Distance: 57.0 mi, Climbed: 2,684 ft
Completed: 2,693.0 mi, 123,972 ft
Should I stay or should I go? Every morning, Joanna and I get up and look at the weather forecast and make a decision on the route for the day. Are we good to go? Do we need to shorten the ride or alter our schedule? Today was a tough choice. We had sixty miles planned over Willow Creek Pass at 9,683 feet. The National Weather Service showed chance of thunderstorms from 12:00 – 5:00pm. AccuWeather showed thunderstorms around 2:00pm and 5:00pm. There is only one town along the route around mile 36, so not many options if we need to take cover.
We decided to get ready, go to the local convenience store to get breakfast and Gatorade, and reassess before biking out of town. We took a look a look at AccuWeather again. It is now only showing a thunderstorm at 5:00pm. We should be able to make to Walden by 5:00pm. Let’s go.
The first twenty-five miles today were all up hill as we made our way to Willow Creek Pass. Most of it was gentle climbing, with a harder section just before the summit. We rode through several smaller passes with mountain views on both sides. The hills around us were filled with burnt trees from the East Troublesome Fire from 2020. There was barely a tree that survived.
It was pretty amazing to see the new growth growing around the dead trees. The forest regenerates. This was particularly poignant for us to see after biking just a few miles from the Aspen Acres fire a few days ago.
Bicycling north on Route 125, there were many creeks and streams that fed into the Willow Creek Reservoir. Though there were many people down by the water fishing, it appeared that they had driven to their favorite spots. That is why it was a bit of a surprise when I saw Bo walking down a more empty stretch of road with his fishing pole. Bo was looking forward to spending the morning angling for trout and rainbow fish. It was fun listening to Bo’s story about how his family first visited this greater Grand Lake area. In 1932, during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, Bo’s great-grandmother traveled from Kansas to see a friend in this part of Colorado. Bo was so happy that he now shares this special place with the fourth generation, his grandkids.
The last push to the summit was a four-mile climb at a doable 3.5%. Not very steep, but long. Joanna and I slowly made our way to the top. It took a full hour to complete the climb. We were rewarded with a sign marking the Willow Creek Pass summit. I did not realize it until we reached the top, but we crossed back over the Continental Divide. The Continental Divide delineates where water runs either west to the Pacific or east to the Atlantic. We first crossed the Continental Divide when we went over Hoosier Pass a few days ago. I thought we would be on the western side of the divide the rest of the trip. Today, we passed back over to the eastern side. We will go back to the western side of the Divide when we pass over Togwotee Pass just before we reach Yellowstone.
At the top, we met Brittany and her three kids. She is a fire fighter with the Rocky Ford Fire Department. After battling the Aspen Acres fire and having family members lose their home to this inferno, they were heading up to a cabin near Walden for some much needed R&R. They stopped to appreciate the Continental Divide, and we were glad to have met them.
While we were talking with Brittany, we saw a bike rider tackling the summit from the north. Dan is riding from Eugene, Oregon, to North Carolina. He is a road biker doing his first tour. He, like many of the bikers we have spoken with, needed to send home 25 pounds of gear mid-ride. Even after sending so much home, Dan is still riding with 60 pounds of gear. Joanna has teased me a little for spending so much time and effort before the trip to figure out what to bring and how to minimize weight. I am carrying a total of 35 pounds, and Joanna is carrying about 30 pounds. Our empty panniers weigh four pounds. If we sent home 25 pounds, we would barely have anything left but our empty bags. I think we are doing pretty well.
To be fair, we are not carrying significant food like many 76’ers as we are staying in hotels and eating in restaurants. Dan, like us, is a little bit older. He is carrying a three-pound chair, which he says has been his favorite indulgence. I get it. If I were staying in campgrounds every night, I would want a chair as well.
The descent from Willow Creek Pass was a blast. I managed to average a little above 30mph with little effort. We left the fire-ravaged area and now saw many evergreen trees along the side of the road.
We had a beautiful view of some snow-capped mountains to our left, but we could also see dark clouds looming over the mountains heading right towards us. It was only about 2:00pm. The forecast we saw this morning implied we were okay to 5:00pm. So much for the forecast.
We hightailed it for the next ten miles to the small town of Rand. The storm to our west was getting closer and closer. We could hear the thunder. We were able to take cover in the Rand post office to wait out the coming storm. There was another storm coming around 5:00pm. Did we really want to hang out in a tiny post office for three hours?
I checked the radar and could see that the northern part of the storm was due to pass our current location in about twenty minutes or so. But since we were heading north, maybe we could outrun the storm. If we left now, we could get to Walden before 5:00pm and the next batch of storms. We were off to the races.
Within minutes of starting back on the road, we hit a strong cross wind as the storm got closer. We started to feel light rain as the wind blew the rain from the approaching storm toward us. But, we could see blue skies directly in front of us. We pedaled harder. We pedaled hard for about thirty minutes before it was clear that the storm was behind us and we won the race.
We had about ten miles left to get to Walden. We were on pace to arrive around 4:30pm, hopefully before any additional storms. About five miles out, we started to feel light drops of rain. But this time, there was no thunder and no threatening looking clouds to our west. It was just a sun shower. We made it to our hotel without getting caught in a big storm and getting significantly wet. Success.
While Joanna was checking us in at the hotel, I was waiting outside with our bicycles. Doug and Trina started asking me about our trip. Joanna came out shortly and joined us. Trina is a cancer survivor, and she and her husband have spent the past few years bicycle touring and road tripping across the United States. Doug had great stories from when he rode the TransAmerica Trail. It is always fun meeting people and hearing about their fabulous adventures.
