July 18 2017. Another solo day.

La Veta to Gunnison, 260 miles.

Departed La Veta at 8am and immediately headed for the hills.

I came across this old church. When you get up close to these structures it amazes how long the have been standing. All hand built, no power tools and the wonderment of who has been here before.

After about 100 miles I stopped for gas and ran into Scott. A young guy riding the TAT solo from OK to OR. We had lunch at the gas stop and compared notes and maps. He is traveling about 180 miles a day and camping the whole way.

Scott had done the first portion of the trail years earlier and just wanted to finish it. He was riding the WR250 and his father dropped him in OK the day before. I knew I was following someone based on the fresh tracks in front of me but never saw them until catching him at a gas stop.

I kept climbing headed West.

The looming clouds were a sure sign of very cold rain.

I made it into the Town of Salida. They were hosting a Art walk so the town was full of local artists displaying their work along the main street.

I only stopped to remove my rain gear -that stuff gets really hot if it isn’t raining.

After Salida I went straight up through Marshal Pass. The climb was narrow and incredibly rocky. I think I ended up taking a trail that was only passable by dirtbike or quad. 10.000 feet up.

After Marshal Pass, the rain started again and Gunnison was about 30 miles away. I got into town and found Chris waiting on the tools to put his clutch back in. It was joyus to see him still excited to be on the trail.

Steve is close by at a KOA campground with some other Florida Trail Riders out in CO for the week. One of the guys caught 15 salmon today. He sent these pics over.

Steve will join us tomorrow and we will take a maintenance and rest day. We head back on the trail Thursday.