Partial independence

Aspen to Lost Man Campground, Colorado, Tuesday, July 9, 2024 

I babied myself today. I knew I was beginning the hardest part of this whole trip, and I didn’t want to take any chances. This statistics are underwhelming, just 5,000 feet of climbing and 42 miles to my next objective, the Mt. Elbert trailhead. If you look at previous posts, I’ve done more than that before, but never with a fully loaded bike. Water access was uncertain, so I carried 4 liters,  which along with extra food brought the bike’s weight to 140 pounds. I haven’t been to these altitudes before on this trip, all three of these passes are higher than the summit of Mt. Hood, I am fully aware of the manifestations of altitude sickness (see my Denali journal, on the menu above). I’m a 70-year-old man with medical problems, which I will detail in an upcoming post, traveling alone. My loved ones are constantly worried about me. I just wanted to be careful.

I saw that there was a campground with the appropriate name of Lost Man, 2/3 of the way up Independence Pass. It was primitive, with just outhouses, not even clear there was a water supply. You couldn’t reserve it, it was first come first serve.  Bear activity (black, not grizzlies) had been reported. The reviews warned about how cold it got up there. So dubious, but seemed like a reasonable way to break up the climb.

Things went pretty much as expected. Not wanting to add any miles, I stuck to the main road, Colorado Highway 82, right through Aspen. I saw that even after the rush-hour, cars were backed up for miles. I was glad to be able to ride in the protected bus lane. At the last convenience store for 70 miles, I fortified myself with chocolate milk and a fruit smoothie, and packed a Frappuccino, just in case.

5 miles out of town, the fun began. The shoulders and bike path disappeared, and the grade steepened to 8%. 5% is my comfortable limit.

I had no qualms about getting off and pushing, I’ve gotten used to it, found a posture where it feels like I’m pushing a rolling walker. Numerous ultra-fit bicyclists whizzed by, one of them could’ve been Lance, many offered encouraging words. After 5 miles of this, my right hip started to ache, so I tried pedaling again. I could manage if I weaved all over the road. Amazingly, the traffic was completely tolerant of this. A few even slowed to ask if I needed a lift. Another example of how bike-friendly Colorado is.

I got to the campground at 3 PM, and was delighted to see that there were spaces available, a water supply, and bear boxes. An older man named Peter stopped by to make sure I was OK, we chatted for quite a while, he is an Aspen native.

Only at the end did he reveal he was recruiting for Jehovah’s Witnesses. Maybe he thought I was a Lost Man.

I’m writing this at 3 AM in my tent, it’s 40° and I’m just barely warm enough with all my gear. Only 5 miles and 1500 more feet to climb to the top of the pass.

Distance 17 miles, 2,919 total. Time 6 hours with stops. Elevation gain 2,715 feet

©️ 2024 Scott Luria