Steamboat was our last Coloradoan town. We were surprised to hit a lot of snow on the next pass we crossed given that it was not very high and the days were getting a lot warmer. We tried being smart by camping high but there was not a good enough freeze so we did a bit of pushing.
In Steamboat we had reshoed our steeds with some fresh rubber and we were pleased we had done so in time for this pass. We also purchased a bear bell which dings cheerfully on my bike as I bounce along – the clever thing about it is the wee magnet in the net bag attached which stops it ringing when the bell is slipped into the bag. We are hoping to get bear spray a bit further north when we get into grizzly country.
The downhill on the other side was fun and we enjoyed seeing large herds of elk, some deer, pronghorn antelope, our first wee snake, marmots and of course the always darting across the road chipmunks.
There were no road signs welcoming us to Wyoming, just the start of some wide open country and a hot afternoon.
Our second day in Wyoming we got to experience some of it’s wind, but luckily for us it was on our tail and we did our 50 miles into Rawlins including 1000m of ascent in time for a 2nd lunch.
Our alarm is set for 4:30 tomorrow as we head into the Great Basin. Our track is north and west and we want to get as much as possible done before the winds (from the west) pick up. We will be MacDonalds first customers at 5am!!