Day 5 Searle Pass to Leadville
miles 35 elevation gain 2900 ft
Ben Franklin paraphrased by John-"If is not that you get too old to play, it is that you get old when you don't."
More snow on the climb up to Searle but what a view. While basking at the top 2 curious marmots paid us a visit, one getting almost close enough to touch. We then stayed high, traversing over to Kokomo Pass with (thanks to John) the Beach Boy's tune of similar lyrics stuck in our heads. One of the odd things about mtb touring is that this happened with various songs (including the theme to MASH) to all of us through out our trip. Beats an I-pod any day. Then we had a screaming 3000 ft descent into Camp Hale (training ground of the 10th Mt Division during WW II) and our first waterfall of the trip. Despite the steep rockiness we all did well until we hit the flats. Dave's front wheel caught an edge and he endo'd hard suffering a major hematoma of his thigh. This was our first and only major injury of the trip. We were close to the highway so after a short break and handful of ibuprofen he and John were able to limp their way into Leadville(Pbville) on the road. Cassi and I, feeling a little guilty, continued on the CT.
We had a blast on the rolling single track around Tennessee Pass checking out old railroad grades and 120 year old ovens the size of houses that made coal for the ore smelters. Eventually we ran into the Holy Cross Wilderness so took our second bypass of the trip down into Pbville. After a quick stop at the grocery we met up with Dave and John at a little motel on Main St. then toasted our continued survival with Ben and Jerry's. We cleaned ourselves and bikes up and that evening celebrated my 43rd bday with great pizza at High Mt Pies on 4th St. Despite Dave's mishap I couldn't think of a better way to spend my birthday. I'm sure Dave thought differently. He remembers the 2 blocks from our motel to pizza as an across-town-death-march but a couple of beers helped mellow the walk back.
