Great Divide--How much wild/stealth camping vs. campgrounds?

[dave]

Hi,
I'm planning to ride the Great Divide route (probably northbound) in June and I'd like to hear from experienced folks about the camping options along the route.  Were you usually stealth (AKA wild, or dispersed) camping with no facilities whatsoever, or were there lots of established campgrounds along the route that you stayed in?  

If there were a lot of established campsites, how were they?  Lots of glorified RV parking lots disguised as "campgrounds" or were they nice?  Lots of party people, or mostly empty?  Were prices reasonable?  Etc.

Just trying to get a feel for how remote the route is and how often I'll be showering, etc.  This will influence what I bring.  Thanks!

--I'm not racing, just touring at an estimated pace of 60-ish miles per day.

[THE LONG RANGER]

I think there's going to be major parts of the route that are going to be dispersed only, with facilities limited to a pit toilet, if anything, to be honest.

So for example: If you're going Nobo, the first Forest Service campsite I think you'll hit is N. of SilverCity, before you hit the Work Center. It's right by the highway, and the CDT option. That's a long way, so you'll probably camp quite a bit before that.

The next campsite would probably be dispersed, either in the Gila (no facilities), or the work center (toilet, water). You could then stay near PieTown/Toasterhouse, where you could find camping at the Toasterhouse, I believe. Kinda keeps going like that. What would be your next option? Hmm: no camping until Grants (not allowed due to the National Monument?), where there's a KOA nearby, with all the fixins. Then it's probably a while to an established campground, above Cuba. A lot of people stop within the reservation to camp, but I don't have much info on that. Tons of established FS campsites in Colorado, that much is true!

A great resource would be the ACA's own maps and the new book that has come out. Long story short, I'd wager on camping without much facilities nearby, as there's plenty of opportunities, and you wanna make sure you're fairly comfortable, even if you don't make it to your hoping-for destination.

As far as wildness of the route goes - it (again) depends, but in most parts, there's a population nearby, even if you don't get that feeling from stories of being on the route - the design sort of has you avoid many towns (which is nice).

Hard to put together a summary of the conditions you'll see for such a huge route! Be pleasantly surprised, is probably a good thing to anticipate. RV's will knock you off the road near Yellow Stone, and you'll be happy to see a passing truck give a friendly, "Hello" a coupla days afterwards in the Basin.

The "Worst" camping you'll probably get would be in the back of a motel - some proprietors will allow you to camp on their motel property, in their own established places, rather than taking a room (for a reduced fee). Some places have a few rooms set up more like a backpacker's hostel with bunkbeds and things like that, for a more reduced price.

My perspective is a little skewed, I'll admit, as my mileage was many times 2x as long, and finding somewhere awesome to hang out for a spell wasn't a top priority, while racing. A little sad about that

[dave]

Thanks, Long Ranger.  That's great info.

[fastmtnbiker33w]

I anticipate so much remoteness that the word stealth isn't even necessary to use.  Pull off the road into some pinon/juniper/sage and pass out.  I'm hoping that some campgrounds will allow a shower for a small fee, then roll out. 

[THE LONG RANGER]

Yeah, def. don't have to camp sauvage like you're camping in France between villages, but it's not like the route is desolate and away from any sort of human activity. I mean: they're *roads*, they were built travel to somewhere. Um, for the most part.

A lot of times, the road the route's on is only used to access some ranches, (in those cases, best to move 'er along for, uh, greener pastures.), sometimes it's to access a mine; sometimes it's to access National Forest/Parks, sometimes it's the local shortcut, or longcut between towns.

Another way to look at it is seeing another route, in a similar geographical area, like the Colorado Trail, w/the detours for bikes. Even at race pace, you can go a day or two without a resupply point, save for a trail angel - I'm thinking about Buena Vista to Silverton. On the GDMBR, that's almost tough to do, by design. Probably by design on the CT side, as well.

What the GDMBR sometimes does is intentionally miss a town that's close by, to give more of a desolate feel. For example: inexplicitly in South Park, they take a fairly wide, fast, and sort of boring road from Hartsel to Salida - there's really nothing to see.

There's a more interesting route, with a better water supply and more interesting terrain (but still in the feeling of it being on the GDMBR), plus a tiny town called Guffey, where you can get a bite to eat. The ACA knows about this town, as it's a stop on their TransAmerica route (as is Hartsel), but I guess have decided to go this other route. Never figured that one out.

[dave]

Good to know.  I'm looking forward to the openness of the land (and the ability to camp wherever) on the Divide--it is a radically different situation from where I live.  When I bike tour here in FL, I am quite often in areas that are either overdeveloped and don't have anywhere to camp, or somewhat-populated rural areas with plenty of loose (sometimes dangerous dogs) during the day and drunk redneck party people at night.  I'm under the impression the Divide won't be like that.

Long Ranger, I remember my buddy telling me about Guffey from his TransAm ride--he met some characters there.  Maybe I'll try to pass through there on the alternate you describe.