Saddled up and hit the road about 8:40am, exiting Steamboat on the paved Yamka River Bicycle Trail, heading southeast through rolling country roads with lots of Sunday recreational cyclists and hardly any traffic – sweet. When road turned to dirt Shannon took a fall when she hit a pothole, but other than scratching up her knee she was ok. We cycled through Stagecoach State Park and lunched at a shady grassy spot near the dam (in the reassuring shade of a brick shithouse). Rather gentle climb through ranching country to Lynx Pass (8,937’/2,724m ) with spectacular views of the valley – this is mountain bike touring at its finest. Kill me now because it doesn’t get any better than this!
Crested the pass only to find the USFS Lynx Pass Campground closed due to “hazard tree removal.” It was early (4pm) so we decided to do another 10 miles, passing an 1880’s Wells Fargo stagecoach stop, then fording Rock Creek, then arriving at our primitive campsite along French Creek. This was the perfect camping spot, ringed in by hills, very quiet, with a babbling brook on one side (French Creek) and a larger stream on the other (Blacktail Creek). I made the usual roaring fire, Shannon cooked up a meal of rice, veggies and Indian sauces, Phil filtered water and all three of us enjoyed the shimmering night sky. Oh, yeah, and we had some smoke that Phil & Shannon scored at the free concert in Steamboat to further relax us…
