Way back in Idaho, as we were riding up Old Whitebird Grade, I spotted a small horseshoe (pony sized) in the middle of the road. I thought it was a fortuitous find, what with horseshoes being lucky, and me being superstitious that way. I picked it up, and have been carrying it ever since. It has worked its magic several times already.
Anyway, today, we took off from Walden, following the route to Willow Creek Pass. First we stopped at the same convenience store that Bethany and I stopped at on our way to Chicago (don’t ask why we were in Colorado…that’s a whole ‘nother story) to pack out some extra liquid refreshment as we wouldn’t have any services until Hot Sulphur Springs (yes, that is the name of the town). The road sign said Kremmling to the right on Hwy 14. But, that’s not the way the Trans Am goes. Instead, it goes on 125 up and over Willow Creek Pass.
We stayed on 125 (a much less trafficked road), and entered the Arapaho Wildlife Refuge. I pulled off to read about it, and a gentleman in a pickup pulling out from the Refuge stopped and talked to me. He asked the usual questions of where we started, and where we were going. I told him we were going to Kremmling today. He said we were going the wrong way, but then I told him we would go through Rand (no services) and Hot Sulphur Springs. Then he told me they just opened 125 on the other side of Willow Creek Pass today. Holy Moly!!! How lucky were we!!! There were terrible rains that caused a bunch of landslides that covered the road in numerous places. (you might have heard about the flooding in Colorado on the news).
Riding along the Refuge (which still looks a lot like Wyoming). Only saw one lonely antelope.
We had 22 miles to Rand, then 10 miles climbing up to the Pass. Actually, we had been gradually climbing from the beginning of the day, but more so after Rand. There was a road sign (one of those portable light up ones) that said “Deb Is and Water on Road”. I told Doug I was curious to see Deb and what she had to do with water on road. Oh, I guess the “r” wasn’t working…
Doug was waiting for me at the top of the Pass. This was also a Continental Divide crossing…#7.
#7
And here’s one with Doug’s face!
I took off down the other side. It’s so much fun going down!
There had been a forest fire in 2020 and 21. Still, it was nice to have trees for a change…even if they were dead ones.
Stick Forest
Saw these helicopters practicing dropping stuff. Doug thought it was wood chips (I couldn’t tell).
Interesting rock “wall”.
As we got further down, we started to see evidence of the flooding and landslides. The road was clear though.
There were several other spots. Really was a mess!
We stopped at the closed Denver Creek Campground for some lunch. We just went under the gate to a picnic table. We also filtered a bit of water for the rest of the ride, just in case.
I had added up the miles to Kremmling last night. It was going to be 78.5. When I told Doug that, he was a little less enthusiastic. I also told him we could just go to Hot Sulphur Springs…which we did. It was still 61 miles.
We rolled into town, and immediately pulled off at a place that had burgers, hot dogs, etc, and ice cream cones. While we were eating, we looked ahead to see how much food we would need to carry. I am out of “breakfast food”, and Doug is out of “lunch food”. After eating, we rolled to where the campground was likely to be. We were looking for a grocery store, but hadn’t seen anything. We asked two gentlemen at the post office if there was a grocery store. They said it opens at noon…tomorrow. Not helpful. We rolled on to the “campground”. For a mere $20 you get sani-cans, and no water (short of filtering from the Colorado River). The campsites are overgrown, but we found one that wasn’t too bad.
Just across the train tracks is the Hot Sulphur Springs Resort. I guessed correctly that they would have showers ($5) and drinking water (free). We took advantage of the showers, and filled up all our water containers (we do have filters, but this was easier).
A couple from Germany ride by. We told them if they wanted to share our site, they could. Neil and Ursula are both riding bikes with belt drives and Pinion gear boxes. They are eastbounders too. There is also a Dutch couple. They had to take the detour yesterday to Kremmling. They rode here this morning to go to the hot springs. Not sure where they are camped.
Tomorrow we will go through Kremmling and should be able to get food. In the meantime, breakfast doesn’t have to be oatmeal…
No comments:
Post a Comment