Our last hard biking day today and this morning it seemed like it was going to be a hard one for sure! Starting at 8 pm the night before, the sky opened up and I wasn’t sure we wouldn’t float away in the torrent. It didn’t let up for 2 hours in one of the hardest deluges we’ve tented in. Thankfully we picked good sites and the drainage kept the water from puddling near our tents. When it started to let up I got up to check on the kids and their tent. they had done a good job pitching it, and it was still taunt and dry under. And they were fast asleep through the entire storm.
At 5.30 am when the alarm went off, the rain was still tapping on our abode and I turned off the alarm and rolled over. 30 minutes later the tapping was less and I heard the kids start to deflate their pads and start their packing. Crys and I soon joined them in preparing for the day despite the sad state of the weather.
Soon we were packed and heading off to a quick breakfast at the to-go restaurant. As we ate our scrambled eggs on the back porch we eyed the sky with suspicion at what it might do to us today. We headed out to the main road and our 40 mile day with trepidation.
We had low expectations for the ride today on the busy road, but it was actually quite beautiful with canyons, waterfalls and forest. Most importantly, it was dry. The dark clouds stayed to our north as we headed south. With the grade surprisingly down, we made good time and Sara really wanted to prove she could get the 40 miles done in 4 hours, so she pushed and sure enough we pulled in to the turn off to Colter Bay with 20 mins to spare for her time goal!
Colter bay was busy, but as we pulled to the back of the lot it was quieter with mostly CDT hikers and us at the restaurant where we took care of priority #1 - food. An amazing beet salad! Then over to campground for a hiker-biker spot and on the way we saw a surprisingly beautiful sign - showers! Set up the tent, and went to get those promised showers. Sadly the women’s was out of order so andrew and I played foot ball between the shower stalls with our only bottle of soap while Sara and Crys went to find food for our last 3 camp meals.
We decided to grill brats over the fire with some baked beans and cole slaw. Excellent. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed a quiet evening. We were expecting to see more bike packers as Colter Bay was the crossroads of the divide route and the Transamerican route, but the only 2 other groups there were not talkative so we settled down and I read some more ‘Miles from Nowhere’ to everyone as they fell asleep.
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