Day 44: Lollygagging and Lovely Camping: Frisco, CO to Hot Sulpher Springs Wildlife Refuge, CO.

Posted byMike EvansPosted inBike Touring
60 miles (97 km) – Total so far: 2,344 miles (3,772 km)
Since we last checked in yesterday, the story has been about food and drink. The Brits were craving some curries, so we hobbled our horses and ambled over to The Himalayan Restaurant in Frisco. I have become quite accustomed to incredulous looks and questions from waiters at Indian restaurants when I order a dish “Very very spicy”, or “As spicy as you can possibly make it”. For this meal, add in a few sideways glances from my new friends as I tucked into a fiery Rogan Josh. Yes, I was sweating profusely by the second bite, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not enjoying my wonderful dish. The proprietor went from incredulous to concerned and brought sweets and a mango lassi to cut the heat.The evening continued with a visit to the pub. No one wanted to be the voice of reason, so we each bought a round for the others and solved world problems past midnight. After a sleep that felt like about 10 minutes, I roused myself with the quest of a lingerable breakfast spot foremost on my mind. The reader may recall Janet, a friend from home who contributed a limerick dedicated to finding good breakfasts. Janet had some local knowledge to share about Frisco breakfast establishments:

Local knowledge is the key to tasty breakfast.
Local knowledge is the key to tasty breakfast.

 

Poor Chuck still has to work. But he does it in style at the Butterhorn Cafe in Frisco, Co
Poor Chuck still has to work. But he does it in style at the Butterhorn Cafe in Frisco, Co

Everything came up Milhouse this morning. Just next to the bakery a bike shop laid dormant presumably waiting for a bevy of bike mechanics to come in and serve all the needs of a very picky TransAmerican cyclist. This turned out to be exactly the case as a lingering breakfast transformed into a gearhead extravaganza. I was able to get a critical replacement bolt and nut for Persephone’s hindquarters. The mechanic, Bergin, was a wizard. His fellow mechanic Robbie joined in the fun and they tuned and tweaked my machine back into a state of perfection.

Bergin & Robbie of Wilderness Sports --Frisco, CO
Bergin & Robbie of Wilderness Sports –Frisco, CO
A new bolt and nylock nut to hold on Persephone's rear end.
A new bolt and nylock nut to hold on Persephone’s rear end.
Wilderness Sports in Frisco, CO has some of the most helpful and knowledgeable mechanics on the TransAm trail.
Wilderness Sports in Frisco, CO has some of the most helpful and knowledgeable mechanics on the TransAm trail.

Finally getting around to the key activity of the day, bicycling across America, we rolled out of Frisco to enjoy another 10 miles of twisty-turnsy, upsy-downsy bike paths. They were so fun that even after they ended, Chuck and I worked hard to make our own bike paths through various subdivisions along Colorado highway 9. We achieved moderate success.

A bike path turned bike bath --Silverthorne, CO
A bike path turned bike bath –Silverthorne, CO

Paul and Terry spotted us about halfway through our explorations and not five minutes later, my successful pathfinding morphed into a rocky, gravelly, single track mountain bike ride. I handled the situation appropriately: baseless confidence and bluster. By the time the Brits saw through my bravado they were at my mercy and had no choice but to carry on. Fortunately, the views are astounding, so my “shortcut” advice was soon forgiven.

Beautiful Colorado mountains -- Silverthorne, CO
Beautiful Colorado mountains — Silverthorne, CO
Yaks. -- Silverthorne, CO
Yaks. — Silverthorne, CO

The rest of the ride to our campsite had a lot of variability. Traffic ranged from gentle to rough throughout the day. Sometimes we had headwinds, but largely it was a downhill tailwind kind of a ride. The mountain views were amazing most of the time. Chuck mentioned that as the scenery went from Colorado’s 14k ft peaks to the more open lower peaks and valleys further North, the beauty changed from Epic to Grand. I couldn’t agree more. The day stared Epic and ended Grand.

Chuck enjoys the grand Blue River valley of Colorado
Chuck enjoys the grand Blue River valley of Colorado

The real treat for the day is the campsite where I’m sitting right now. We entered the Hot Sulpher Springs State Wildlife Area and set up camp just above to the Colorado river. We’re far enough down the valley that we can’t hear the cars over the rushing river. There will be absolutely no lights out tonight that we can see from our camp area. We finished early. A perfect spot.

The view from my tent next to the Colorado River.
The view from my tent next to the Colorado River.

Published by Mike Evans

Founder of Fixer.com. Founded GrubHub in 2004. Rode my bike across the US. Wrote a sci-fi novel.

2 thoughts on “Day 44: Lollygagging and Lovely Camping: Frisco, CO to Hot Sulpher Springs Wildlife Refuge, CO.”

  1. So very nice to see your photos, and enjoy your enthusiasm. I’ve crossed this out try many times in a vehicle and can’t imagine doing it on a bike, but for all it hazards, I am with you as any companion would be wishing you on.

    Reply
  2. Pingback: Day 45: Mighty Mountains: Hot Sulfur Springs, CO to Walden, CO | Mike Evans.

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: