Sunday, May 18, 2008

Day 22

After yesterdays short day we rolled out early with the moon for company. Today was expected to be the most difficult day of the trip to date and here we were already more than 30 miles behind plan. With more than 9000 feet of climbing planned as well as high heat our 1:30 am start seemed the only way to try and catch up. After a very steep climb out of the Mokelumne river we arrived in Jackson to find a Denny's so we had breakfast at 3:30. Of course after breakfast we both decided we needed more sleep. A mile down the road we pulled over to the side of the road and slept until dawn. And then the climbing began and continued all day. The road followed the ridgeline so there was little up and down, mostly just up. Somewhere around 7000 feet I
caught up with Hugh. He was sitting in a small snow melt creek. I joined him. We finally reached Silver lake campground which had no water. We camped in the picnic area by the lake and had a refreshing dip. Hugh scared off a family that was coming to the same beach. They noticed he was skinny dipping and turned around went back to there car and drove off.

There was still snow on the ground around us but the night wasn't too cold. Lots of hungry mosquitoes.

22/66/6.7/1491

5 comments:

Timothy said...

Way to go!

Sunny and 70's here in Seattle. Going to University Street Fair. Let me know if there is a post office on your route you'll stop at so we can send you some sardines, chocolate or something yummy. ;)

After all that ascent-- you two are really cruising now-- nightriders!

Timo

Anonymous said...

A little wang and you get all the privacy you want. Anything for a cool dip. Keep riding and having fun scaring people.
Kaija

Anonymous said...

Hi there Hugh,
I bet Janet is having a good laugh reading this blog :)
Wow! what an adventure. I am so proud of both of you. Keep rollin'

Take care and be safe always.

Cheers,
Rosale
(Janet's friend at UoW)

Anonymous said...

Hi Guys
So fun to follow your travels! Sounds like you are doing great and working hard! We sure miss you in the pool and on deck for push ups etc. Keep up the great work and keep the blog going as we all enjoy talking about your adventures each am!
Be safe love -- Mad Dog

Anonymous said...

You guys think you're tired. Robin showed up at practice today at 5:55 am and wondered why everyone was in the pool and there were people waiting on deck. It wasn't until David mentioned that she was a bit late, that she realized she was an hour off.

I biked to work on Saturday and my little climb back up to Capital Hill in the 90 degree weather reminded me why I am still here in cool Seattle and not climbing 9000 feet in the middle of the night. Have a wonderful day.

Arni