Bikecentennial - Summer 1976 - Part 6

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Bikecentennial - Summer 1976

Colorado

July 21 Encampment	Today was a nice day and a sad one. I said good-bye to Byron.... I loaned him $40 to get home on....
I left the official Bikecentennial trail for much of my trek through Colorado [see map]. As a consequence, I was alone for several days. This was a real change from having a partner. Loneliness was a factor, but not overwhelmingly so.
July 22 Somewhere between Muddy Pass and Kremmling	Today was a long day [102 miles] even though I didn't mean it to be quite so long. I wanted to camp near the top of Muddy Pass. There wasn't anywhere to camp... So here I sit in a cow pasture waiting for the sun to go down.
July 23 Grizzly Creek [Glenwood Canyon]	Another near 100 mile day.... I got up early and got over the pass I knew about. Little did I know there were three more in store for me.... I trucked through some high mountain pastures and came down to Bond, where I had a big bowl of ice cream... The traffic was a bitch between Eagle and Gypsum, but as I came to Glenwood Canyon there was a fairly dependable six inch bike lane. The canyon is beyond words. Now I'm camped under a highway bridge....
I had planned to cycle through Glenwood Canyon and over Independence Pass for several years. With the canyon there was some urgency since plans were already in the works to push the four lane interstate through and forever change it.
July 24 Aspen	I got here in the middle of the afternoon and immediately checked all three bike stores for a [replacement] crank pin. None of them had one so I went to the hardware store and bought a 10¢ bolt and fixed it right up. After that I sat down to eat lunch and watch the Rugby game. I met this nice woman named Peggy who turned me on to a shower and a place to crash my bike. Finally I went to the Mother Lode for dinner. They ran out of food and I ended up getting dinner for free.... After that I was off to bed up on Little Nell.
July 25 USFS Campground	I'm a little over a quarter of the way up Independence Pass. I got all the way down to one end of town on the way to Cathedral [Lake] and something inside me said "uh uh, nothing doing." I just pulled a u-turn and headed the other direction.... It seems to have been the best choice too. It rained hard down that way...
July 26 Buena Vista	I must have been pretty burnt out because I got up real late. I didn't start up the hill until 10am. Aspen is gone. Independence Pass is gone. It's weird but the places and faces fly by. I got myself psyched and paced and the pass was no problem....
Copyright 1976 & 2002 by Richard Rathe

Part 6

Detailed Map
[Large File]

Camp Site between
Muddy and Gore Passes

Eagle River Valley

Glenwood Canyon

Camping under the
Grizzly Creek Bridge

Independence Pass
12,095 Feet

Buena Vista, CO