34 miles, 3:28/5:30

We make our sixth Divide crossing today, but it’s a fairly easy day overall. When we get close to camp there’s a small store and we do a little shopping, including a nice pint of Ben & Jerrys. We sit outside eating our ice cream and watch the people on 4-wheelers go by. Two older people here, four there. A couple younger guys. Some have cute little flags sticking high up on the back. We see one flag with a mug of beer on it. A couple have baskets for little dogs, while others have big dogs balancing on the back. Dave tells me they’re called ATVs or quads now, that “4-wheeler” is an archaic term. I refuse to call them quads. They’re ridiculous and not cool enough for the name. And they’re noisy. I don’t like noisy motorized things. Kind of weird for a girl who grew up going to drag races to watch my dad and brother. They must be shaking their heads right now reading this. Anyway, I’m wondering when these things got to be so dang popular? They’re everywhere in this area. Dave calls them motorized Lay-Z Boys.

We finish our ice cream and head to the camp ground a couple miles further. This is the first campground on our ride so far where we are allowed to have had a legal campfire (though we don’t make one). While it’s called Big Springs campground, there is no river to bathe in and we can’t go in the springs area. So we walk into the woods and take a dromedary shower before setting up camp. It’s a beautiful campground, and we chat it up with our neighbor who is helping mark the Continental Divide hiking trail. We get a bit of a rain shower just as we’re heading to bed, which always makes for a good night’s sleep.