DownTheTrail.com

hiking guides, gear, and journals

  • LATEST
  • GUIDES
    • COLORADO TRAIL
    • THE LONG TRAIL
      • LONG TRAIL SHELTERS
    • ARIZONA
    • UTAH
    • CALIFORNIA
    • HAWAII
    • ALASKA
  • GEAR
    • MY GEAR LIST
  • JOURNALS
    • GRAND CANYON
    • COLORADO TRAIL
    • LONG TRAIL
    • BICYCLING ACROSS AMERICA
    • APPALACHIAN TRAIL
    • DENALI
  • MORE
  • ABOUT

Day 45 – Ordway, CO to Pueblo, CO

updated: November 12, 2018

60 miles
July 10, 2006

Today mostly felt like a nice, relaxing day. I wasn’t especially hungry this morning, so I just had two cans of Coke for breakfast. The soda machines in town were only forty cents a can! I like Colorado.

I rode a short 10 or 20 miles out of Ordway to the next town, where I spent most of the afternoon being lazy. I bought some hot dogs, sat outside, and caught up on yesterday’s journal. In case you didn’t notice, yesterday’s entry ended with something like “I fell asleep early tonight.” Well, if I had written it last night, how would I have known? Tricky tricky. It’s a good feeling to have the writing caught up now.

After I had my fill of more Cokes and hot dogs, I went on over to the library and updated the journal. I’ve figured out how to post pictures from most library terminals, so hopefully I’ll continue to update the pictures more often.

It must have been mid afternoon by the time I finally started putting in some miles. The landscape has changed drastically already since Kansas. There are low stony hills, cactus-looking things, and other plants you’d never see in the east. I met a solo eastbounder who’s originally from Washington State, and I remembered to get his picture – I’ve been forgetting lately. But what I did forget this time was that I should have asked him to take a picture of me on my bike, since I have so few shots like that. I took a little self-portrait to make up for it.

In the evening I saw some thunderstorms on the horizon, and they arrived in Pueblo at just about the exact same time as me, prompting me to get a room for yet another night. After some asking around I found a decent place for under 40 bucks, but not before getting a rained on a little bit.

I had a large Pizza Hut pan pizza with two liters of soda for dinner, and talked to my mom on the phone. Later I washed my t-shirt, riding shorts, and gloves in hot water in the sink. You ought to see how dirty the water gets. Then I did a little cleaning and re-organizing of my gear… unpacking every last item, getting rid of some miscellaneous garbage, setting aside old maps and oddities to send home, and repacking everything in fresh Ziplocs. It’s funny, I said I had a relaxing day, but all I’m doing here is listing all the things I got done today. I guess I did it in a leisurely manner. Life is good.

I can see The Rockies from here.

I lost my camera in Colorado, so there’s no pictures for a few days. 🙁


View Larger Map

<--- Day 44 (PREVIOUS)

Day 46 (NEXT) —>

Tweet
Share
Share
Pin

About Jamie Compos

I'm the guy behind DownTheTrail.com. I love the outdoors, and the Grand Canyon is my favorite destination. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter (at the bottom of the page), or else I'll slip a rock into your backpack when you're not looking.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

My Best Gear for 2023

Backpack

Day Pack

1-Person Tent

2-Person Tent

Sleeping Bag
(3 season)

Sleeping Bag
(summer)

Sleeping Pad
(inflatable)

Sleeping Pad
(foam)

Camp Pillow

Thru-Hiking Shoes

Sturdy Shoes
(Rugged/Off Trail)

Trail Running
(minimalist shoes)

Road Running
(minimalist shoes)

Socks

Water Filter

Water Treatment

Backpacking Stove

Headlamp

Power Bank

911 calls via GPS

Thru-Hiking App

Packraft

SEE MORE DETAILS
(my ultimate gear list)

 

(purchases through affiliate links earn commission)

 

chart your course

Copyright © 2023 Down The Trail - All Rights Reserved - legal statements - contact

This site feeds you cookies and is peppered with affiliate links. Recreating outdoors can be dangerous. Links to e-commerce sites earn commission. Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT