Day 23 to Burned Mountain

Another great day on the CDT. Riding trail is so much more work and takes so much more time but it is so much more rewarding. Pedaling through huge fields of wild iris, we stayed above 10000 feet all day. We saw wildlife everywhere.

Though Mogote ridge was our constant companion, we managed to get lost once. Navigation on the CDT is a challenge especially with all the stock trails and roads that don't show up on any map. I was glad to have a GPS. It was a scenic detour on the west side of the ridge, but I managed to loss one of my water bottles. I was upset but didn't need to be. Water had finally become much more available.

We lunched at Canovasa Spring, another great water source. We passes several flocks of sheep and shepherds' camps. Many of the aspen groves we road through had been defoliated and the likely culprits, tent caterpillars, carpeted the ground. At the Rio Vallecitos we were tempted to camp but it was too early. We crossed on a 30 foot log bridge, 6 inches wide and angled at 35 degrees. Cassi chose to take the pics while I ferried the bikes.

We climbed up from the river eventually to a dirt road on Burned Mountain. We did not see anyone on the trail the whole day. I think the physical and emotional stress of pushing day after day is getting to me. I snapped at Cassi when she misplaced her water bag. Of course it was just yards away.

We found a nice grove of caterpillar-free aspen to make camp. It was unusual to have so much vegetation that our usual panoramic view of the sky was obscured.