Rough, ROUGH Day…
This will be the least photographed day of the entire Tour Divide. That’s because there was very little joy in my heart today. It sucked! But lests start with the best part of the day, waking up…
Selecting a camp site in the dark can provide for some interesting views in the morning.
If you recall, we had pushed our bikes off the road last night so that we would have a secluded site to camp. Well, not everything you do in the dark turns out like you might like it in the morning (This applies to MANY situations ;) ).
As we awoke, it was obvious that the trees we thought we were in last night didn’t turn out to be so secretive! We were plainly visible in our sagebrush surrounded campsite. Oh well, let’s just get going!!
Our first goal of the day was to make it to the Beaverhead Work Station, in the middle of the Gila NF. That would be about a 40 mile trek across grassy plains. With rocks! Lots of rocks! The roads were less than welcoming as we made our way towards our only available water stop today. A hose at the Forest area.
Our ultimate goal was to make it the 120 miles to Silver City. A big bite to take, given the notorious reputation the Gila had for it’s roads and climbing.
But here we were on the road to Beaverhead as the sun began to heat up the day. Unfortunately, the rising temperatures did not abate for the first 4 hours of the day, and by the time we finally rolled into the work station, we were extremely hot and tired already. Probably owing to the 130 miles we rode yesterday. We took the opportunity to have some snacks, fill up all our water reservoirs, and pour water over our heads. After about a 30 minute stop, we were on our way. The roads on the way to Wall Lake went to shite immediately after leaving Beaverhead. There is nothing more depressing that steep, gravelly, wash boarded roads in 100 F!!
There are a ton of words to describe the next 50 miles of riding between two rugged Wilderness areas in the Gila NF. NONE of them are fit to print, and ALL of them are X-RATED!!
The three of us spent the ENTIRE day struggling with the heat and rugged terrain of the Gila. The 40 or so miles of dirt to NM highway 35 were perhaps the most unforgiving and depressing of the entire Tour Divide. Now whether they were really the worst roads MIGHT be debatable. Perhaps it was the heat, or perhaps it was the fact that we were now about 2200 miles into our journey, but whatever the case, this part of the route was miserable!
As quoted by former NM Governor Gary Johnson on day one, “New Mexico will bit you in the ass!”. That could not have been more true than our experience today.
It became apparent by about 7 PM that we were simply not on pace to make it to Silver City today.
The rugged and unforgiving terrain of this part of New Mexico simply beat us down. The incessant climbing, usually 20 minutes up and 1 minute down, was endless!!
Finally, the road bit us…literally. Ray, while descending a particulrly nast section of road, hit a rock which resulted in a “snake-bite” puncture of his tire. After several attempts to seal it, it was decided that he would have to put a tube into his tire. This entire process took about 30 minutes and was the last nail in the “let’s get to Silver City “ discussion. Our goal would now be Lake Roberts, or there about.
After almost hitting a large bull elk among the herd lining the road to highway 50, we were finally descending towards Lake Roberts.
We eventually found a place to sleep, and called it a day. Tomorrow we would take on the climb to Pinos Altos and the drop to Silver City, but tonight we just wanted to get things over with and forget the last 95 miles.
We’re South bound and down!
Shane and Ray
