Day 5 Selkirk Campground to Hartsel

The food survived the night and so did we. It really was a stunning campground.

With my extra volume I was able to carry some extra food and so I had a real banana with breakfast and now I don’t feel like I’ll get scurvy!

The ride today was very different and the easiest so far. It was downhill for the first 7-8 miles through the small town of Como. Nothing there at all but it used to be a town where they fixed trains and has a roundabout to turn the trains around.

The remaining miles we’re mostly flat across very different landscape. This was prairie land and we passed several trails including the Apache Trail and Comanche Trail. I imagine once upon a time the prairies were full of Buffalo.

We got to Hartsel around noon. This was supposed to be our destination for the night but we thought there was a lodge but it closed down. It was way too early to call it a day. Or was it, really? We had a monster Pizza and asked our waitress, Shelly, if there were places to stay. There was a guy, Hayden, from Hartsel Ranch having lunch there and they had lodging a couple of miles away. We could camp down by the river and he’d let us use the shower in the lodge. So the decision was made, we were staying.

Also in Hartsel was a roadside stand. I don’t remember the name but it was called something peaches. Anyway, they didn’t have peaches until 4th July but they did have cherry’s and apricots. Delicious!

It was great to have a hot shower. I washed my clothes in the river and our host dropped of a case of beer. Fantastic!

Left over pizza and beer for dinner and we are ready for tomorrow’s ride to Salida. It’s windy with 40% chance of thunderstorms tonight so I might end up sleeping in the barn. We’ll see.

I had my first puncture today. We rode 40 miles with 1,217ft of climbing.