What is it like to go on a tour with Donkey Sunrise? One thing for sure: never a dull moment..... Andrew wrote his experience in his advrider.com report. Below a summary!
7a go time, so I was up at 615a. Got my bike situated and was ready to rock. There were 4 of us from the Donkey Sunrise: Tim -owner, Cara-volunteer, John-from Oregon on a Honda 250 Rally, and myself. We met up with Juan, a photographer in Manizales and continued out towards Nevado del Ruiz, where I was on Monday.
We stopped at about 10k feet for breakfast. It was already colder than Monday. By the time we reached 13k feet it was in the lower 40s. We pressed on past where I had stopped for a break on Monday and arrived at a little shack. Everyone was a bit chilly and in need of something warm, but as we were getting of the bikes, the sleet began, lasting 5 minutes or so, but leaving rain behind.
What was originally going to be a quick break turned into a waiting game for the rain to stop. No one wanted to get soaked when we were already cold. After a while I went out for a smoke, then a few others popped out to see the weather. Parts would clear and then cloud over quickly. But we started to notice something.
Behind the mountains where we came from, it almost looks like the clouds had become solid. It took a second, but we were looking at the snow on the side of Nevado del Ruiz. As the clouds cleared a bit more we got spectacular views of the mountain. Then we had the idea to do some photo shooting and raced to get our gear on while Juan got prepared.
What followed was an hour or so of pure joy. It was cold, wet, slick, but no one cared. Seeing this mountain was special. We were already at 13.5k feet and this thing just towered over us. It was an incredible experience and one that many don't get to see.
Read the full report of Andrew, including the great pictures in his advrider.com report.
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