2nd day buffalo creek

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Joy of staying in the same spot is not having to get moving fast in the morning.

Plan is to ride the CDT from camp & hook up somehow w/ Sandy Wash. CDT mostly drops down to road 543 a ways up canyon. Working on handling moves, practicing of sorts for the rocks of the East.

Dropped down to Buffalo XG group site, checked out outhouse: yep CXT.

Chatted w/ rider in parking lot, he described a new trail for me to take to get to Miller’s Gulch. New trail piece built for bikes, I rode it, missed another new piece and road gasline down to the climb up Baldy which I rode stronger.. New shoes worked OK.

Missed Charlie’s again; it goes off homestead and I missed turn off.

Sandy Wash still fun. Down to road 543 and ride home. Hot & dry. Climbed Shinglemill to intersection w/ Morrison. 3 riders gathered. One was guy I met earlier and other 2 are from shared campsite. We all split & I ride up trail to hit CDT and home.

Edge cut out temporarily up on Miller’s but Garmin GPS kept working:26.49 miles & 3130′ vert.

On drier slopes P-pine is climax tree. Forest has a noticeable smell of vanilla.

Forest cover on CDT
Forest cover on CDT

Gasline trail in burn

gasline trail thru either 96 or 2000 fires, almost desert like
gasline trail thru either 96 or 2000 fires, almost desert like

Here’s the vision it is desert:

spiny catii type plants line trail in burn
spiny catii type plants line trail in burn

Another Coleman shower. Scab on head appears to be holding the gray matter in.

Drying carpet out from h2o jug leak from yesterday. Carpet is sure taking a beating. From the plastic floor covering in the Element I knew lots of junk come in on shoe bottoms. But is sure feels good on bare feet and looks good. Stain it all one color.

No plans for tomorrow yet.

Buffalo Creek trails

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Dirtbag camped behind the bike shop. Awakened by trade people showing up to work.

Crawled out of bed, did exercises, stowed things, and drove towards Pine, looking for a place to fix Bfast.

Tried to find grease gun needle jet to lube Turner bushings. Car parts use a different thread setup so no luck. Concerned that long needle was not sealing tight to grease zerks to force grease into bushings. Must find a bike shop.

Found Buffalo Creek Work station and a trail head. New parking area away from station.

Headed out on rd 543 which turns out to be gated a short ways in which keeps motorized traffic out. All trails appear to be free of dirt bike damage.

Surface is broken down granite all the way to sand size. Old forest fire denuded hills to South of road. Mixed P-pine, a fir, lodgepole, & Doug fir. Very dry. No organic material to bind sand together. Quite a few patches of sand. Big travel bike is way overkill. Trails just flow, hardly a rock and just a few roots.

Up South Shinglehill trail then down Morrison Creek to road, ride the road to Gashouse Gulch climb going North, right on Miller’s Gulch which is a double track. Then the beauty: Sandy Wash descent to road.

Bit of slickrock:

17 miles and another 2000′ day but elevations 6200′ to 8200′

Encountered several groups of riders.

Got water at Work Station & drove S looking for road 550 for dirtbag campsite. Found one. Forest is way dry because of granite. Set up camp. Worked on bike. Set cleats on new Specialized shoes that I had been avoiding the effort.

Painful fuck up: Those that have seen my van saw my cutting board that raises up level with galley but it blocks a good bit of doorway. I stoodup to enter van and smacked my head into the hinge underneath the board. Big gash on my head, probably should have had it stitched, needing maybe 6 to 8 but it clotted very quickly. I’ll just have a big flap of skin scar on my bald spot. Bit of a headache.

Took a Coleman shower. 2 guys with all the camping toys encroached on my spot. They are the forerunners for the forthcoming familes tomorrow. No solitude.

Internet coverage way out here in toolies.

Listening to Old jazz standards on XM radio, Frank Sinatra is fine.

Fraser

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Logging traffic woke me.

Drove down better logging road, traveled thru large house development dumped out onto rt 40. No FS road sign to indicate it was Forest access for me to choose. Ah, no map exploration. I dread the day that I push something & have to back out.

Arrived in Winter Park before 9:00: stores still buttoned down. Walked rt 40 till bike shop opened. Picked up the free glossy artist depiction of trails around area. Needed to be down mtn to Fraser for rides written up in Singletrack.com.

hanging from the lamp posts were pennants stating Mountain Bike capital of America:

Trails well marked, map was a puzzlement long road distance to get to uphill.  20 mile day & 1900′

System many old logging roads. Lots to choose from.

Mass Lodgepole Pine die off from pine beetle. Cause appears to be 8th year of drought meaning pines don’t produce the sap to pitch out the beetle when it attempts to burrow into the tree. other info might be bunk: the tree has to be so large to sustain the larva stage, the active feeding stage of the beetle. 2 events kill the tree: The mass beetle galleries feeding on the what, phloem, shutting off the sap … forgot that botany, ah, disrupting the flow of nutrients necessary to sustain the tree, and the fungus that hitch hikes on the beetle when it pierces the tree bark during egg laying. Mountain sides brown from dead Lodgepole.

The town of Fraser is logging the dead & burning the slash. Lots of slash left over. If domebody could reclaim the slash into pellet stove fuel, wow.

learned of shower @ Hostel for $3.00, negotiated for $2. because I used my own towel. Chatted with young woman hostel manager about dirtbag camping.

Drove back over pass & finished up my I-70 driving stopping in Evergreen, a place where sister Lise lived for a few years, years ago. I passed The Whippletree restaurant where she worked. Had dinner upon her suggestion.

Dirtbag parking lot camping tonight to drive in daylight to Pine for an IMBA epic ride.