Colorado Part II - Mountains and Dinosaurs

Fort Collins turned out to be a great time. I ended up getting to meet with Bryan Willson, the head of CSU's engine lab, among other things, and getting a tour of their amazing facilities. They have some huge engines and so many different things going on that it was hard not to get some drop-jaw. After the tour, I met with Dr. Marchese, a new prof. who I am seriously going to consider working with. Other than seeing the engine lab, I also had time to go check out all three of Fort Collins breweries and spend a very satisfying afternoon working on my bike at the bike co-op. The place is amazing. They have little workbenches with every tool you could want, and all you have to do is be willing to do a little work. For our last meal Chek and I make a killer pot of pasta and an entire skillet full of sauce which we managed to kill.

After three days of relaxing in Fort Collins, CO with Fedor, it was time to go. I headed out early in the morning after a breakfast of raisin bran (how I've missed cereal). The first 40 miles or so up the Poudre canyon weren't so bad, but the last 20 miles of the climb were pretty rough. What had begun as a great day turned further and further south the higher I got. By the time I reached the top of Cameron Pass at 10,200 ft., it was raining and it couldn't have been much warmer than 40. I ended up throwing all my clothes on for the descent to Gould. In Gould I ate 2 corndogs at the only shop in town and waited a few minutes for Chek to get there. We camped out in a field just half a mile from Hwy 14. A few old plates, some charcoal, and a few attempts later we had a great fire going which we milked for at least an hour, just chilling. Sometime that night, Chek woke me up after apparently hearing some huge truck, and he later made the weirdest moaning sound during a nightmare (you had to be there).

Riding by the Poudre River on the way to Cameron Pass

Cameron Pass, the highest point of the trip

For breakfast we cooked pop tarts over the fire and later had a cup of coffee in the next town down the road. The morning ride was incredible; it was flat and the scenery was second to none. For that matter, the mountains and Poudre canyon were absolutely amazing (pictures to follow sometime). I climbed Rabbit Ears pass at 9,400 ft to finish the conquest of my two tallest passes of the trip. Again, rain and wind made the approach to rabbit ears awful, but the 8 mile 3,000 vertical foot downhill after the fact made it all worth it. The night Chek and I spent in Steamboat Springs, a pretty famous resort town. It was First Friday so we had to stuff our faces on free cheese, crackers, and veggies. Oh how I love artwalks... After we spent the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot and had a huge cinnamon roll at Wynonna's, chek headed back to Fort Collins and I took off toward the west.

Chek and I in front of the famous cinnamon roll dive in Steamboat Springs

I spent a night in Maybell, CO, one of the weirdest places I've ever been. It's a little town of maybe 100 or so with a shop, a gas station, and a public park. It's the park that astonished me. The first thing I noticed when I rode in was the three or four antelope that were hung up in the process of being gutted and cleaned. haha. It was like being at a UT football game; orange and RV's everywhere. Gotta love huntin country.

Just outside of Maybell (this really means no cars)

My final day in CO (I spent 6 days total riding through the state) I went by Dinosaur National Park. Though I didn't go in, the scenery just driving by on Hwy 14 was pretty cool. Later in the day, in Utah, I got soaked when one of the clouds I'd been riding under for 2 days decided it was finally time to open up on me. Oh yeah, and the temperature has fallen from 80's to 60's. No worries though, I still made it to Vernal, Utah, where I went to Jubilee grocery store and ate 2 full slices of german chocolate cake that had been left out as free samples. I slept in a park right next to the police station recommended by the police (there wasn't a shelter, but it luckily didn't rain).

My dad is joining me either tonight or tomorrow, and I'm pretty stoked. He's got a stove, so there are hopefully going to be some warm breakfasts pretty soon. Have a great day!