Today would be the last of the easy days. It was also the last day we’d be at higher elevations so the moderate temperatures were going to end. The hut for today’s end was on private property. We’d have access to a shower too, that was sounding pretty darn great at this point.

It was about 36 miles today with another day hovering around 1900′ in total elevation gain. No major climbs either…..those were coming.

Yeah, there were a lot of cows on today’s ride. I got nervous a couple times with a calf on one side of the road and an obviously agitated mother on the other side. Last thing any of us needed was to get charged by a pissed off cow today.

The seven of us regrouped at the high point of the day (about 9600′ elevation). There were some fantastic views down into Paradox Valley which we had ridden through back in 2016. We could also see a good view of the La Sal mountains that we were heading towards for day 6.

From the regroup spot we kind of all broke up into little groups again. I rode predominantly with Matt for the rest of the day. We had Prosser with us for a bit too. I think even Colby for a bit at one point.

Matt and I enjoyed a ripping descent towards the final 5 miles of today. This then morphed into a slightly soft-sand section for the final couple miles before making a left turn to the hut.

Today was the one and only day that we had any rain to speak of. It came down as a light shower for less than five minutes but had been preceded by about an hour of thunder and lightning. The rain definitely helped cool off the temperature for the rest of the day.

We all pretty much took turns cooking for the evening meals during the trip. I had talked everyone into pancakes and bacon for dinner tonight. If you have not done this before, I highly recommend sauteing diced apples in butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. If there had been vanilla extract at the hut I would have added that too. Combine the sweetness of the apples with the salty, smokey of the bacon and you have got yourself a fantastic combo for pancakes, french toast, oatmeal, etc.

What you don’t see in the pictures of the hut is the camper, house and cars of the owners whose property we were on. We also had three horses in the field across the driveway from us. Two of them with bells around their necks. All night long those bells jangled as the horses meandered about the field.

The shower was in a concreate building next to the mother-in-law’s 5th wheeler. There was a very distinct and strong mildew smell in the building, but the shower was free, and beggars cannot be choosers.

Today was probably the most “boring” day for me. While it will still a great day to ride my bike this route was a bit lackluster for its overall panache. Again, still fun, but could have been maybe a bit better.

Day 1 here
Day 2 here
Day 3 here

Thanks for reading,
-Pete