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From Durango to Steamboat: A self supported bikepacking adventure

This is my journal/pictures and a video from a solo bikepacking trip I did this July from Durango, CO to Steamboat, CO, my hometown. It took me 22 days and was around 630 miles total with too much elevation to record. It was an epic trip! Contact me if you want beta or gpx files!

Durango to Steamboat Video

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August 03, 2020

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Leg 1: Durango to Lake City

July 31, 2020

Day 1 - July 7, 2020 Hell of a day today. 6000 ft of vert and about 20 miles has me completely exhausted. Pushing my bike for the last half had me talking to myself to help motivate! It was a grind to say the least but boy was it beautiful! Dad and John Shaw did the first part of the ride with me. We met Shaw at the trailhead at 6:30 after camping on the road above it. I enjoyed their company and said goodbye to them at the first high point. Then it was me alone… and the wilderness before me looked expansive. Into the great unknown I go! I rode through the trees for a long while and finally ran into a guy we met earlier and gave him some Aquamira for his ride down. He was stoked on my trip and a nice dude. I continued on and got above treelike for this epic, but brutal ascent through scree with cliffs above and an incredible view of Durango and the plains below. It looked so far away. I was suffering by the time I got this climb and had been walking my bike for the last co...

Leg 2: Lake City to Buena Vista

July 30, 2020

Day 6 - July 12, 2020 I am thoroughly exhausted. Today may have topped day one for getting worked. I biked for nine hours, did 70 miles, and almost 6000 feet of vertical. On the bright side I finished the whole La Garita Wilderness detour! It was mostly on dirt roads and was 99% rideable so it was different than any other day thus far, but I am just completely and entirely worn out. Not a normal day for a small town mountain biker with a backpack!! I woke up early and hit the road out of Lake City after a mediocre sleep due to some rowdy Texans. Slumgullion Pass was for breakfast and had me huffing and puffing for all 2500 ft of vertical. I finally topped out and sang loudly on my pleasant dirt road decent into a beautiful pasture and meadow with some awesome ranches that I wish I owned. Also, the fly fishing looked mental! I pedaled on through some flatland and some crazy rock formations until I started my next ascent up Los Pinos Pass, a gentle 1500 feet of vert, and began t...

Leg 4: Winter Park to Steamboat

July 27, 2020

Day 16 - July 22, 2020 Today was better than I expected. I got a late start around 9:30 after hitting the grocery store in Winter Park; I knew I didn’t have a huge day ahead of me. Lucky for me I found maps around Winter Park of the “Fraser-Granby Scenic Trail” so I decided to ride this instead of the highway I thought I was going to have to ride (thank goodness). I found the trail in Fraser and followed a sort of dirt/gravel bike path along the highway, then up through some ranch land, and into Tabernash. Pretty pleasant. A little after Tabernash it switched to single track and turned super fun for a few miles! I was so stoked to be on the smooth single track in the forest instead of dodging traffic. The trail was a lot like Emerald, similar ecosystem and dirt. The trail even took me to a little ski mountain, called Granby Ranch I believe, which was surprising but super cool! This really is beautiful country out here in Grand County/middle park. The mountains surround it an...