Escaping Steamboat

Bodies at rest like to stay that way.  So after two days in Steamboat we got a late start today. Fellow thru-riders Daniel and Ben have parted ways, heading off on side-trips to Boulder and Estes Park.  When we eventually left Steamboat we traveled south through an extremely Steamboat-ish rural setting, and eventually into the Sarvise BLM land (maybe Sarvis or Service…another case of spelling issues since every sign or mention of it was spelled differently). We then climbed over Lynx pass and began the steep decent into the small town of Radium.It became clear that our days are getting shorter as the darkness set in quickly during our decent. We camped just outside town, cooked dinner over a small fire and slept amid the sagebrush.

Changes

Over the past 6 weeks we’ve become acutely aware of the subtle changes occuring around us.  This is no doubt an effect of spending so much time outdoors.  As the weeks have passed the days have got shorter – in Banff the sun set at around 9:30, here it’s 7:15.  As we’ve traveled south we’ve noticed changes in vegetation, foliage color, animals and weather.  As we travel up (elevationally), we see the difference a few thousand, even a few hundred, feet can have on precipitation, foliage and wildlife. We’re constantly aware of the weather and where it’s going.  Even the political landscape has changed as we make our way along the route.  One not-so-subtle change are the fall colors, and we’ve timed our visit to Colorado perfectly.