Today we rode 112 miles from Kremmling, CO to Riverside, WY. Many adventures were had.
We left the church around 7:00, and started with jackets in 45 degree sunny weather. We rode 28 miles before stopping at a 10,000 acre bison ranch. Randy bought some Buffalo jerky, and they let us eat on their porch. (There was absolutely no towns or stores or even parks for the first 62 miles!)
At mile 45 we crossed the continental divide at "Muddy Gap". The climb up was 32 miles, going from 7.100 to 8.700 feet, but was not too bad. The following 8 mile desent was fun and beautiful. As the day before, all around us the snow capped peaks continued.
It's an amazing thing to go so far without seeing any services, just widely spread ranches and the occasional house. The mapped did have a town marked, Hebron, at mile 48, which I looked forward with great anticipation, thinking of tasty refreshment, but it was just a few decaying house, almost a ghost town.
After 62 miles of no services we reached Walden, CO at 1:00 pm. The little western town was at 8,500 feet, and rustic and charming. We had lunch at the Moose Crossing Cafe, both tasty and inexpensive. We ate don the front porch, a log beamed affair the looked over the small down town.
My Discover Card was rejected here, and I spent the next 2 hours on the phone in extreme frustration trying to work out a fund transfer between accounts that had mysteriously failed. I tried to ride and talk on the phone, but high side winds made it almost I.impossible to talk. Randy and Jake were gracious and waited for me.
during the last 50 miles, as we passed into Wyoming the land become less alpine ranges with narrow stream filled valleys. It was now huge 10-20 mile very flat arid valleys surrounded by distant rolling mountains, with peaks of higher snow capped ranges beyond.
The last 30 miles became increasingly windy, with gusts so high at times it was necessary the peel downhill! At mile 85 we glimpsed a pass in the distance, with the curve road peaking up here and there inbetween. Randy guessed it at 7 miles, and I though 5-10. It turned out it was 13 miles, with the last 3 being a steep, continuous climb into a relentless heading top hoped at 8.000 feet. Such a climb would be difficult for fresh legs, but doing it at 97 miles was, what? Torture at times? Still, I wouldn't have missed it.
We rode into Riverside, WY at 7:00 pm, and got a camp site at the Lazy acres Campground. Riverside has a sign posted at it's boundary, "Population 59"! there was a restaurant across the street "The Bear Trap". Which had descent prices and good food.
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