Great Divide Stage 8

Grants to a dry camp in the middle of nowhere

Strava: 117.1 km, 1607m, 7:04, 328 shifts, 64.7 kph max

5:30 alarm, 6:15 packing food, 7 at the café, 7:30 departure from Grants. We climbed on pavement for 23 km, it felt like getting 600m done “for free”. Then onto gravel as we climbed more. It got cooler and prettier as we gained. We stopped near the highpoint, 2750m, for brunch of Walmart pies. It was cool and the air was so nice up there.

Nothing ever stays the same for long though. Down we went. Soon it was at least 10°C warmer. We continued and came to a quite sandy section, difficult riding. I think we all made it without actually crashing which was good. Lots of sideways sliding around. Near the end of it we passed some motorcycle guys who had passed us hours ago, stuck but hopeful (although we never saw them again…) Back on firmer dirt, we stopped for lunch of peanut butter and honey sandwiches in a broken down homestead barn that had shade.

The rest of the ride was sort of hard and long. We went past many scenic formations but overall, it was dry, dusty, and you had to be super careful on the many downhills. Eventually we got to the water spring that wasn’t dry, this was at 115 km. Andrew and I rode over to it and soaked our faces, phew. I wet my arm protectors which lasted maybe 10 minutes. We filtered 1.5 liters into one of my bottles and Andrew took a similar amount to filter at camp. Up the hill a bit Daniel and Wytze were at the “informal campground”, at a high point with good views and a nice place to cook. Also good mobile data, a surprise.

Tents went up under small trees, then clouds came over and saved us for a while. Daniel went down the hill ahead with Wytze to check out the second spring. It was good and they got more water, but had a big climb back. Next up was dinner: our special recipe: 16 servings of mashed potatoes, this time with four bags of tuna. The verdict: even better than last time! We had a nearly melted chocolate bar for dessert then retired early (7 pm).