Day 25 – Breckenridge CO to Cañon City CO – 100 miles

We started the day off with a big climb up to Hoosier Pass at 11,500+ feet. Despite the thin air, the climb wasn’t too bad at a 4% average grade, but the shoulder was either non-existent, broken and uneven pavement, or sand/gravel for the climb and much of the descent though North, Middle and South Park (no sightings of Cartman). Having learned that, while most drivers are courteous and careful, there are some dangerous drivers on the road every day, we proactively bailed into the soft shoulder a number of times rather than find out the hard way if the driver overtaking us was one of the good or bad guys.

There were, once again, some stunning views of mountains, rivers, ranches, clouds and the sound of thunder. We stopped twice to, mostly successfully, let a thunderstorm pass in front of us from west to east. Today was the most rain we’ve encountered and not bad at all, though we were very cautious about being on remote roads when we heard thunder.

We finished the day in Cañon City where there’s a high security state penitentiary. As none of has killed each other so far, we decided to stay the night in the Holiday Inn rather than be wards of the state. Meanwhile, not much to say about Cañon City other than we’re looking forward to moving on tomorrow morning!