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    • Day 5
    • Day 6
    • Day 7
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~37 miles :
from 9,100 ft to 8,500 ft


1,600 ft up


2,200 ft down

Day 4: Columbine Hut to Big Creek Cabin

The next morning was chilly and we all got togged up in leggings, hats, gloves and neck scarves and ate steaming porridge with walnuts and raisins to give us energy for the day. The first nine miles were a gentle climb on Divide Road still, leading up to Windy Point. Half an hour after leaving the hut we found ourselves cycling in snow flurries and we passed several very cold looking boy scouts dressed in totally unsuitable garb. By the time we reached Windy Point there was no view to be seen as the snow flurries had surreptitiously turned into a fully blown snowstorm. We decked our fleeces, waterproofs and anything else we could find in our panniers and continued along the ridge for many freezing miles, the snow stinging in our faces.

The snow began to settle a little on the ground and the boy scouts were rescued in small groups by their support vehicle. They would sit shivering by the side of the road not seeming to have the wit to realize that it would have been better to have kept moving until help arrived. We passed herds of snow-speckled cows with their calves, which Mike moved off the road for us with his powerful voice. We stopped for a very quick lunch owing to the freezing temperatures - it was in fact below freezing at 28 degrees Fahrenheit according to Paul's thermometer on his bike, but it felt even colder due to the wind. At some point Paul's masticatory muscles almost seized up so that chewing snacks and lunch became a challenge.

After lunch I felt pretty sick - I was probably dehydrated and mildly hypothermic and I had to concentrate very hard on keeping my lunch in place especially as I panted up the hills. Fortunately, most of the afternoon consisted of a long descent off the exposed ridge down through the woods to Big Creek Cabin situated on Big Creek Ranch. We immediately lit a fire and started to thaw out. This cabin was unique - a log built cabin built for the cowhands on the ranch, it was smaller than the others but had much more character. We were actually on the ranch and right next to our cabin was a field of brood mares and their foals whom Bitsy painstakingly befriended, and another field of yearlings and colts prancing and galloping around each other in mock battle.

The jewel in the crown of this cabin was a hot shower a few hundred yards away. It was built for the ranch hands but we had ponied up an additional $5 apiece, in advance, in order to enjoy this particular luxury. And luxury it was! Most of us also washed some of our biking clothes, particularly the infamous "shammies" and the tiny cabin was strewn with steaming clothes all evening. We named this cabin "shammytown" as we looked just like an oversized family in a one-roomed hovel trying to dry our washing whilst the fire was still lit. The temperature outside dropped to 19 degrees Fahrenheit during the night according to Mike who was unfortunate enough to find himself in the draught of a badly fitting window by his bunk. Our hero finally got up at 5 am and relit the fire so that we could all eventually breakfast in cozy comfort. We dined on tinned chili with still more canned mushrooms and powdered mashed potatoes, which we reckoned was a pretty good cowhands meal. Our record can-smasher, Jessica, enjoyed crushing twelve cans that night with the axe in sub zero temperatures. (All empty cans have to be crushed and stored in a tightly sealed metal dustbin - all these precautions in order to avoid rodent infestations).