Chris and I took off from the last paved parking lot at Mt. Pinos Wednesday evening around 10pm. We knew we had 3-4 miles to ride and figured we could easily do it with some headlights....wrong. This was a long and hard 3-4 mile ride with very rugged trail and steep up and downhillls. We wondered if we would ever make it to our campsite with our fully loaded bikes. I was borrowing a Jones Diamond frame bike and Chris was riding his fully loaded Salsa Fargo. We made it to the site around midnight and were full of energy and exhausted at the same time. We set up camp and didn't even bother with a fire.
In the morning we awoke to a beautiful campsite and some sunshine coming through the huge pine trees. It was an amazing spot. We explored a little and had breakfast after. Initially we thought of spending another night at this site but we realized we were going to have to leave around 7am on Thursday morning and it wasn't going to be do-able with that ride that we came in on last night. So, we came up with a plan to ride back to the car and find a site close to the road but still had some cool features. So, we drove to the Marian site on the north side of Mt. Pinos and set up camp in a bullet riddled site. Looks like there were some people shooting traps and practicing with targets. It also looked like these people enjoyed lots of cigarettes and alcohol. All good. Chris and I rode up a steep trail to the local summit where we experienced a spectacular view. We chilled and chatted for a while and headed back down to make some dinner and rest up for the following day.
My first time bike packing was a success. I am planning a ECR build very soon upon the sale of my beloved pugsley. More and more adventures to be had. Love this terrain.
- JB
