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.
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