August 28, 2022
Getting down
At times it was a windy night but I still slept okay.
During my morning pack up, random gust of wind appear, causing my tent to blow over. However it's a sunny morning and so as I cycle off, the weather should be fine.
While the weather has improved from last night, the road surface hasn't improved as it's still rocky. Therefore it's a slow bumpy ride, every so often a smooth path appears but it doesn't last long.
Just like yesterday, I'm seeing regular 4WD cars, ATVs and a few cyclists including one bikepacker heading up to the pass. Early on, a mountain biker appears behind me. He informs me that he left Winter Park on the other side of the pass, 2 and a half hours ago. It has taken me about 8 hours to do the same distance. I'm so slow due to not having any suspension on my bike. This has certainly been the roughest ride of the trip.
After a couple of hours I'm finally down to the active railroad line, where the eastern end of the Moffat Tunnel is. Many cars are around here, I assume people are hiking the mountains around here.
From here I'm able to follow the railway line east. Soon a train whistle is heard, and a train appears in the distance. However it doesn't pass me because the Rocky Mountain tourist train is coming the other way.
After a quick descent, I'm soon into Rollinsville, where many road cyclists are passing through on this Sunday morning.
My cycle route north involves following these cyclists, but they soon disappear from view.
As I make the slightly larger and busier town of Nederland, named after the country. Local markets are on, allowing me to relax for a bit on this sunny day.
From here I'm making my towards Rocky Mountain National Park. The road is busy and undulating and just takes longer than I hoped. Since it's forested, I'm only briefly able to glimpse through hills the end of the mountains east of here.
Just like nearly every other day, by 3pm the weather has deterioration. Since it's a cold wind I'm soon looking at stopping earlier than I hoped.
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Once I find an actual camp ground, they ask $25 for a very basic site with just drop toilets, picnic tables, bear boxes and a river for water. No shelter, or camp kitchen, like we often get in Australia.
However I only have $20 notes as I haven't spent much cash on this trip. This site is worth even less than $20 but after being able to pay less than this at other sites, karma has caught up with me.
Light rain begins as I arrive but thankfully it doesn't last long and by 6pm the sun comes out. I could have kept cycling but after a long day yesterday it has been nice to relax at camp for a bit, including having a brief wash in the river, right beside the campground.
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