LW ITT Update: Cochetopa Pass, CO

Crazy Larry Melnick is the ultimate Tour Divide fan and SpotTracker, hailing from Banff, AB.  He stalks Lael down to street level to discover that she’s ducked into a bar in Salida, CO.  Or has she entered a nearby shop in search of a headlamp to the replace the one she’d lost the previous night?  Image courtesy of Crazy Larry via Bikepacking.net.

Over Boreas Pass, across the grassy high park of Como and Hartsel, a blazing fast three thousand feet down to the Arkansas River in Salida, and then almost 4000ft up to Marshall Pass to the Continental Divide.  Descending the pass in the dark, Lael camped early as she turned off Highway 50 east of Gunnison.  She awoke at 4:30AM to begin riding over a series of passes toward Del Norte, CO, followed by the famed Indiana Pass, the highest point on the entire route at 11,920ft.  

Lael stopped in Salida to replace a headlamp she lost the night before.  She uses the headlamp to see what she is doing on and around the bike during late nights and early mornings.  In August, compared to the peak daylight of June, nights are much longer.

Lael may cross into New Mexico by the end of the day.

Follow the yellow LW bubble on the Tour Divide 2015 Trackleaders page.

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