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Today our goal was Salida, 66 miles away. Before we got there we’d need to make it over Monarch Pass elevation 11,312 ft.

Before we could start our climb we had a 33 mile warmup to Sargents at the base of the mountain. Once there we had a quick lunch and started our 10 mile, 3000 ft elevation climb. Basically a football field’s worth climb every mile for 10 miles. Though exhausting, none of the grades were crushing. Two hours and several water breaks later we reached the pass, which happens to also be the continental divide.

At the pass there is a short tram ride that takes you to Monarch summit, elevation 12,000 ft . We got the opportunity to ride up to the summit the second to last day before the tram closed for the season.

Back at the pass we spent some time at the visitor’s center to gather ourselves and have a snack. We also got to checkout the “wild life” room, which was primarily a display of taxidermied local wildlife and hunting supplies.

Finally we made our 23 mile descent to Salida where we planned to take the next day off for some R&R. Of course we were joined by a cold afternoon mountain sprinkle on the way down. It didn’t slow us down, we were ready to reach our resting spot. By the way while on Monarch peak we made team Mike & Sarah official.

Newly added video from previous days:

http://www.ultrascopic.com/longhaul/2009/09/live-from-the-field

http://www.ultrascopic.com/longhaul/2009/09/the-outlaw-state