Today we headed out for what was supposed to be one of the toughest rides of the journey. A steady climb from the moment we left for 28 miles and 4000ft of elevation gain, to top out at 10,842ft! Also, Continental Divide crossing #16. We started the climb on highway and after 10 miles, we left the pavement for dirt. Right away there was a welcoming sign stating no stopping or standing on the road. Huh, real nice. We couldn't wait to get out of that area.
After several miles, we passed an interpretive sign stating that the road up to the pass was an old railroad route and also a gondola was used to transport ore down the mountain. At the time, it was one of the longest in the world.
We were going slow enough up the mountain that I could see remnants of the old railroad. There were many railroad spikes, bolts lying in the road, and ties sticking out of the side of the road. We wound our way up for 3 hours and at the top found that we had to race down the other side to beat the impending thunder storm. We met 3 riders on top from Australia. They were riding from Colorado to Los Angeles. We could only talk for a few moments because the rumbling from the storm was getting closer. We had a chilly but fun descent through densely forested woods and past a river that had many beaver dams. We arrived in Sargents, a one store/gas town with a rv park. Not a lot happening here, happy to have Rocky to comfort us.
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Today we headed out for what was supposed to be one of the toughest rides of the journey. A steady climb from the moment we left for 28 miles and 4000ft of elevation gain, to top out at 10,842ft! Also, Continental Divide crossing #16. We started the climb on highway and after 10 miles, we left the pavement for dirt. Right away there was a welcoming sign stating no stopping or standing on the road. Huh, real nice. We couldn't wait to get out of that area. 
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