Type II fun; bikepacking the colorado trail : Black bear pass 12,840ft

Thankfully we are not in a rush to get out of here because exactly none of our freshly washed clothes are dry and we have to head to town to find a laundromat. We do find it and the type of vaugly crazy person who enjoys hanging out there. He corners us and rambles on about conspiracies, communism, the damn brits and the Chinese until our clothing dries and we can make our escape. By 11 we are peddling up and out of Silverton on the 550 Hwy up red mountain pass were we will gain 2200 of our 3500 ft of elevation. The ride is pleasant apart from the narrow shoulder and long unprotected drops, but the traffic is light and we make it to the top of red mountain pass and the base of black bear pass without incident.

While we were climbing the thunderstorms began to roll in, sliding up over the mountains and threatening violence. Since we seem to be set on become a statistic we ignore this loud and obvious warning signs and start up towards black bear pass regardless, riding then pushing our bikes when the work gets too much for the altitude. It’s actually pretty amazing how much you notice the work of breathing and your heart rate as you get over about 12,000ft.

Thankfully Colorado didn't feel like making us crispy critters and we are able to climb up to the saddle and into one of the most awe inspiring environments on earth. This scenery up above the tree line is stunning, made even more so by the moody skies and lack of other traffic (technically the pass is still shut)

We would have loved to stay a while up high above the tree line but good sense and driving sleet helps us make a better choice and we start the decent towards the “staircase” and Telluride. The road on the telluride side is insanely technical, loose rocks, tight corners, really really long drops and frighteningly narrow roads. It’s no wonder people die on this road every year, I was concerned enough on a bike let alone a Jeep. We don’t die, or even suffer any real damage to bikes or humans and are down off black bear pass and below the house on the cliff and bridal veil falls by about 4, from there it’s an easy glide into town on the bike path. We make the campground a first stop but it’s completely full... that’s not ideal. After much searching we do find a spot that should be problem free and then head into town. Town is crazy expensive, we visit the brewery on principal but the beer are $7 US a glass so we keep the sampling to a minimum. We are all super tired and wandering around looking for a reasonably priced meal has us all annoyed and on edge, we do eventually find a decent spot at telluride Bakes and eat quickly before retreating to the tents for an early night. Who knew that 30kms could be so hard!