With my bike running smoothly again we set off for Johnson Village, where we had hoped to get to yesterday. The road was rolling, more uphill than down and we were so glad we didn’t push on last night. When we finally made it to Johnson Village we realised that we hadn’t missed out on much. It was just a short wide street with a few rafting outfitters a petrol station and the odd cafe. We decided to press on to Buena Vista for lunch with a view to finding a Visitor Info Centre that could advise us on our route over the Cottonwood Pass.

Buena Vista was only a few miles down the road and was cute little town. We found the Visitor Centre, where we were advised that the Cottonwood pass was only paved on one side, the otherside was dirt (as we knew from Gary), the pass was slightly higher than the alternative Monarch Pass, but it was a shorter distance , more scenic and less busy with traffic. Over a delicous lunch in Jan’s Restaurant it was decided that we would go for the Cottonwood Pass. It was one last adventure before our journey neared it’s end. After lunch we spent a few hours in the park lying in the shade of a big tree and listening to our talking book about an English journalist on an historical trip to the Congo in the footsteps of the explorer Stanley.

When the weather had cooled a little we got on our bikes again and headed for the Cottonwood Pass, hoping to reach a campsite before the rain started. Near the bottom of the pass was the cottonwood Hot Springs and it was very tempting to stop, but we pressed on and made it about 10 miles up the pass before stopping to camp. The primitive National Forest Campground wanted $16 for us to camp, so we carried on a mile up the road and found a flat, clear area beside the river to camp. We had seem lots and tents and trailers in pull-ins like this on the way up. We managed to put up the tent and cook some macaroni just in time before the heavens opened. We were snuggled up in our tent with dinner when we heard a car pull in a a group of 5 trying to erect there huge tent in the rain, We felt sorry for them, but not enough to get out of out tent and help!

Total climb:

2693 feet

Summed up:

Great luck with the rain

Pumping water at Buffalo Springs

First view of the Mountain range we were about to climb

This one's for you Les & Osc

An old abandoned Drive through movie theatre

A fun sign

Cooking in the rain

A nice dinner of Mac & Cheese, although it looks like spew!

Total Distance:

37.399 mi

Total Time Cycling:

5h 11m 46s