GDMBR day 16 – Monday, July 31,2023

Total miles – 575.10 Total ascent – 45,456 ft

Beaver Dam Campground to Little Joe Campground

Woke up to a very chilly morning, about 37 degrees. The funny thing is as soon as the sun comes up you are immediately hot, especially if you are pedaling uphill. So I start with my puffy jacket and wind vest, leg warmers and wool gloves and all of a sudden it all has to come off, there is no middle ground of gradually getting warmer.

So after a 6 mile climb we came to the infamous Fleecer Ridge. Heading southbound on the GDMBR you first come to a steep climb about 1/4 mile in length and mostly a 10% to 15% grade. I had to walk some of it.

At the top the views are immense and you quickly start to descend. The descent gets very, very, very steep. Like -26% grade. In one mile you drop over 1000 feet. The 26% part is about 1/4 mile long and most everyone needs to walk it. Even walking down something that steep with a bike is difficult. The trail notes advise people to not stay on the trail which is loose and rocky, but instead to go off trail among the sagebrush and zigzag your way down. Everyone made it down safely but it was a hard effort.

We then came to the “ town” of Wise River, a famous fly fishing destination.

After the mercantile stop we turned onto the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway, a paved but low traffic highway. We rode another 15 miles until we came to our camp for the night, Little Joe Campground.