Day 8 Buena Vista to Brown's Creek

We started our section of 5 days between towns riding the CR up Cottonwood Canyon to get back onto the CT. Wildlife was all over the Arkansas river valley. We saw antelope, mule deer and a bald eagle. A mile into the single track Cassi hit a rock and sheared her rear derailleur in two. It was unrepairable. Contemplating our options we decided it was best to head back to BV and get a new one. John, our resident mechanic, converted Cassi's bike to a single speed (see photo below) and she and I headed back to BV. Within a couple of hours Keith at the Trailhead hooked us up with a used derailleur he'd salvaged (an upgrade to a SRAM 9) and we were back on our way. We took CRs and caught up with John and Dave just above Mt Princeton Hot Springs. We had a nice soak. They had remodeled since I'd last been there 8 years ago. We would have appreciated it more if it came on day 4 versus day 1 of our 5 day stretch between towns but who were we to look a gift horse in the mouth. We passed the Chalk Cliffs (photo above) still a mining source for limestone. That afternoon we climbed high above Chalk Creek Canyon then road glorious single track into camp along Brown's Creek. Tomorrow promised to be tough- remote, lots of narrow trail and steep climbs. We couldn't wait.