Today was a very chill day. Dean and Johnny B left about thirty minutes before Prosser and I rolled out. Carl, Matt and Colby were going to do the optional singletrack sections today. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with my seatbag rubbing against my tire and I think Prosser was a bit tired from the previous two days.

The majority of today was spent on a Forest Service Road named “Divide Road”. It was perhaps the simplest of all the days in regard to navigation. After leaving the hut and turning right onto Divide Rd the only other turn of any significance was the left turn up to the hut. All told today was just under 34 miles and a smidge over 2,000′ in elevation gain. We hovered right around 9200-9800′ all day.

John and I quickly became separated. I was in the mood to ride my own pace today and just have some “alone time”. Prosser ended up hooking up with Dean and Johnny B who had been affectionately termed the Lost Boys on this trip. I just kind of turned off my brain and kept pedaling.

One of the random thoughts I had today was that this particular road would be great for a dual sport motorcycle and a touring setup. It was also another day where a good gravel bike would have been sufficient for the surfaces we were on.

I arrived about an hour ahead of the Lost Boys. But before I got there, I made a quick stop about a mile and a half before the hut. Per our map there was a natural spring at one of the campgrounds just before we ended the day. All of us stopped here to fill up bottles, rinse out clothes and wash off several days of trail grime.

I liked this particular cabin and the location. The aspen grove was pleasant and we were still high enough in elevation that the weather was never too hot. Also, I was feeling better after the beat down of day one and the aftereffects still lingering on day two. I also arrived at hut three just before noon, after an early start, so had a nice long day to hang out and do nothing. To me this is pretty much what a vacation should be about. Play, chill out, repeat.

So far on days 1, 2 and 3 we were treated to afternoon thunderstorms. We hadn’t seen any appreciable rain at all though. The mornings started off relatively cool, it would heat up late morning and into the early afternoon and then right around three to four o’clock the clouds would get a bit dark, the wind would pick up and we’d hear thunder for 30-60 minutes. Then the sun would come back out and it would get warm again until sunset.

During the 2016 trip I tended to eat a can of peaches and drink a soda as my “hut arrival meal”, this 2023 trip was more drink a soda and have some cereal. Generally Lucky Charms but sometime Honey Bunches of Oats instead. There is no cold milk at the huts, instead we are using powdered milk. It tastes the same, just adds an additional step to meal prep.

Today’s oddball moment was the two women camping at Columbine Campground where the natural spring was located. They were helpful enough to make sure all of us found the spring okay as we all trickled through. The one lady that came and chatted me up was definitely a little bit out there. While she appeared to be totally harmless (if overly chatty) I am pretty dang sure that I was talking to a woman who spent way too much time smoking meth or something similar. Sad to see honestly. I was not too keen on telling her that our camping location was not too far away. I just made vague remarks that we only had a little bit further to ride for the day. This is where I am so happy that most of the huts are secluded enough that if you didn’t know where to turn you’d never know it was there.

Anyways that is about it for day three. A simple and easy day. We’d not get many more of these.

Day 1 here
Day 2 here

Thanks for reading,
-Pete