Days 7 & 8 Salida to Salida

The original goal for Day 7 was to reach Tomichi Creek Trading Post, 41 miles and a 4100ft climb away. We were all pretty jaded from the previous day. The wind, sun and ride had taken it out of us. Mike wasn’t feeling great so we decided to split the ride over two days and aim for O’Haver Lake Campground, about 16 miles and 200ft climb away.

The climb started straight away on Highway 285. It was clear Mike was struggling so we took it real slow. We turned off the 285 to go up Marshall’s Pass but we found a long driveway with some shade where we decided to rest.

We were now out of cell phone signal. The owner of the property whose drive way we were resting on was very friendly. Amy and her 1 year old Bernese Mountain Dog, Cooper where very friendly. She even offered to drive Mike back to Salida or lend us her car!

We didn’t take her up in the offer but she told us about some places we could camp off the trail and if we ran into trouble we could come back to use her car. Amazing eh! She had another Bernese at home who was due to have a litter of 11, today!

Anyway, Bob and Brent went ahead on a scouting mission to find a suitable place to pitch tents for the remainder of the day and night. I stayed with Mike and Brent found a great spot.

We pitched the tents and Mike rested for the afternoon and night.

We were by a creek so I took the opportunity to do some laundry, it was fresh and dried in no time.

It was a stunning place to stop but no phone signal so we were a bit cut off under the circumstances.

There were more brazen chipmunks about so when we turned in for the night I put the pannier with my food in the foyer (sounds a bit grand) of my tent. We are still in bear country but I never really thought of that. Anyway, in the morning there was a bite size hole in my pannier which I assume was a chipmunk rather than a bear!

It was cold in the night and we woke up to a frost, 26f or -3c. The water in my bottles had frozen!

Mike wasn’t feeling better so we decided to go back to Salida and get medical help. Fortunately it was all downhill and we got Mike to the Heart of the Rockies Medical Center.

The staff were great. They saw him straight away and ran various tests. The diagnoses was a combination of altitude sickness and dehydration. We did the right thing.

We’re staying in Salida for a couple of days for recovery and we’ll figure out a modified route to Santa Fe.

The main think is Mike is on the mend and we get to spend a couple of days in this cool town that also happens to have a few nice breweries!

Day 7 we rode 15.6 miles with 1,690ft climb. Day 8 we rode 13 miles all downhill.