2015-07-04 Day 6: North Park, The Woods to Walden, CO

Miles Today: 44 Total Miles: 295

Today is our great nation's 239th birthday. We are loving the experience of riding across it. I must start with a confession. The camp ground that we were looking for last night really was not closed down. Instead it was just a couple of miles further up the road. The campground that we did find has been closed and off the grid for quite a few years. When we found the actual open campground this morning, it was absolutely filled to the max and was a total zoo on July 4th. So, we were actually glad we camped in the abandoned campground.

Pulled over our 3rd high mountain pass and our second crossing of the continental divide today at Willow Creek Pass (9,632 feet above sea level). That puts us back on the Atlantic Ocean side of the mountains. Boo! Then we dropped in a long descent into the region known as North Park. North Park is the most fertile area we have seen so far - a broad valley perhaps 30 miles across with distant snow capped peaks in all directions. The valley floor is lush grassland. This region was the domain of the Arapaho Indians back in the 1800(s). Early trappers to the region reported massive herds of buffalo so thick that the valley floor from a distance looked brown. Today, it's all ranch land.

Doing laundry and drinking a 20 oz. mint shake in the town of Walden this afternoon. We shut the pedaling down at noon since it was another 50 miles to the next anything at all. According to the sign entering town, Walden is the Moose Viewing Capital of Colorado. I have asked several people where I might go to see a moose and pretty much gotten the same advice. Don't approach a moose, they will kill you. Don't honk at a moose, it will tear your car apart then will kill you. Don't point a camera flash at a moose, it will kill you. Then the locals have told me to go look down on the river just north of town. I think I will pass since their seems to be an adversarial relationship between the moose and the town of Walden. I out pedaled several dogs last summer but I don't think I can out run a moose.

We have now ridden 6 straight days. Tomorrow we are going to rest. Monday, we cross into Wyoming.