We’re now off for perhaps the toughest day so far. At least the circumstances promise something out of the ordinary.
1. We’re approaching the great continental divide. This means steep grades and a lot of climbing.
2. The problem is we can’t stop and pitch up our tent when we get tired, as there are bears around. So we need to keep moving. And this is no joke, everyone over here is telling us about bears and how to deal with them.
Let’s see what happens. We don’t have any experience of bears, and reports from the locals are both contradictory as well as inconclusive.
3. There are not one but two forest fires on both sides of the road. The latest news is that the road up is ridable, but we’ll know for sure only when we get there. Firefighters are all around, and an ambulance just rode past us.
Keep us in your prayers, will you? At this point we need all the help we can get!