Day 48 - June 20 - Walden, CO to Saratoga, WY - Two Old Guys Take On A Continent

June 20, 2023

Day 48 - June 20 - Walden, CO to Saratoga, WY

Mosquito Attack

John’s Story

As I was walking through the park this morning I saw a strange growth on the end of the stem. It looked like a pea pod just opening up. I pulled the pod off and found nothing interesting inside. I walked by the same spot 30 minutes later and this flower had opened up.

Not a dandelion, but growing amongst them.

It was about 40° this morning, but the sun warmed things up quickly. No canyon walls to block it. The tents were totally dry inside and out, including the bottom of the footprint.

The camp emptied out this morning thusly. Steve and Paul left first. Ed and I were next. A few miles out of Walden Nikolai passed us. Nate and Paul passed us later in the day. Nikolai was in to Saratoga first at 11:00 AM. I guess Steve and Louis came next. Ed and I came in at about 2:30 PM, followed shortly thereafter by Nate and Paul who apparently lollygagged somewhere along the way to allow us to pass them. Nikolai, Nate and Paul are mid 20s to early 30s. I told them to come back in 40-45 years and I’d kick their butts on the bike.

There were only two possible stops on today’s almost 70 mile ride. The first was an RV Park 13 miles out of Walden. The second was Riverside at 49 miles. I took an extra 2 liters of water but ended up not needing it.

In the window of the office of the RV park. Oxygen is all natural? Who knew!

Just a very few ranches dot this seemingly endless landscape.

I can’t resist taking pictures of interesting looking clouds.

When we reached the Wyoming border about 22 miles north of Walden there was not a Welcome to Wyoming sign. Maybe they don’t want us to know we’ve arrived.

I took a nostalgic look backwards to remember the last state we were welcomed into.

Right at the state line a car passed us with a long wheelbase recumbent on a rack on the back. Marianna is on her way to Missoula to join a weeklong ACA bike tour. She said she’d never make it in time if she kept stopping to talk to bike tourers like us. Unlike Ed’s bike, Marianna’s is an e-bike. Ed has always said you can’t put a long wheelbase recumbent on a regular rack on the back of a car, but here was living proof. A documentary film team captured the moment.

This is what Wyoming looks like when you get there. Like Colorado but with fewer trees and people.

I saw some very interesting rock formations from the road and wanted to go inspect them more closely, but a barbed wire gate blocked my path. It looks like an igneous intrusion called a dike.

We saw a number of antelope today. One particular animal seemed to be trapped in the highway right of way between the fences on each side of the road, but we never could get a close up shot.

A day without new flowers is like a day without sunshine.

That tiny bit of road in the distance is a 2 mile long hill that climbs 500’. The flip side was the 700’ downhill over 3 miles on the other side.

Wyoming cowboys. The galactic inter web says people from Wyoming are called Wyomingites.

The wind howled at times today. At one point I was drinking a bottle of OJ, and the wind was whistling across the open top.

The St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Saratoga hosts bicycle tourist as a ministry. We get to sleep in real beds tonight!

We had some beer at the Snowy Mountain Brewery, then went to the Hobo Hot Springs. And that water was hot! It was painful to leave any body parts submerged for any length of time. The springs are owned by the city of Saratoga and are open 24/7/365.

Notice there are not many people in this pool. It’s hot!

Ed’s Story

Woke up this morning at 5:15 and started the day going early. Breakfast was the usual. I think I will just get instant coffee for the rest of the trip. It is so much easier to prepare. Stanley’s gift of the instant coffee is what changed my mind.

I sprayed myself as soon as I got up but that didn’t matter. The mosquitoes were everywhere.

I think that they have become immune to sprays as nothing stopped them. They would bite through your clothes.

They followed us as we left town. If you slowed down for any reason, they were there. There was no escaping them. They floated on air. They finally went away when we reached Wyoming.

Even though we were some of the first ones up, most of the other cyclists staying there left before we did. One actually got to Saratoga at 11:00; 68 miles…but then again he is in his early 30’s.

Other than the mosquitoes the first 20 miles were uneventful. We stopped at an RV park/convenience store at the 13 mile point but they were closed. The restroom was open so it was used and then water bottles refilled. After John used it, the restroom was locked somehow. It’s a mystery.

There was some nice scenery out there. There are definitely a lot of ranches.

I like the way this hill looks: trees on one side and bare on the other.

Note the sun shining on the distant mountain.

As we approached the Wyoming border, a car with a long wheel based recumbent like mine passed us. I waved and the driver pulled over at the state line.

Marianna from Monte Vista CO was heading to Missoula MT to ride in an Adventure Cycling tour there. She was impressed with the load on my bike. She’s added a motor to her bike.

Contrary to what John said above, not all long wheel base recumbents are the same. Marianna rides a small frame and it is an overall 7’ in length; I ride an extra-large which is 8’ in length. That extra 6” on either side makes all the difference. Her wheel brackets (shown below) are extended all the way and wheels just fit.

Note how the holders are extended all the way.

Shortly after entering Wyoming we came across a 2 mile long, 500 ft hill. That hill was worse than what we ran into climbing up to the Cameron Pass. The grade was consistently steeper.

We came across an antelope running back and forth across the road. It looked confused. I thought it might have been stuck between the fences. It stopped several times then ran off and disappeared.

We saw several locals riding then we met up with Lily heading in the opposite direction. She is touring solo down to Sante Fe NM. She started in Hood River, Oregon. She is definitely a lot younger than we are.

We reached Riverside WY where we had a pannier lunch and refilled our water. It was another 17 miles to Saratoga from there.

We arrived in Saratoga, bought groceries for dinner, and headed into town to find the Episcopal church that maintained the cycling hostel. We found it. There were already several cyclists here when we arrived.

John and I have an upstairs bedroom with two beds. There are at least three other bedrooms upstairs. If there are more cyclists than beds, they sleep on the floor downstairs. There is a full kitchen, dining area, and living area with chairs around the walls. Bikes are stored out back.

John resting before heading in. This is a really nice place.

After we unloaded our bags, we headed to the brewery for a couple beers. We ended up eating a big plate of nachos also so we wouldn’t be drinking on an empty stomach.

It’s too bad all towns don’t have breweries like this one.

The food I bought to eat today will end being eaten tomorrow while we are at Rawlins. Dinner tonight will be a tomato, bean dip, an orange, and water. It is really dry up here and I need to drink more.

After the brewery, we went to the Hot Springs. The hot water is pumped in the pools at this location. It felt very good as it relieved the aches in my muscles.

Water only shot - I want to protect all the nude bathers.

After a quick shower, it was back to the hostel and just have a relaxing evening. I washed or rinsed off the clothes I wore today so they will be ready for tomorrow. There is a dryer here so I was able to dry them.

Tomorrow is a short 44 mile day to Rawlins. I believe we are staying at an RV park on the west side of town.

Until tomorrow happy biking!

Today's ride: 69 miles (111 km)
Total: 1,755 miles (2,824 km)

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