life after stagecoach

once the shaming and pay-off were over, i considered my exit. going back to the divide trail meant a couple miles backwards, while going forward meant taking a dicey, no-shoulder highway connector to yampa and tonopas before reconnecting to the divide.

my thinking was also guided by the need to replace some supplies i apparently left in the steamboat springs wahlgreen’s parking lot.

not the first things i have left behind on this journey; the list is long.

once i made it to yampa, i exhaled. the highway had no shoulder and there was a nasty 5” drop-off once the asphalt ended.

when they approach, vehicles are loud and going (at least) 60 mph. after days of solitude and the sound of rubber on gravel, being passed is completely unsettling. most drivers are courteous and i have that annoying red strobe on the back of my rig so minimally, “they see me”.

leaving yampa, a couple of kids were on their bmx bikes and i asked them to do a wheelie and one said he’d do one “for five bucks.”

it was a shitty wheelie, he slipped off the back wheel and as a result, received no payment.

have fun in school, punk.

once i reconnected to the gdmbr, i loitered at the colorado historical society’s “rock creek stagecoach station”, which was built in 1860 and restored in 2000. the vibe was pretty intense…all the life and stories, sadness and celebration that building saw. now, most of the footprints in the dirt floors have pedal cleat marks.

could have been a cormac mccarthy novel…

from there, the gravel alternated between good and chunky. the final climb puts you atop the colorado river valley, which is expansive and rugged.

the descent ended at the radium campground, which is a blm site, without water or shade, but with some big-ass rv’s.

it was hot, i set up camp and went to the water. i slipped over rounded river rocks and then eased into a 3-foot scoured hole.

the water was cold and swift. my breath shirt and quick. my core cooled and the dirt on my skin moved downstream.

my day’s journey was over.