Day 183 - Golden

The day my run and life almost ended.

I got up and did all the things I normally do. As soon as it was daylight I started for Golden. It was a cold morning. I had a few layers of clothes on and my mits and tuque. I started out with a bit of an uphill climb. That warmed me up. The scenery just keeps getting better and better. I saw a few bear and elk tracks along the side of the road. There's so much wilderness out here. I tried to make a lot of noise by singing and talking out loud. I passed a warning sign on a post of a bear in the area. I started running a bit faster. I figured once I got past Yoho Park I would be OK.

The shoulders on the highway are not very good. Sometimes there's none or very little. I had a few good hills to climb but it was mostly downhill. Then I came up to the 10 Mile Hill. i wasn't sure what that meant. There's an area for truckers to check their breaks and signs that read ' sharp curves, obey all signs'. There were alot of sudden curves and narrow turns and barely enough room for two vehicles. I was getting closer to Golden and couldn't wait to get off the road. The road followed the curves of the mountain and they put cement railings. I came up to a sharp 90 degree curve and I hugged the cement railing. The transport coming around the corner barely missed the railing and I thought I was going to be squished. I thought this was it. You could barely fit a hair between me and the rear end of the transport. I came up to another sharp curve and a car came whipping around and swirved at the last minute to avoid me. One more time two transports going in the opposite direction and tons of traffic behind them just about blew me over the edge. I thought to myself this is insane and someone might be trying to tell me something. I was never so happy to get off the road as much as I was today. The winding curvy mountain downhill road was pretty wicked and I thanked God I got through it. I don't understand why they wouldn't put a tunnel through the mountain instead of building up these high trecherous roads. Needless to say I was a little shaken.