Sunday 9th July – Cleo the Trail Dog

We woke up when we wanted to and as Dan cooked egg and bacon bagels for breakfast, I set up the tarp over his car so he would have some shade while I was out riding. Because of the flies that were humbugging around, I also got out my fly net and hung it from the tarp so that it made a tepee over a camp chair. I guessed he’d be quite comfortable there while I was gone.

It was a beautifully warm morning with the sun all the way out so I decided to right shirtless and just after breakfast, I was ready to ride. I rode out of camp towards Strand Hill. Being a Sunday morning, we’d seen plenty of riders already go past camp and there were plenty of cars parked by the road at the trail heads. Dan had to call Cleo back to camp when she started chasing me out of camp, another good sign that she was keen to be a trail dog. After about a mile of riding along the dirt road, I realised I was going in the wrong direction so turned around and passed camp once again. Another mile later and I turned off onto a steep dirt road that started burning my lungs big time. Having not been on the bike in over two months and being at around 9,000 ft of elevation, I was getting my arse handed to me.

There were a number of stops, but they were all brief thanks to the swarm of flies that would huddle and BITE any time I came to a standstill or was climbing slowly. It was a big wake up call for me, knowing that this was the result of doing not much of anything for the past few weeks but I was ok with it. The views into the valley were gorgeous and I started to see more and more wildflowers as I climbed. I had the trail to myself and I was happy to get off the exposed hill and into the forest for some shade.

When I came to a rocky section of the road I was determined to make it all the way up to reassure myself that I still had some fitness. After busting my gut, I got about halfway and had to stop. Not only that, I was so out of breath I had to sit down for a minute. Elevation hurts! I was up again before long and soon found I was at the top of the climb in a beautiful meadow. It also meant the start of single track, which I got on to quick smart again thanks to the flies. They really were bad up here.

I got going down hill and I was in heaven. I probably should have stopped to take more photos, but the trail was so flowy I found it hard to pause. The trail was narrow, winding its way through a field of wildflowers before I descended into the forest. The trail underneath the forest cover was completely dry and I hopped over roots and rocks as the trail twisted. It felt so good to be back on the bike again.

Too soon, I came to the end of the trail and turned left onto the Canal trail. I had planned to suss out the Strand Hill Bonus trail, but after consulting MTB Project, I found it was uphill so I had no interest in that. I continued on down the Canal trail, which was another fast and flowy narrow trail that sported brilliant views of the mountains and wildflowers.

Right at the end of the trail, I came across the fabled canal after a small section of rocks and after a second of consideration, decided to ride on through it. With wet socks and shoes, I was a happy mountain biking girl. I rode back to camp along the road and felt great. The 4.5 miles had only taken me an hour when I’d estimated about two thanks to my level of fitness so Dan was surprised to see me back so soon. He was huddled underneath the fly net in my chair listening to an audiobook. The fly net turned out to be essential because the flies were really swarming here, so much so that it was impossible for Dan to do anything other than sit under the netting.

We consulted the trail map a while because I was concerned either he or Cleo wouldn’t make it up the huge climb I’d had to do so we settled on a small shuttle where I could take Dan and his loyal trail dog up to the top of the Canal trail where they could ride down the mountain. We all thought that was a great idea. I set up the bike for Dan and after he had a ride around the meadow, he decided he needed some padding thanks to my aggressive seat so I gave him a pair of nicks that were too big for me and suited him perfect apart from the multi-coloured girly pattern, but that didn’t matter because he wore pants over the top. My helmet didn’t even come close to fitting onto his head so he wore a hat instead. He was ready to ride.

I put the bike on my roof and after dunking Cleo in the cold river next door, we piled in to drive the short way up the road to the top of the trail. It was a decent climb so Dan was grateful for the lift. We saw a bunch of cars parked near the top but I kept on going, determined to get as far up the hill as possible. We passed a few mountain bikers coming towards us and one of them said “You can try” as he rode past. I took that to mean the road was going to be tough for a car. A few more meters down and we decided to stop. I reversed back a ways then parked by the side of the road. Dan got on the bike and Cleo immediately followed. I watched as they rode/cantered away from me.

I drove back down the mountain and back to camp. By the time I got back, one of my clothes containers had fallen off the bed and made a big mess so I got to cleaning it up. It was around this time that I had the idea to walk down to the end of the trail to meet Dan so once I finished up I put some shoes on and walked down the road. I guessed it would take him and Cleo half an hour to do the trail so I was set to get there just as they finished.

I crossed the canal that I’d ridden through and still hadn’t seen them so that was a good sign. I walked on up the trail a little ways to suss out a good photo vantage point and met a few riders on the way. This was a popular trail and the day was simply gorgeous. I didn’t walk too far along the trail before I found a spot I was happy with. All I had to do now was sit and wait. Thankfully the flies weren’t attacking just where I was sitting so it was pleasant, especially since I could admire the view while I waited.

Each time I heard a rider approach, I stood up in preparation to play photographer, but it wasn’t until at least five riders passed me and fifteen minutes later that I saw Dan’s un-helmeted head pop up over the wildflowers. It took him a while to realise it was me, he’d thought it was a rider taking a rest. He stopped to greet me so I didn’t quite get the in-action shot, but he and Cleo posed. She was still running loyally along with him, looking like she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

I ran down the trail a ways to get another photo of the pair as they came down to the end, then ran on again through the canal to watch Dan ride through it. As soon as Cleo his the canal she was drinking up as much of it as she could before I got in there and splashed water all over her. Dan got himself into the water too, cooling off after the ride in which he’d sweated it out at the start. I stripped down to my underwear and took a dip too, not wanting to feel left out.

As I walked, Cleo trotted and Dan rode back to camp, Dan told me all about the trail and how they’d had to cross two rivers, the first one being too strong and deep for Cleo to handle herself, but the bike had survived and my phone had too. There had been a couple of steep downhill rocky sections that Dan elected to walk, but he’d loved it. Maybe he was now a mountain biker?

We lost Cleo for a minute as we head back and found that she’d got into the paddock full of cows and was terrorising them. It was all very funny as the cows and calves ran away scared until they realised she was being an idiot and started chasing her down. Whoops! She came back to us soon enough with a big smile on her face.

Back at camp, Cleo got straight into a nap underneath my car while me and Dan contemplated our next move over a couple of beers. There were just too many damn flies at camp to stick around so we decided we’d head into town for a pub lunch and some pool to while away the afternoon before finding a new camp. We broke camp and drove on out.

The town of Crested Butte is beautiful, with flowers hanging in pots everywhere and garden beds lining the streets, it was a colourful place to be. Just before we parked, Dan turned right in front of me and was immediately stopped by the town marshal who held his arm out the window to stop Dan for a chat. He told me later that Mr. Marshal had told him, “You gotta stop better than that mate. Use your turn signal and wear your seatbelt, there are lots of people walking around here. Have a nice day.” Short and sweet! Mr. Marshal wasn’t wrong, there were people everywhere, riding, walking and enjoying the sunny weekend in general.

After parking, we walked up the end of main street to the bar Dan had found on Yelp. Called Cochevars, they had a nice little setup with two pool tables at the back with bright red carpet. Better than that, they had a ridiculously cheap menu ($4 for a dozen wings). We got right into pool, a couple of drinks and the food. We tried to do the betting thing again but it just didn’t work the same, especially when I won every single game.

I’d been in touch with Anthony and soon enough, he walked into the bar. Having not seen each other in ten months, it was great to give him a hug. I used to work with Anthony’s girlfriend Kimberly and just before I’d left the bay area, we’d all hiked Mt. Whitney together which was a perfect send off to the place I’d called home. I introduced him to Dan (Kimberly was pissed she didn’t get to meet him) and we got straight into catching up as we finished the last round of pool. It was great to hear news of his travels and life back home (in Cali) and when I finally lost the game to Dan, I played Anthony in one round which he won.

Since it was getting late in the afternoon and Anthony had just finished a long drive to get back to Crested Butte from near Aspen, we left the bar to find camp. Anthony told us about a spot he’d camped at when he was in CB last week so we were down to check it out. We drove over to the east side of town towards the resort and just beyond it, right by the main road was a beautiful field of wildflowers with tents nestled in amongst them. It was a picturesque sight with green fields with cows surrounding it all and the snow capped mountains in the background.

While Anthony set up his tent amongst the yellow and purple blossoms, we parked up with our back doors to the field. Anthony came over and joined us afterwards and it was the first time he got a good look at our vans. He nerded out wishing he had a setup more like ours having been on the road for four months and sleeping in a tent every night.

As Anthony set about cooking his dinner, Dan, Cleo and I went into the field for an explore. We started out by throwing the Frisbee around a bit, then when Cleo started wandering off towards the cows in the opposite paddock, we followed. She was a beautiful looking doggy in amongst the wildflowers.

We walked down the steep embankment that led to the smallest winding creek in the valley, following a faint horse trail that was littered with droppings here and there. It was such a beautiful scene but we couldn’t believe there was only a trickle of water in this tiny creek. Most of the snow had already melted obviously. Cleo was in heaven as she drank from the stream.

We crossed the stream and continued along the faint trail amongst a huge density of yellow flowers that almost looked like sunflowers. Dan started calling to Cleo urgently when he saw a stag prancing away from us. Thankfully Cleo hadn’t seen him, otherwise she would have been gone and likely never seen again. He was a big deer with four or six point antlers and was making some serious ground away from us.

Cleo did disappear amongst the flowers, just as the trail disappeared meaning we were ready to turn back. We called and called and called, wondering if she’d found the tracks of that stag after all, but she eventually came prancing through the flowers towards us, happy as a pig in shit. She took another big drink out of the creek as we crossed it and lead the way along the trail back up to camp.

She cracked the both of us up when she half ran half dug her way into deep bushes in chase of something, even barking at her prey. We carried on walking only to watch the shake of the flowers and bushes as she made her way back to us. She is definitely an outdoorsy dog.

When we made it back into our camp’s field of flowers, Dan got cocky with the Frisbee he was still carrying, thinking he’d be able to throw it directly into his van. It turned out to be a bad idea, the Frisbee made landfall right by Anthony, missing his gas cooker by inches and it scared the shit out of him. That could have been a proper turnout, but luckily only a few utensils ate dirt and no food.

Anthony shared his dinner of steak with us as we watched the sun go down behind the mountains. There were quite a few non-campers in the field making the most of the lighting to take some photos, which Anthony did as well. I was happy when Kimberly called me. She was on her way back home to the bay area and since I was with Anthony, it was a good chance for us to catch up. She’d given me a sweet present of a #Vanlife sticker so I got to thank her for it and hear about everything that was happening back in the Bay and at Tesla. Turns out a project me and her had worked on for over a year never got off the ground. Lame.

The sun was slow in going down, lighting up the Crested Butte mountain before finally setting. We sat by the cars chatting and saw an array of wildlife, starting with a coyote or fox that didn’t seem at all bothered by human interaction, then a flock of deer crossing right through the campground. It was obviously a popular spot amongst the animals thanks to the water source and abundance of grass. After a quick snack of a dinner for me and Dan, we called it a night. We were tired from our riding and Anthony had an early start tomorrow for a photography workshop.

Despite the few drops of rain and wind that started up just as we got into Dan’s van, we slept with the back doors open all night. I woke up at some point in the night the bites all over my body that were itching like crazy. I crawled over Dan to get to the Aloe soothing lotion he had and tried that to stop the itching. It worked well enough for me to go back to sleep.