Day 315
Rand Yacht Club
Well we had treated ourselves to a motel due to the cold windy weather, it was pretty basic so we were happy to leave and head on our way. We retraced our ride back to Windy Gap, fortunately not so windy this morning and headed along Highway 125, riding up towards a pass where we would cross the Continental Divide for the second time.
It soon became apparent that we were riding through an area which had been burnt during a wild fire. Back in August 2020 a fire started at Cameron Peak, it wasn’t to be fully contained until December. It burnt through an area of nearly 209,000 acres, becoming the largest fire in Colorado’s history. It spread so quickly due to the strength of the wind, but also conditions on the ground made it difficult for the fire services to gain access to the slopes. For us it meant a view of mile upon mile of scorched trees, sometimes a small area would be fine, the fire clearly having leapt over it. Though there are very few buildings, all of them appeared to be new or still under construction, clearly the fire had destroyed more than trees.
It wasn’t a grim ride, far from it. We rode beside the Willow Creek, the sun was out, the traffic wasn’t, we could see some regrowth, the surrounding Rockies formed a stunning backdrop. We relaxed and took our time. Not long after we crested the pass and crossed the Continental Divide we reached the small hamlet of Rand. About 20 or so people live there year-round growing to 200 or so in the summer. The hills all around are a mecca for hiking, fishing, bird and wildlife watching and hunters during the season. We were running low on water and hoping to wild camp so were therefore pleased to see a pub open.
This was the Rand Yacht Club, yep you got that right a Yacht Club in the middle of the Rockies! Created by a larger-than-life character, Captain Cecil Biggerstaff. He had flown bombers in WW2, had various adventures around the world before settling in Rand and creating his Yacht Club. In 2018 it changed ownership and Mike the new owner kindly showed us around and told us about it’s history.
We were so tempted to stay, behind the pub Mike has built cabins to rent, there is plenty of room to pitch the tent, stage for bands to play on a summers evening, a fantastic view, from the kitchen floated a wonderful aroma of home cooked food, and a great bar to relax in. Oh I didn’t want to leave! Tom reminded me that more snow was due in a day or so and we had a plan. Getting snowed in at the pub seemed a pretty good plan to me but then Mike mentioned that we were the second and third cyclists to have passed through this year and the first was only half an hour ahead of us heading for our planned destination of Walden.
That was it, we drank up and gave chase. On arriving in Walden we chanced upon a fantastic camp spot. A covered picnic area with long-drop toilet, so we gave up the chase of rider No. 1 and pitched up our inner tent and settled down for the night. We had the stunning sight of the sun setting over the Rockies as our backdrop... life doesn’t get much better than this.
