep so I added two Advil PMs. I fell asleep at some point and then the alarm woke me. It was cold and wet and I was not comfortable waking up yet, so I snoozed it, then snoozed it again, then acknowledged it and got up at 4:30. I struck my camp, and while I did so a hiker passed me. I later realized I left my mini towel drying on a bush, oh well. I started pushing my bike with my headlamp to guide me, until the sun rose and I turned the light off. There was a surprising amount of pedaling, whoever laid this section out wanted to give the traveler a break, so the gradient isn't always so steep. I took some pictures of the beautiful views. I even had a little bit of downhill. The hardest part was the wall, I will call it. Perhaps it has another name. It's a large headland with very difficult switchbacks up onto it. That was a lot of work. I saw a hiker coming the other direction, from Durango, Bree was her name, just starting her journey. We wished each other well. I spent a long time about 13,000 ft, my idea the previous night that I could somehow summit Coney was wrong, I would have been up there for hours. I was up there for hours this morning, before reaching Coney. I took a selfie with a timer. Once over Coney I had a really fun descent, down to the intersection of jeep roads. I remembered this from 2013. I met Sophie, a hiker who had started very early and was playing music as she hiked last night, I also met Tom from Toronto and Alex from LA, they were the ones in front of me who went up into the potential storm when I decided to stay put. They said they had to make an emergency shelter. Sophie was cautious but also on her own, admirable.
Thus began segment 23. Segment 23 had a really fun single track descent that I immediately paid for with a very challenging climb up the right side of a valley, while Sophie and Alex and Tom distanced me. I remembered this climb. Saw moose down in the valley, pointed them out to Sophia one point. Filtered water at a nice waterfall. The trail is very narrow and there's very little opportunity to pedal or coast on a bike, so the bike pusher and the bike must coexist. This led to the inevitable damage to my shins and calves from my pedals. This continued all day long, the pins cut the skin. It's very difficult to avoid. Especially when the trail is so narrow and lined with brush. I should find out the name of this plant; there's this bush that borders the trails high up here, it's stiff and it doesn't really admit much movement. I finally crested that valley and repeated the pattern over and over, segment 23 rolls along at about 13,000 ft. Each divide is gained by pushing the bike, for me, I imagine some super humans are pedaling up here but I am not, not very much. and then I coast with brakes on down the other side, often the descents are spectacularly beautiful, rugged, in the sense that there is not a nice clear track for a bike tire, but rather rocks, holes, mud, water, pedal catcher edges of the trail, etc. I continued doing this, getting more and more tired, having slept little and started at 4:30. I was looking at my GPS and at the Far Out app, and I could tell that I was getting closer, but I could also start hearing thunder at 11:45 a.m.! These storms are so common and today, early. They are really a limiter to what you can do. There was thunder and lightning and rain behind me on another mountain and sun above me so I continued, even though my legs and my energy were starting to fail. When I hike-a-bike at 12,000 or 13,000 ft, I will push for 10 or 20 seconds, pick some object at which I will stop, will allow myself to stop, and then I will pause and breathe heavily, trying to get oxygen back into my body and my pulse to slow. It's really like Sisyphus, slow movement. Sometimes I look at my GPS's elevation profile to see how bad it will be, other times I just know I have to get up it. As it got closer to noon and then 1:00 I was scanning for flat spots in case I had to throw a tent out. This is a good habit. I had also filled extra bottles in the bag for my water filter at the last water stop, so that I could do a dry camp. It was getting closer to two, I had less than 4 mi to go to finish the segment. Once I finished the segment, I had an 11 mi downhill to Silverton where friends of Erik, Josh and Christine Fonner had offered to put me up. I have never met them before, and I was already so grateful. I was fantasizing about finishing segment 23, getting to Silverton, getting warm and clean and eating yummy food and being around people. I faced two final climbs; a climb, descent, a further climb and then I'd be at Stony Point road. Thunder had been behind me for more than 2 hours at this point. Then I felt my first drops. I quickly put on rain jacket and pants, I already had on my regular long sleeve hoodie top, my Houdini jacket, both of which are very thin, summer issue, I put the pants over the shorts I had and put my shoes back on thinking I would March through the rain to the end of the segment. Then lightning struck nearby and that was that. I was at 12575 ft, a low point in the trail, about to begin a push up to something above 13,000 ft, and lightning would be a high risk at the next rise. So, I threw out the tent and got in it, basically in a bicycling outfit with a raincoat and rain pants on top. I thought I would try waiting it out. The rain suddenly hit very hard and I hugged myself to stay warm and just waited. All my gear was still on the bike, I had grabbed the backpack and put it under the rain fly. I began shivering and I continued to wait, hoping that the rain would let up and the sun would come out. It was only 2:00 p.m. Lightning struck close by, many times, one time so close and so loud that the third sensation of touch was involved, I could feel the thunder, the percussive wave. It rained and then hailed, the hail piled up like snow outside my tent. I continued to shiver and wait. I don't know how long I did this but perhaps an hour. Finally, I was getting so cold that I said I would wait for a gap in the rain to grab my gear, then warm up. When a slowing of the rain occurred I quickly grabbed all the gear off the bike and brought it back under the rain fly and then shivering, I pulled off all the clothes I had and put on my warm and dry clothes. Capilene underwear, capilene/wool long underwear, wool long sleeve shirt, Patagonia puffy jacket, hat, then I inflated the Thermarest Neo Air mattress and pillow, the mattress has a reflective coating on one side that keeps some of your body's warmth from reaching into the ground, doing all this inside a one person tarp tent is not elegant, but I got the pad inflated, flipped it around underneath me, the pillow too, then pulled the sleeping bag and liner, got into them, pulled everything tight around me and dozed for a few hours. The rain and hail continued, and continued, and continued. I was tired, and it was a way for me to warm up. I didn't sleep, but I was definitely dozing. About 6:00 p.m. I realized I should do something for food and drink, so I squeezed all the water out of the water filter into the pot, making just enough boiling water for a two-man dinner, shepherd's potato stew with beef and then enough left over for some bone broth, which always makes me feel better. There's all these things I do at the end of a day in a tent that aren't really worth describing, but here they are. I sent a message to my wife Lauren on the Spot tracker, letting her know I was caught in yet another storm close to finishing a segment, but not close enough. I charged the tracker, I had already charged the Garmin during the ride, it starts to show low battery warnings at about 5 or 6 hours. Then I read. I'm reading Barry Lopez's Arctic Dreams, and waited for the food to rehydrate.
Soon I will eat a CBN gummy and then fall asleep without an alarm set. Tomorrow will not be a productive day, I don't think. One of the hikers told me it's supposed to rain all day, which is not good for my plans. (It didn't, I'm fact my next day, very little traveling was sunny, with afternoon sprinkles.) I will get on a bunch of warm and dry riding clothes with as much warm and dry protection as I can, finish the two pushes to the end of the segment, in the rain if I have to and then drop down to Silverton, pick up a box from the post office if I'm not shivering too much, and then find Josh and Christine. I imagine tomorrow will be a day off. Tomorrow is my birthday, I will be 54. I originally had fantasies of arriving in Durango on my birthday, but that will have to wait. At this point I still think I could get there by the 7th, four more segments, 2 days. There is this dumb idea, I could leave all the bags at the Fonner's, then do the ride to Durango in one day maybe, but then I'd have to come back and get the bags, and it would be a hard day. I think I'll just stick with the original plan, get to Durango when I get there. If I arrive on the 7th, I will still have a week of downtime before I have to start work. I will spend that down time working, on the van but that's another story.
After the storm abated, about 6:00 or 6:30 I heard "Is that Morgan?" outside my tent. It was Peppa. We talked about the crazy storm, he got caught on a high point in lightning and hail and had to crouch down and protect his neck from hail and hope he didn't get hit by lightning. He made it to the same dell I was in and the it his tent. He mentioned that he needed to go down to Silverton to resupply, because the weather had slowed his progress. He also said he had to fly out of Durango on the 9th and it was a pickle, having to go down to Silverton and still complete the Colorado Trail on the 9th, he might have to miss a segment. He'd have to hitch down to Silverton or walk down. We said good night. Later I thought about it and I realized that I have to go to Silverton for the wilderness bypass, and he doesn't. I have food that I'm not going to need, because I'll get a resupply in Silverton. I realized that I should just give Peppa my food, and that way he can continue and finish his CT, and I get to do something nice for my birthday.
2022/08/03 Cathedral Ranch Cabins to Segment 22 Spring Creek Pass
Wednesday, August 3rd - slept somewhat fitfully in the trailer at Cathedral Ranch Cabins. I wonder if perhaps I was imperfect in my water filtering methods, as I had a lot of gas in the night and then an urgent need to go poop in the morning. This happened yesterday morning as well. Alarm went off at 5:00. Quickly prepared, was nice to have clean clothes, made oatmeal and coffee in the trailer with water from the bike packer lounge. I think I was prepared and ready to go at 6:30. Brad pointed out a moose in the valley, I shot a short video of it. It was beautiful. Hugs and handshakes with Annette and Brad, then rolling out after goodbyes, I had beautiful sunshine and a downhill start. Soon I was riding along the beautiful valley floor, flat terrain, wondering at the beautiful sights. It really is a pretty country. Then I began to climb. It was a long dirt climb. Saw another moose. Put my thumb out for any cars or trucks coming from behind me, there were three, all politely declined. I was about 10,000, then 11,000 ft I felt no stronger but surprisingly, I didn't tire as much. Maybe I am getting acclimatized. After a long time, 3+ hours I reached highway 149. There's no shoulder on the highway. I waited for about 10 minutes, figuring I would put my thumb out for the first three cars that came by, and if none of them picked me up, I'd start pedaling. Well no cars came from the direction I needed them to come, so I just started pedaling. Because the traffic was so infrequent, I didn't feel unsafe with the lack of a shoulder. I crested and then descended, losing all of that elevation I'd worked so hard to get on the dirt. Whenever a car came behind me I would put my thumb out, but none offered to pick me up. I surprised myself by pedaling, very slowly, to Spring Creek Pass. I paused and one of the people who had declined to give me a ride was there, I think his name was Paul. He apologized that he had no room in the car, and I could see that the whole Subaru was full of boxes and containers. There was another guy, Scott. They were both in the parking lot standing by their cars, they didn't know each other but we all started talking. One of them, I believe it was Paul offered me freeze dried food, and I told him I had a lot of that. He offered me freeze-dried cheesecake, which tasted nice, but required a lot of moisture to enjoy, moisture I didn't feel I had plenty of. Apparently, all of that stuff in the back of the Subaru was freeze dried food. The other guy, Scott offered me a mini Coke, and boy did that taste good. I don't know why, but Coca-Cola is so good when you are tired, thirsty, out in the middle of nowhere. I never drink it at home. We had nice chats, Scott was talking about climbing some 14ers, Paul was talking about the Colorado Trail, and segment 22, and the wilderness bypasses. I let them each pick up my bike, and they were impressed with how heavy it was. Then I began the slow grind up the jeep road. Even though the elevation was high, 11 and 12,000 ft, I was able to pedal a surprising amount. There was a little trickle, not quite a creek across the road and it ran down one side of it. I filtered water there, filling up my bag, bottle with the Nuun tablet, and keeping the filter bottle full. I figured the storm could come at any time and I wanted to have enough water to dry camp. I leapfrogged with a guy named Peppa, I asked him if it was like Peppa Pig and he said, same spelling, but different. Funny guy. He kept talking about pineapples just around the corner, tequila, malteds. He would get ahead when it was hike-a-bike and I would get ahead when it was pedalable. We reached Jarosa Mesa, I believe it is called. It got really rocky. I had to push uphill on the rocks, then I got to level ground and was able to sometimes pedal over the rocks, sometimes push. There were lots of sheep hoof prints, some horse footprints and a lot of sheep poop. It was hard to dodge both the sheep poop and the rocks. Eventually I got a little bit of a downhill and discovered that by bringing my speed up and sort of running the rocks like a rapid, I could keep some forward momentum. My bike and I were bouncing like crazy over these jagged rocks. The rocks look different than the previous segments, like maybe basalt this time, where before they had been what I might call slate, or chert, or some other form of rock. These were different. There was also a bit more dirt and grass, and when the rocks would give me a break it was nice riding. I caught up to Peppa, who was FaceTiming with his mom. I didn't realize what he was doing at first and was talking to him. I guess he had signal, I did not. He was showing his mom these thousands of sheep arrayed across the Mesa.
In 2013 I had an experience with a sheep dog protecting its herd that was pretty terrifying, until the dog realized I wasn't a threat and leaned hard against me. I had AFib at the time and couldn't have gotten away if I wanted to. It was a moving moment when this animal that had been threatening me, realized that I was not a threat and just leaned on me so I would pet him or her. I'll never forget that. That was also on this part of the Colorado Trail, segment 23, which is where I'm headed next.
I was poised to take a downhill run toward the herd. I was a little anxious that there might be more of these sheepdogs, they're very fierce, but I had no choice. I told Peppa that I would run D for him and so I went forward, with my timber bell dingling, and the animals dispersed. I found it humorous the way they all sounded like they were saying 'Meh.' I shot a video of the experience on my phone, until I hit a rock and almost tipped over. No sheepdogs. I made it through the end of the herd and then continued on the jeep road. I was able again surprisingly to pedal much of the jeep road. This segment, 22 is so much easier because there's some hike-a-bike, but quite a bit of ridable trail. I gained some altitude and then found a single track which brought me to a broad meadow with some creeks in it. I was eager to find the yurt, because in 2013 that was the furthest west we got, and it was also a critical point.
In 2013 we were soaking wet, tired, hypothermic, I had atrial fibrillation, it was a rough period of time, but Mark knew the yurt was ahead of us and so when we found it, we got inside, nobody being there ahead of us, and we fortified ourselves with hot chocolate and recovered. The next day Barry joined us. minus Chris, and then we returned to Silverton, again in a significant rainstorm.
So the yurt was a big deal for me, and I wanted to see it again, take a picture of it. I somehow missed it in this valley. I kept going past it, confirming with two hikers that I had passed it, and so decided to continue climbing. This was a critical mistake because that was the last water opportunity before Coney summit, and while I did have a full filter bag and a bottle, my packs hydration bladder was probably 2/3 or 1/2 full. I should have filtered, filled my bag, drunk a bottle, filled a bottle. I climbed above the tree line to a kind of scrub landscape at about 12,000 ft. At this point I could see Coney Summit, the highest point on the Colorado Trail, six miles in front of me. Sun was out, it was warm, but there were also clouds. As I progressed I saw a few tents. It was about 2PM. I figured these people were sheltering for the day before the storm came, and I thought about joining them. There were some nice flat spots and some trees. But then I saw some hikers in front of me going up the slope, I debated with myself whether I should continue. There was sunshine, and also dark clouds. The variety of clouds in the high country of Colorado is immense, varied, fascinating. I did not know how to read them, I don't. I had again found myself climbing away from water sources without a refill. I saw my third moose of the day, this time only about 50 ft away in the scrub. I had the timber bell dingling, shook my bars to make sure it heard me, it looked over at me, I looked over at it, neither seem to care very much so I continued, head checking regularly to make sure that it was not following me or charging. I had enough water for a dry camp. I debated with myself, until I felt the first raindrops. This time I did not delay, like I did two days ago when I got cold and wet. I immediately threw the tent out on the nearest available flat ground, I think on some moose droppings, but flat space or nearly flat space is hard to come by in this spot. I grabbed all the gear off the bike and got in the tent. This was a much more successful strategy.
My day ends here, in the tent. There has been much lightning and thunder, some of it very close by. Hard rain, maybe some hail. The tent is doing a great job. I do occasionally feel a tiny droplet of water, I think the tent needs to be resealed, it actually had a small puddle that I put my mini towel in. I'm in here with all my belongings, a few are outside of the mesh portion under the rain fly, but the food is in here with me, everything is in here. I'm quite happy with how far I got, the rest of the ride from Cathedral Ranch Cabins to Spring Creek Pass intimidated me, it had a pretty big climb, actually two climbs to a high point of 12,000 ft, I really was thinking I would just get to the first campsite at mile 2.7, potentially the second campsite at 5.7, or ideally the yurt at 8.7. I think I'm about 9 miles in now, and if I wake up early I could knock out Coney summit, descend and I think get all of 23 done tomorrow and get to Silverton tomorrow by end of day. It has rained off and on since I stopped riding at about 3PM, this is going to be a cold, wet start tomorrow. I have an energy bar and a leftover chicken bean stew two-man dinner for breakfast. I don't have a lot of water in my bag, and I have to go at least 9 miles to refill, unless I want to go off the Colorado Trail to some possible water options beforehand, but I would have to do that in the dark because I'm setting my alarm for 4:00 a.m.
2022/07/31 Segment 15 Foose's Creek to Segment 16 Sargents Mesa
I set an alarm so I could get an early start. I had a lot of respect for how hard the Foose's Creek climb would be. It turned out to be more rideable than I thought until about mile 8. I saw two through hikers going the opposite direction, young, Pocket Snacks and Washer where their trail names. We had a nice short chat, they thanked me for my positive energy. Once it got steep, I was in survival mode, all of the hike-a-bikes are the same for me, since I'm from sea level; I huff and puff, go a few feet, stop, take a break, press the sweat out of my helmet, drink some water, continue. This thing was super steep. At one point I passed the horse back rider, camped. I also passed a Colorado Trail foundation work site. Later, I heard voices behind me and two young guys, Mike and Sam passed me. They were much stronger than I was, we did some brief hellos and they continued up the hill. Soon after the horseback rider and his pack horse passed us all. The pack horse had a very wide load, he asked me to step back because of it. Think about the etymology of the phrase "wide load," it's from horses. Sam and Mike disappeared up the trail, I could still hear Mike's voice. Finally we got to an open area and I could see the final pitch. So steep, the steepest section of the Colorado Trail in its entirety. I could see the tiny trailhead sign at the top, Mike and Sam struggling up, riders at the top looking down at us. This one was the same, 10 ft, pause, let heart go down, 15 ft, pause, let heart go down. I finally got to the top, after motioning for some downhill mountain bike traffic to go ahead. Not long after I got to the top and caught my breath some shuttled riders asked me if I would take their group photo. I did. It felt weird. One of the riders, a woman asked me if I was bikepacking. I told her about Denver to Durango, and then we had a brief talk about bike tours, and then she offered me some olives. I was quite pleased, and said yes. She gave me a little packet of olives in lemon and rosemary. I thanked her. I should have asked her name. I said I would have them with my dinner. Mike and Sam were there, and their friend Shan from Australia was there as well, he had gotten shuttled up. He had some sort of altitude problem like Mark did. We talked briefly, Mike mentioned that he used to work at a winery in Sebastopol. I asked him which one and he said Joseph Phelps, and I said Mitzi and he said 'Yes!' And then we talked about Mitzi Inglis and Curtis Inglis, Curtis's bikes and his car hobby. I took his picture and sent it to Mitzi later on. We talked about continuing, where we might camp, I was hoping to get into segment 16 and 17 and maybe camp at Baldy Lake. Mike was talking about going even further, getting halfway into segment 17. I began riding left on the Monarch Crest Trail. It was beautiful, very nice. Probably worth a shuttle. There was still some climbs, and I saw Mike and Sam stopped, making GoPro videos. I joked that they should keep doing that for a long time so that I could keep up. At one high point there was a group of riders, one of them in really colorful clothing, and a young kid. The kid said 'have some of this water, it's from a spring' and I foolishly said 'no, not yet' or something like that. Turns out I had my mile numbers off and that was the spring at which I intended to fill. I passed it without filling and was in water danger. I descended the rest of 15 with that group, stopping at the end to say hellos. It turns out they were from the Oveja Negra bike bag company. They commented on my Porcelain Rocket frame bag and said I should get one of theirs, and I agreed. We talked for a bit more, I scouted for some water I thought would be near the beginning of segment 16, and failed to find it. It was hot and I was worried about water. I heard and saw the Mike, Sam, Shan group roll off. I began 16 climbing. 16 was not fun. Hike-a-bikes, moto trail usage, water, cows, mud, a dry segment with not much water. I filtered at the first trickle I saw, met Kate / Badger from Seattle and her dog Nora, who had foot problems and cute little booties. Kate had been on the trail a long time, she got COVID at the very beginning and spent several days in a tent, sick. Young woman. Talked about how my partner had dropped out. Then Charlie and his dog came from the other direction. Kate was coming from Denver like me, Charlie was coming from Durango with his dog. Charlie's dog food was running short, he was doing long stretches between resupplies. I gave them each some gummy bears and continued on. 16 was rough, I don't have fond memories of it. I got to Tank 7 Creek, and it was flowing. The Mike, Sam, Shan group were finishing filtering. there was a mother and son at the creek as well. On my way to the Creek I had passed a woman, and she walked up, a hiker. We had a nice conversation, Dana from Lawrence, Kansas. We talked about our children, the Bay area, Lawrence, bikepacking, all kinds of things. She was nice. I was beat. I had a little snack and was debating whether to continue, my body was so tired and the section was so demoralizing. But I needed to continue, I needed to make progress. I felt the pressure of completing this thing after almost giving up on segment 15, I felt so much more had to be done and I was definitely in the accomplishment mindset, not the fun mindset. There were nice campsites at Tank 7 and Dana suggested I stay and continue the conversation. The family was right next to her camp. Dana was going to meet up with her daughter and do a segment together and then get picked up by her husband. I decided to say goodbye and do the long, three mile climb that finished segment 16. I mostly pushed up those final three miles, my body was empty, I had no strength left. Hike-a-bike really depletes your ability to pedal a bike. Again, the altitude was killing me, it was only 1300 feet, but the high point was 11618 ft and I felt it. It was cold, getting late, Sargents Mesa was grim, windy high plains with cattle. I wasn't very interested in the Soldier Stone monument, and didn't see it, and didn't look for it. My computer said that I was going to reach a high point and then I would go downhill and so I just kept going until I got to that high point and descended, passing a bunch of cows on rocks. rocks. rocks until I got a few hundred feet lower and found a meadow full of mushrooms on the left hand side. I camped there. I felt that bears wouldn't be a problem here and didn't see a place to hang food. I amazingly had some internet and posted some stuff on Instagram, and talked to my family. That helped me a little. I was again feeling really challenged, really low, unsure of whether I had what it took to do this ride all the way through. It was cold, I needed all my warm clothes and the bag liner. Those olives that I got at the top of Foose's Creek were so good with my meager rehydrated dinner. They brightened my day.
2022/07/29 Buena Vista to Segment 13 Silver Creek to Chalk Creek, Segment 14 Chalk Creek to US Hwy-50
Buena Vista
The plan for the next day was to climb Cottonwood Pass to segment 13, do segments 13 and 14. Mark was going to resume riding the Colorado Trail with me. We got an early start, and did a fairly breathless, cold climb on the road toward Cottonwood Pass. I was in a bad mood, I'm not sure why. Mark asked if I wanted to check the Databook and I snapped at him. I'm not sure why. It's hard to spend so much time with another person, and I had really enjoyed being on my own for segment 11. We took the 304 dirt road on the left and cut off a little bit of the climb, joining the Colorado Trail and avoiding some car traffic. It was a fairly tough dirt road climb. We rejoined segment 13 at about mile seven, not certain. It was nice riding, but I could tell Mark still wasn't feeling well. At one point I stopped to wait for him on a level section that was fun, and he skidded up behind me and seemed perturbed. The rest of the ride was brief; with some climbing and descending to Princeton Hot Springs, we were there by 11:00 a.m. The idea was to immediately begin segment 14, Chalk Creek trailhead to US highway 50. Mark was really not feeling well. Very quiet, resigned, seemed like he was having no fun. We got to a forest service road. I asked Mark if he was OK, and then we had a conversation about his current state and we both agreed that he was not recovering, he was feeling really bad and that the altitude was hurting him. It was an emotional conversation for me, I didn't want him to drop out, but I felt that he needed to for his own sake. I waited for him to make a decision and he decided to drop to Poncha Springs, hitch to Salida, figure it out from there. I offered to go with him but he declined, I said that I felt like continuing to ride the CT if he was okay with that, and he said he was. And that was that. It was a weird feeling. I think I had a little bit of signal and texted Lauren what happened, so she would know, and that she would know that I was continuing. The rest of 14 was not a lot of fun. I did see Bex and Joey, that was nice. At a water filter stop I saw some mushroom hunters with a cool mesh bag filled with mushrooms, super boletes I think they said. After that, segment 14 just got harder. It was super rocky, rocks everywhere, so many rocks that I couldn't pedal. I had to push up a lot of hike-a-bikes, I got rained on. My Garmin had declared a low battery warning, like it does everyday midday and I had taken my charging battery, put it in my mountain feed bag and connected it to the Garmin to charge it while riding. At one point I was crossing a creek, I tipped the bike up on its back wheel to cross a log bridge and the battery fell out into the creek! Panicked, I stepped into the creek with both feet and reached into the creek with both hands and after about 15 or 20 seconds I fished it out. I tried to dry it off with my mini towel, press the button a couple times to see if it would light up. What a mistake. The ride just kept being unpleasant after that. Up, down, up, down, rocks, rocks, rocks. Cows, cow shit, cow hoof prints. One steep, rocky descent was obliterated by cow hoof prints. At one point a cow blocked the trail. Then I got to Angel of Shavano trailhead. There was a search and rescue vehicle and trailer with quads on it, and a lady from SAR there, and we had a nice, short chat. She had seen a buck deer, and then the next time she looked I was where the buck deer had been. We talked a little bit about the next climb, she told me it would be a doozy. Then I had yet another hard push up and over, finally reaching highway 50 after a very rocky descent. I could feel my front tire going soft and I hoped I hadn't punctured it. It was getting late in the day, maybe 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. I really wanted to finish segment 14, coupled with the departure from Mark earlier, I felt the need to finish this trail segment and I did, but it took a lot out of me.
Crossing Highway 50 I began segment 15, Foose's Creek. I'd heard how hard this was going to be, a hard climb from 8862 ft to a maximum of 11904 ft, 3576 up, topping out at almost 12,000 ft. I was so tired that I went up the dirt road past some private homes to where the first public camping was, 0.8 miles into the segment. There was a pretty well used campsite to the left, broken glass, much evidence of fires, very little flat spots. Foose's Creek was rushing on the right hand side and I could filter from it. I had just passed Foose Lake, which looked like a small dammed thing for fishermen. I saw people fishing in it. The campsite smelled like fish. I should have taken a hint and kept going up the hill but I was so tired. I saw that there was a trail magic bucket opposite the site I chose, I peeked in and it was basically just some dry food for hikers. I filtered some water, set up my tent. It was very wet, it had been drizzling and the canyon that Foose's Creek is in is damp. This was my first camp after Mark dropped from our ride and I was feeling down, beat, tired, wet. All my clothes were wet. It had been drizzling during the afternoon. I was bummed about the battery, I made myself a dinner, and as I was filtering water my platypus bag that I used to press the water through the Sawyer filter burst, it split, I had been using it for at least 10 years. That was depressing. Then I noticed that the bowl that's integrated with my Jet Boil stove had cracked, I had improperly packed it in the Salsa dry bag, spare fuel can underneath caused the bowl to crack. So now I had a potentially dead charging battery, no water filter, and no extra bowl, just the pot that the jet boil comes with. I think I had a little bit of signal and let Mark know that I didn't have a water filter and asked if I could borrow his before he left. He was in Salida with, who else, Jake! I texted Lauren as well. I felt really bad about everything and I felt like dropping out. I hung my food in a bear hang, left the water filter and Jet Boil outside near my tent and went to bed. Headlights flashed across the tent as people looking for sites turned into mine, but thankfully didn't remain.
2022/07/28 zero day in Buena Vista
No ride, no GPS track
Since it was a zero day, we didn't have to rush. Got our resupply, again too much stuff. The post office was right next door to the Motel 8 which was handy. I rode my bike over to Black Burro Bikes, left it with Matt, with a short list; new rear tire, check chain, is it too short? Evan Ames had taken a link out when he put the 28 tooth ring on in Downieville, the derailleur looked really stretched, and it was not happy in the lowest gear. I also asked them to tighten the clamps on the Manything cages, and check the brake pads. Mark wanted to get some bone broth, and he and I discovered that the health food store across from the Motel 8, Lettucehead Food Company had what we needed. I got some soup for lunch there, and a few food items for the trip. I then walked back to the motel, hung out for a little bit, ate my lunch, did some internet stuff. Mark was doing some errands. I went back to the main street intending to buy some items, a new headlamp, as the Amazon one would no longer charge, a new stuff sack for clothes, as the stuff sack in the rear bag had gotten a hole in it probably from tire rub, some more tire plugs, etc. I found the same place Lauren and I had stopped at a few years ago, a combination gear store for outdoors and food restaurant. I met Mark there and got some of the things I needed. I had also stopped in at BV Bike Co, another bike shop in town. I found two people I knew there, Joe Parkin, pouring beer on one side and Simon Stewart, who I knew from Outerbike, reading his words in Bike and then Beta magazines, and as a Pro mechanic for SRAM at Downieville, where he and Josh, I think it was had helped me with my mountain bike. The famous Shit Bike was hanging on the wall, along with a bunch of other really neat bikes, including a very early Stumpjumper. Simon and I talked about serial numbers for it. To-do: check the serial number on the one I've got and connect with Simon somehow. Had a nice chat with Simon. He offered advice on keeping hose clamps tight, but neither shop had a tool that had what I needed. Talked a bit about routes. I went to get the Yeti, it was all clean and had a new chain and the mechanic, Adam told me what I needed to know about the repair work. I was happy. Matt further gave Mark and I some advice, there was a side road from the county road 300 that would cut off a little bit of the climb and get us out of road traffic, I think it was 304. Checked a map. He also advised us to not bother with the road bypass of Marshall Pass road, instead just doing Foose's Creek, the Colorado Trail segment to Monarch Crest. He said it was mostly rideable. I thanked him, we said goodbye, I think I stopped in BV Bike Co a second time to get tire plugs from Simon, and that time Jake was there, of course, along with the guy who's place he had been staying, David I think, via Warm Showers. They were drinking beer. The beer looked really good but I wanted to be fresh for the next day so we didn't get any. They were about to do some sort of trivia contest. I asked where we should eat and Joe said Viking Burger, best in town, pointed the directions out to me so off we went. It was getting colder, and it turns out Viking Burger is a food truck with outdoor dining. Mark and I each got a Viking burger and some beer and had a good chat, even though it was cold. Rode bicycles back toward the motel. I got a wall charger that I was needing, I had left an Anker wall plug somewhere and needed a replacement. Since we were going to get up early and ride the CT the next morning, no beer, early bed.
2022/07/26 Segment 8, Guller Creek to Segment 9, Tennessee Pass to Leadville (wilderness bypass)
Below Searle Pass
It was sunny and cool at our campsite, we were at least 11,500 I think. We began the March up to the pass, slowly in the rocks above tree line. It didn't take long to get to the pass, the views were amazing. Between Searle and Kokomo passes there is something like 3 miles. Surprisingly, it was fairly rideable. High country, alpine, above tree line, scrub plants, rocky and muddy. Kokomo was another push, but at the summit, again there were amazing views and a fun descent. The pass sign is actually below the high point, it was a nice photo opportunity, and then Kokomo Pass was just amazing, a steep fun descent with wildflowers everywhere. Maybe my favorite part of the whole trail. We dropped for a long time, down to Camp Hale. It was hot at Camp Hale, a more desert-like, sagebrush landscape. We saw the famous cement bunkers, I took a picture. And then we had a bit of a grind out of Camp Hale. Mark was starting to drag. He was in a bad mood. We got to some sort of railroad grade that was a nice consistent gradient for me. I put it into an okay gear and just turned the cranks until I was at Tennessee Pass. I waited a long time and when Mark got there he looked really bad, not himself, thousand yard stare, really fatigued, bad mood. We started to get into a fight about which direction to go on the road, not something worth fighting about. I gave him his space. After a while, we agreed to continue, it was theoretically a mostly downhill ride to Leadville, since we had a bypass for wilderness. Jason / Elmo had joined us and we talked a bit before saying goodbye. I began riding towards Leadville with Mark behind me. He would get really far behind and I would wait and we would regroup and I could tell he was in a bad way. It took a long time but we finally got to the Leadville city limits and Mark just laid down the nearest ground. He wasn't really communicative. I knew something was really wrong. Mark was probably suffering from altitude sickness. Mark reserved a room at the Rodeway Inn, nearby and we rode there slowly. We checked in, Mark really just wanted to lie down and I was really hungry. Somehow we both ended up walking across Leadville to Quincy's. Mark was dragging and we agreed that he should have stayed at the motel, but he continued. He wasn't himself, kind of lethargic and unresponsive. He had suggested riding to the steak place, which was recommended by a few people at the hospital, but I didn't feel comfortable leaving my bike outside of a restaurant. Probably would have been okay, but we walked instead, me in front, Mark way behind. We got to Quincy's, they let us in, it wasn't really well run, I'm not sure what's going on there, but they seated us. It was warm inside, kind of kitschy mountain town decor. The menu is basically steak, filet mignon some days, another kind of other days, and then you could get a salad with it. Perfect for me. Mark got a smaller one and I got a bigger one. I demolished it and two beers and felt much better. Before the food came he just lay his head on the table. The food didn't really seem to do much to put him back together. We walked back, again two different speeds. I was trying to be in a good mood but the situation between us was strained. Back at the hotel we did our usual evening routines. I don't think I slept great. Mark was certain that he wasn't ready for another ride, so he decided to just do the downhill on the road to Buena Vista the next day. I wanted to continue on the Colorado Trail. He was in a bit of a negative mindset and thought that I might be out two days, with the wilderness bypass road climb to segment 11, the segment itself and then the fairly long road section after to Buena Vista. I decided to do it anyway, and would take the night on the trail if I had to.
2022/07/25 Frisco, bike path around Segment 7 to Segment 8, Guller Creek
Started with the Hammerhead Karoo 2:
Switched to the Garmin Edge 520:
Monday 7/25 Frisco we got a late start. We picked up our resupply box at the post office, went through the contents, decided that we had too much stuff, sent the extra stuff back. I also got a package from Lauren, my old Garmin edge 520. The hammerhead was not working well, I think I might have fried it, charging it off of Mark's USB cigarette lighter adapter. It kind of burnt and so did the cable I was using. There was a piece missing out of the USB internal male part. It wasn't charging, so I figured I'd ask Lauren to send the Edge to replace it. I got some food at Whole Foods, including dehydrated bone broth packets. Then we rode the bike path to Copper Mountain instead of doing segment 7, Gold Hill to Copper Mountain. We had heard from several people that it was a useless climb, very steep, very high, very rocky only to be followed by a very steep, very scary descent that mountain bikers sometimes walk. I had no interest in wasting climbing legs on a bad segment, so we skipped it and did the bike path instead. We had a lunch, some antipasto I got at Whole Foods. I put the GPS track from Devon Balet, bikepacking.com on the Garmin and was immediately glad that I'd asked Lauren to send it. Not only could I charge it, but it had much more useful information, or at least I knew how to see it. We rode through the rather deluxe Copper Mountain ski resort grounds until we got two the center of it. We could see a trail traversing, climbing to the right if we looked at the hill, and as we approached it we saw a Colorado Trail sign, so we got on it. The trail coming from the ski resort going up defied the usual pattern of a straight up hike-a-bike, rather it was a very nice, gentle climb. Steep, but pedalable. We slowly gained altitude. At a road crossing we saw a cross country mountain bike mama, her mother and her daughter. They were very appreciative, and we talked a little bit about our trip. Further on, I had put a little distance on Mark, I was feeling better and I think now he was feeling worse. I caught up with a guy named Jason, trail name Elmo and we had a nice chat after some back and forth passing. We all stopped, filtered some water and ate snacks. He's ex-marine, infantry, has done the Appalachian Trail, the Colorado Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail. Really interesting guy. I gave him a bone broth packet after telling him about how good it was. We continued to climb and climb. Mark wasn't feeling so great, at the next water filter session he was in a bad mood. He said that he would need to camp soon, and that he could not go over the top; Searle Pass, then Kokomo Pass. I felt good and wanted to continue, but wanted to make sure that we both felt okay with where we stopped. We agreed to continue a bit further, but not go over the top. Near the summit of Searle Pass we saw Judy's cabin, quite breathtaking, a really beautiful A-frame out in the middle of nowhere. The trail forked, left to Judy's cabin, right for the CT. I got to another opportunity to filter, I think it was Guller Creek, we were above tree line at this point and Mark said that he was done climbing and needed to find a spot to sleep. A little further along there was a nice, natural campsite with a few level spots on a steep slope looking down on Judy's cabin and the valley. We agreed to stop there. Amazingly I had signal and was able to share some information and a picture and talk to family. Mark disappeared, I guess that he went down to Judy's cabin, because I heard voices. Knowing Mark, he was trying to see if we could stay there. Sure enough, when he got back, he said he did his very best and was very friendly but the house was full and they did not offer to let us stay there. I didn't really want to anyway, apparently it was full of teenagers. Mark had been in a bad mood, I was in a good mood so we were nice to each other and had a decent camp. I think I slept okay that night.
2022/07/24 Segment 6 North Fork Swan River to Frisco (wilderness bypass)
Sunday 7/24 swan Creek camp Jake left before us, on his way to Copper Mountain and Mark and I slowly got ready. On the way to Copper Mountain I started to feel better, like I finally had a body that was working right. We saw D & D, they said something about letting the young guy beat us to the trail in the morning. It was really good descending, great riding. Towards the bottom it started to rain. It was not light, it was heavy, and getting cold. Near the end of the trail we were stopped by some moose, a mother and two calves. One of the calves was right in the trail. It was small, and very curious. It kept coming towards us. When it would come towards us, the mother would come towards us. We just waited, even though we were cold and wet. Eventually they started to wander off and we continued. It was a cold, wet ride towards Frisco. The rain let up as we were reaching the town. We were cold, wet, hungry. We were rolling down the main street in a daze, looking for some place to eat, in my mind someplace that would take wet, dirty mountain bikers. As we rolled down towards the bottom of the main street I noticed a place called Ollie's. They advertised "the best burgers and wings in Frisco." I had to go there. We went down the steps and lo and behold, there was Jake's bike. He was just finishing up and was going to head to Breckenridge, I think. I started with a hot chocolate, to warm up. We ate and drank there, too many beers, too much food, it was so good. I warmed up. They had Wi-Fi, I uploaded pictures and reached out to family and friends. After a while we gathered our wet bikes and checked in at the Snowshoe motel. It was pretty dingy. We started to lay out our stuff to dry out. Jason messaged me that he'd like to see us. We invited them to our modest motel room. Micah came with Jason. They brought some beer from Frisco, Outer Range I think it is. We all had one. I had never met Micah before, she was nice. She talked a lot about mushrooms, Crocs, rock climbing. Jason brought me some Jet Boil fuel canisters and I traded him my canisters. I thanked him. We had a nice chat and then they left.
2022/07/23 Segment 6 Kenosha Pass to North Fork Swan River
Saturday 7/23 Lost Park Jason made us eggs and turkey bacon, again it was amazingly good. He drove us back towards Kenosha Pass. On the way I saw a pronghorn in a field. Arriving at Kenosha Pass and unloading bikes, we saw another car pull up with another bikepacking rig on it and two guys get out. One of them was Jake, 27, from Truckee. He had also gotten shuttled up by a buddy. We rode with him, Mark, Jason, Jake and I on the Colorado Trail. After a while Jason turned around, he had to get back because he and Micah were dog sitting. It started to seem like it was going to be stormy. I again had the terrible feeling I had the previous two days, no energy, just felt awful. Mark disappeared up the trail in front of me. At one point we regrouped. He was talking to me, and I was just feeling so awful. I think this was altitude sickness. We continued on, reconnecting with Jake near the summit of Georgia pass. The storm had become angry and we sheltered under a tree, near some other hikers who were under a tarp. We waited and watched, I put rain gear on. We were about a mile from the summit. After a while we agreed that it was worth a shot and we slowly rode over the top. I suddenly had this urge to go poop really badly, I figured it might be altitude and began the very very rough descent. Sure enough, the feeling abated as we descended. However my bags showed, through the very rough terrain that they were not suitably packed and loaded. My tent rotated down the front Ortlieb bag, buzzing the tire on full stuff. My seat bag cantilevered, buzzed the rear tire and got a hole in it. Oops. Turns out that heavy bedrock sandals on top of the seat bag, seat bag not properly loaded, with nose containing small stuff and then a stuff sack behind makes for a seat bag that will cantilever and touch the tire. Later, I added a Voile strap that Mark lent me to keep the tent from rotating. But for the rest of that descent my bike was a little wacky. The descent was itself quite steep and chunky. We regrouped at the bottom of the descent and met D & D, an older couple from Virginia. They were really nice, I wish I could remember what their names were. David and Debbie? He had an old frame pack from perhaps the '80s. I commented on the old school pack and he said something like, "I still have my first wife, too." And she smiled. Then we all gave our numbers of years married, Mark, myself, D & D. Jake, of course had nothing to say. We continued for a bit and ran into three people who were providing trail magic. An E-Z-Up tent, coolers, bunches of snacks. I couldn't believe the luck. I had a Coke and I took a beer for later and I had a snack. Some chips. We were just in awe, it was so nice. The three people who ran it had initials A, C, K, but I can't remember the names. They were so nice. The two women, C & K had done the Colorado Trail on foot before and since then they do this trail magic for people. It's so nice. They had a dog, Tito. We continued on, Jake intending to go directly to Copper Mountain while Mark and I looked for a place to camp. We chose a spot near the second crossing of Swan River. As we were setting up camp, Jake came back. It was getting dark, Copper Mountain was far. We camped with him, had a fire. He told us we should try bone broth and I got a taste of his and I agreed; hot, healthy, has protein in it, makes you drink liquids at camp. I later did get some and I am glad I did.
2022/07/21 Segments 2 & 3 South Platte River to Rolling Creek
Photo album - blogger doesn't let me embed videos from Google Photos, see album for some spoken commentary.
Bikepacking the Colorado Trail, Summer 2015, segments 25, 26, 27 & 28, Silverton to Durango
In 2013, four friends planned a first big bikepacking trip; start at two different points - Silverton and Spring Creek Pass, ride up to the Colorado Trail to meet each other, then ride together, west to Durango. Four turned into three, and the weather decided differently, we got to Silverton and bailed, as the monsoon became all-day rain by day three.
Read Bikepacking the Colorado Trail, Summer 2013, segments 23, 22, 23
Two of us, Mark and I, felt we had unfinished business. We planned to come back and do the final four segments we'd missed, Molas Pass to Durango, segments 25, 26, 27 and 28. We did that July 21, 22 & 23 of 2015. I have a notebook in which I recorded my thoughts during the trip, like I did in 2013. I just transcribed all my notes and I now - it's 2022, and I'm just transcribing these notes and telling the story, so that I can tell my 2022 Colorado Trail story - realize that I was straight up complaining a lot, and also talking a lot about the Moab trip before the Colorado Trail portion, and my notes leave out some critical bits that I remember. So I'm going to edit. Here are some of my handwritten notes in block quotes + remembrances from that trip, photos from my photo album for the trip, and gps records.
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Knave - The Old and the New - Oro Fino - Miner, Inventor, Farmer - Emigrant Gap - 100 Years of Rails - 'Lots of Talk...' - Judah Gets the Nod - R Street Route - First Locomotive - Oakland Tribune, 31 Jul 1955
I'm leaving out the first few paragraphs, which deal with current
politics, and moving right to the histories and stories. Click the
clipping below if you want to read what you missed, here. - MF
The Old and the New
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Yreka to Fort Jones, 1903 USGS map georefernced on google maps |
It was 82 years ago that Alex J. Rosborough took his first ride over the old wagon road from Yreka to Fort Jones, a distance of 18 miles. "The road wound its way up the canyon beyond the Forest House and on over the low divide to Soap Gulch, so named because of the soapstone found there," he recalls. "From here the road went down Soap Gulch to where it met Moffitt Creek, then followed down a spur of Scott Valley to Fort Jones. The creek meandered on to join Scott River. In those days, just below the summit on the Yreka side, there was a big rock beside the road known as 'Robbers Rock.' [Google Maps street view] It was a made-to-order place for highwaymen, so it's easy to understand why the stage was held up at this spot three different times. Frank Hovey was the stage driver in each instance, which accounts for: his final verdict. 'I'm gettin' kind-a used to it,' Frank said, 'but I don't enjoy lookin' down that gun barrel.' The road was steep and narrow. As soon as travel increased between Shasta and Scott Valleys it didn't take long for the travelers to demand a better road. As a result, the state took over the situation several years ago and built a secondary highway over the mountain. This eliminated the old road in the bottoms of Forest House and Soap Gulches and took travelers, instead, along the mountainside and back into all the little gulches, but crossing the divide at the same place. It made a much easier grade. Once this secondary road was completed, further work on the route hung in the files until last year when state engineers brought in heavy road equipment and sliced a cut some 50 feet deep through the top of the divide. All the rock points on the Fort Jones side were cut away, and all the little gulches filled. It resulted in a wide straightaway along the mountainside, graveled and now oiled. It seems impossible to believe, but when this beautiful piece of engineering work is fully completed a motorist can drive his automobile from Yreka to Fort Jones in high gear. As I drove my car over this wonderful new roadway the other day I looked 'way down on where that old horse and wagon road ran past Dutch Charley's wayside inn, I could close my eyes and almost see the thirsty horses drinking at the watering trough outside the inn, and the long bar inside for the hospitality of travelers. Then I awakened from my trance, and the thought came to me: 'Well, 82 years did it.' I was 8 years old when I took that first ride.
Sunday, June 5, 2022
Knave - Morcom Rose Garden - Ghost Town Tour - My Aunt Maxine - Unscheduled Derby - Oakland Tribune, 10 May 1964
OAKLAND is faced with a mingling of anniversaries today. It's Mother's Day - the 50th since President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the event a national observance in 1914. In addition, today marks the observance of Oakland's 30th annual Rose Sunday - an event recognized here since 1934 when Oakland's magnificent municipal Rose Garden was dedicated. Even this doesn't halt the parade. The combined Mothers Day Rose Sunday ceremonies slated for 2 p.m. at the Morcom Amphitheater of Roses will mark the 11th year that Oakland has honored its Mother of the Year - a program that began here in 1954. So there you have it: Mother's Day, Rose Sunday, and Mother of the Year. Very definitely, in Oakland today the roses are for Mother. And that's the way it should be. But we've been looking at the history of Oakland's outstanding municipal rose center and find that 30 years ago there just weren't roses in that area of Linda Vista Park. Or, if there did happen to be a rose or two, they were insignificant compared to the display there today. On May 13, 1934, the Oakland Municipal Rose Garden was formally dedicated by the Board of Park Directors to all Oakland residents. For some years previous the Oakland Businessmen's Garden Club had dreamed of having a garden in this area where many varieties of roses could be displayed adequately so everyone could enjoy their beauty. Work on the Rose Garden in Linda Vista Park began in June, 1932 — the original plan being the design of Arthur Cobbledick, Oakland landscape architect. The first roses were planted in the garden on Jan. 27, 1933, by Mayor Fred N. Morcom, President Homer Bryan of the Park Directors, Dr. Charles V. Covell of the American Rose Society, and B. S. Hubbard of the Businessmen's Garden Club.
Saturday, June 4, 2022
The Knave - Oakland Tribune, 20 May 1956
Pioneer Lafayette
The Knave: Next Wednesday evening, May 23, the
Contra Costa County Historical Society
will hold its spring meeting and banquet at the Pioneer Village Restaurant
in Lafayette. Judge
A F. Bray, society president, will be in charge, and the speakers will be Mrs.
William Rosenburg,
[Margaret Jennie Bickerstaff Rosenberg]
pioneer school teacher, and the Rev.
John W. Winkley, amateur California historian.
Lafayette
is the oldest settlement in Contra Costa County.
Elam Brown, its founder, was the second white American to make his residence in the
county. Brown arrived at
Sutter's Fort on
Oct. 10. 1846, with a company of 24 families and 16 wagons which had crossed
the plains that summer. He was a native of New York State. After a visit to
San Jose he returned to the Oakland hills and spent the year of 1847
whipsawing redwood lumber
which he hauled to the
San Antonio Landing and
shipped to San Francisco. During the year 1847 Brown learned that
William A. Leidesdorff
was offering for sale his "Rancho Acalanes," which lay in the area east of the Oakland-Berkeley hills. This rancho
land had been granted to
Candelario Valencia
in 1834.
The name "Acà lanes" apparently came from the small Indian village called
"Akalan which stood somewhere in the vicinity of modern Lafayette.
As often happened to the Spanish Dons, Valencia fell into debt and was
forced to sell his land. It was acquired by Leidesdorff. Elam Brown purchased the rancho from
Leidersdorff in the fall of 1847 and moved his family to the rancho proper
on Feb. 7, 1848. He had a small shack built and occupied by the evening of
the same day. Later he built a better house of lumber which he had cut in
the Oakland hills. This stood two miles from Lafayette on land later owned
by
Thomas W. Bradley. Later in that same year he moved his home to a site near the
Plaza. Since Brown had to haul his flour from San Jose by way of San Ramon he
bought a horse-power mill at
Benicia in
1849, then in 1853 superseded it with a grist mill built near his home. One
of the old millstones was placed in the little Plaza a year ago by the
Lafayette Lions Club. The inscription on the stone dates Brown's settlement
in Contra Costa as 1846, but this should have been 1848. It was also 1848
that Brown sold 300 acres of his Rancho, at the east end of Lafayette, to
Nathaniel Jones for $100. Jones built a house
on "Locust Farm," as he called it, in 1848.
Benjamin Shreve, a schoolteacher, passing Brown's home in 1852, was persuaded to stay and
teach school. He later opened a store and in 1857 applied to the Federal
Government for a post office under the name of the French General
Lafayette, only at that time it was spelled “La Fayette."
Milo Hough
built a hotel in 1853;
Jack Elston
opened a blacksmith shop and sold it in 1859 to
Peter Thompson: A church was erected on Golden Gate Way about 1856, thus Lafayette was on
its way to become a community. - John W. Winkley.
Monday, May 30, 2022
Knave - Tom Carroll - Robin Lampson - Friends of Bancroft Library - Gifts and Taxes - Oakland Tribune, 03 May 1964
LEGEND clings to Tom Carroll like rhododendrons to a garden show. The problem today is to separate the legend from fact. Facts alone make Tom Carroll a remarkable man. For 32 years (1898 to 1930) he was constable of Brooklyn Township, that vast area east of Lake Merritt frequently called East Oakland, but in Tom's heydey perhaps it was better known as the Seventh Ward. [Brooklyn at oaklandwiki.org]
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Map number two (Alameda County farm map. Published by Thompson & West, Oakland, Cal., 1878) |
In 1858 Tom was brought to Fruitvale from Wisconsin by his parents as a boy of five years. There he grew up in Fruitvale's first two-story frame house, a dwelling erected by his father on the family's 250 acres. The house still stands at 2921 East 27th Street. Young Tom Carroll attended Fruitvale's first public school and romped in the fields and along the banks of Sausal Creek. Then, all of a sudden Tom grew up to be a young man. In the summer he would go to Nevada County and work for his father who mined on the Yuba River near Washington City. His father complained that all Tom did was eat and sleep. In one letter to Tom's mother the elder Carroll tells that Tom was supposed to stand watch on the sluice boxes so the workmen wouldn't steal the gold at night. Instead of guarding the boxes he fixed a bed up on a scaffolding across some rafters and went to sleep. “Luckily," wrote the father, “nobody came around that night.” Tom was paid $3 per day and sent his money home to his mother via Wells Fargo.
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Map of Oakland, Alameda and Vicinity, Showing Plan of Streets as Opened and Proposed, Compiled from the most Reliable Public & Private Surveys, Published by M.G. King C.E., 1876 |
When camp supplies ran low he would walk to Nevada City, a distance of 35 miles. Despite such hikes he soon weighed 240 pounds and stood six feet, six inches tall. His size undoubtedly had a lot to do with his athletic prowess. Even as a youngster he possessed a powerful and splendid physique; a tower of strength that cast a shadow on events to come. At the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876 he was judged the third strongest man in the world. At one time he held the world's record as weight lifter and hammer thrower as well as a shotput. There are those who tell of his slinging an eight-pound hammer across the estuary. Ed Kramer, whose boyhood was spent on Kramer Hill as a near neighbor of the Carrolls, says he witnessed big Tom hurling a 56-pound hammer through the basement wall of the Johnson home several houses distant from the Carroll backyard.
Friday, May 27, 2022
Knave - Oakland Museums - Kellersberger map - Historic real estate - Feather River - Oakland Tribune, 23 Feb 1964
KNAVE
A SPADEFUL of earth will be turned in Oakland tomorrow that is going to make a big difference in the cultural life of your children, your grandchildren, and all children down through the ages. The spadeful of earth to which we refer will mark the groundbreaking for Oakland's new multimillion dollar Museum that will occupy a two-block area stretching from 12th to 10th Streets, and from Oak to Fallon Streets. After the groundbreaking exercises all the dignitaries and their guests will move on to a champagne luncheon in Jack London Square, but we would prefer to linger behind for a moment and chat with Mrs. Henrietta Perry, curator of the Public Museum now housed in the towering Victorian mansion just "up the street" a block or two from the groundbreaking ceremony - at 1426 Oak Street, to be exact. The present but old Public Museum is one of three Oakland museums that will be quartered in the new Oakland Museum when completed about two years from now. The ancient quarters at 1426 Oak Street have been used by our Public Museum since 1910. The other two museums that will enjoy the new multimillion dollar structure are the Oakland Art Museum, founded in 1916, and the Snow Museum of natural history established in 1922. Paul Mills is director of the Art Museum, and Nadine S. Latham [Nydine Snow Latham was her name. - MF] in charge at the museum housing Henry A. Snow's African and Arctic trophies. Awaiting completion of the new quarters, Curator Paul Mills surveys his gallery's special field of California art, from 18th century explorers and the missions through Gold Rush illustrations, landscape paintings, and on through the development of modern art; an endeavor Oaklanders will be extremely proud of one of these days. But to Mrs. Henrietta Perry falls the important task of trying to halt the continued destruction of California history.
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Knave: Goodwill - Placerville - Amador County - Steam navigation on the Feather River - Oakland memories - Sun Oakland Tribune, 31 May 1964
KNAVE
IT WAS just 30 years ago that Dr: Frank Porter Flegal crossed the bay to Oakland from San Francisco to organize the Goodwill Industries of Oakland. It was the second year of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first administration and every effort was being made to halt the economic depression that had been gripping the nation since the closing days of the 1920s. Without delay Dr. Flegal set up headquarters in some empty storerooms at Sixth and Washington Streets and asked for volunteers to help his benevolent cause, aiding the unemployed and distressed. "It's not charity they want, but a chance," was his plea. Public spirited men volunteered their services and became the initial directors of Goodwill Industries here. Now, as Goodwill Industries celebrate their 30th anniversary year, they look back to the depression-born program where food and clothing were the important elements of just keeping men alive. "Soup kitchen," most people called it. In 1934 alone they served over 2,670 meals. Along side the "soup kitchen" was the Goodwill chapel with its famous sanctuary mural painted by an artist who came to Goodwill desperately needing help. Over the past 30 years the landscape has changed. Where Goodwill was then located a Freeway skirts the city. To make room for progress Goodwill moved to 212 Ninth Street where the program now meets the communities' great and critical needs, such as training handicapped men and women for eventual employment in private industry and business. Persons of all ages, races and creeds frequently help. One of Goodwill's chief appeals has been for used clothing, furniture and home appliances so handicapped clients might repair, renovate and refurbish these items for resale. Such have been the turn of events that have turned a "soup kitchen” into a "job training" center - turning men into taxpayers rather than having them a burden on taxpayers.
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
Tales of Meteors, Baskets, Troops Round Off Indian Claim Hearing - Oakland Tribune, 07 Jul 1954
Tales Of Meteors, Baskets, Troops Round Off Indian Claim Hearing
BERKELEY, July 7. - Baskets, meteors and the U.S. Army figured in the last
day of testimony in the three-week-long hearing before the
United States Indian Claims Commission, meeting at the University of California.
As final witness before the congressionally established court, Dr.
Samuel A. Barrett, 75-year-old native Californian, retired director of the famed
Milwaukee Museum of Natural History and
presently a research associate at the U. C. Museum of Anthropology, outlined
the manner in which white man's barbarism dispossessed the Indian of his
native lands.
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