Elk Mountain

Woke up around 8:30am. Could hear Bambi munching on some grass outside our tents that night. Saw the tracks to prove it. Just saw Sheriff Susan leaving Chad’s tent. Chad was wearing her holster. Ha! Had our usual pre-ride breakfast of cereal and a raspberry pop-tart. Had our 4^th run-in with the ‘law’ when campground host…Helen the Hun…let it be known we did not pay our full campground fee. Oops. According to Chad, I did not put in the extra $10. This point has been disputed vehemently. One could even say as controversial as the second shooter on the grassy knoll. She ended being nice and giving us good trail location and told us about the micro-burst three nights prior that knocked down 1100 trees around Redfish and Stanley Lakes. Some fell on tents and a few people got hurt…some minor stuff. It was at this point that Chad and Mike turned precariously and reviewed the proximity of trees to their tents.

Rode Suzy and Mamba right from the campground to the trail. A short 12-mile loop, about 1000ft elevation gain. Our dogs were yelping from the previous rides. 10min in to the downhill we ran into Chainman Russ. He had split a link in his chain and we offered a helping hand. He was thinking his wife was going to be freaking out because he was just supposed to be going for a short ride. We suggested he explain to her that he was late because he had to wrestle an angered moose to the ground. He didn’t really think that was funny. His 8 year old son had been throwing up all night, was feeling better this morning, and promised to bring him for a hike. He was very appreciative of our help. We took his picture of course.

The back side of the ride was ridiculous with large open flat wild flowered meadows with mountainous backdrops. Got back to camp around 1pm. Drank a beer. Casually checking the break rotors…heard some rubbing during the ride. Turned out the break pads a little askew and was almost like the break was depressed halfway. Dam it. Perhaps that’s why the climb seemed a little harder than usual…