Monday, September 26, 2016 – 12.35 km
Onwards and upwards! I was glad to be starting the day with a climb up Mt. Remarkable, because it’s all downhill to Melrose after the summit and I could use a nice prolonged downhill. The path up was a road, quite steep in parts. The summit offered a huge cairn but no views, so I only stayed long enough for a snack before heading down the other side.
Ahhhh the Melrose side was a heavenly slice of single track! So gently graded… such a smooth surface… and it had the elusive views.
Lots of day hikers. Melrose is known as a hub for mountain biking – it’s sister cities with Fruita, a Colorado town known for the same – but bikes aren’t allowed on the trail the Heysen uses.
The caravan park is directly between the trail and the town, which has one street of note with the post office, a (small) store, and some pubs/hotels.
My original plan for Melrose was to take one zero before continuing on, but the weather forecast is predicting an apocalyptic amount of rain, so I’m going to ride the storm out here. I couldn’t get a room in town, but a tent in a caravan park is better than a torrent on the trail. An unpowered site for one person is $10.
