2021: Death Valley and beyond

maurice is gone, off with deb and chris to the airport to catch that flight home.  i enjoy being by myself, but i also enjoy having the company and support.  maurice and i have travelled a lot of miles together over the last dozen years, climbed a lot of mountains. i went a bit of the longer way today.  started out going along the nw shore line, passing through all the little villages, each with their vacation downtowns.  never really saw that in incline village.  passed into california, the state line runs almost down the center of the lake.  picked up the truckee river bike trail, flowing north out of lake tahoe to donner pass.  the bike trail ends at squaw valley, home of the winter olympics way back when.  got back on the road chasing the river down to truckee, at the foot of the pass. that's where i learned donner pass road was closed to pedestrians and cyclists.  dilemma.  the only ot...

we left lake topaz by 8:00 focused on its being maurice's last day, culminating with the 2,300 foot climb to lake tahoe.  it caught us a little by surptise that we had a long climb out of the basin.  one more mountain pass, but more like big hills. in the distance the the sierra. maurice had recovered really well by now.  we were both a little sore from the climbing the last few days, but had faith that would work itself out as we rode. we rode 15 miles through nevada countryside.  more sage.  i've seen an awful lot of sage brush these last three weeks, varying density and size as the only change, but now there were mixes of junipers and small (pinyon?) pines.  obviously there was water in this area.  we passed a sign indicating we were entering the carson river watershed.  small farms started appearing scattered in the valley.   there were small sections hinting at the fires that have plagued the west...

early morning rise, we left the campground and headed for coffee/breakfast.  we found it on the second try at the mono cup. after breakfast, the first order of business:  a 1,000+ foot climb.  straight grade up, switchback in a swooping curve and then a final 90 and up to deadman's pass in the sierra's. downhill was wild, as would prove others to come. road narrowing to 2 lanes, limited shoulders, rumble strips.  when there's 18 inches between the rumble strip and the edge of the shoulder going up hill is fine, but going down is dangerous.  hittting a rumble strip can shake the hell out you and potentially cause a crash.  there's nothing to do but get out in the lane.  the eighteen wheelers going down a 6% grade at 50 mph on a two-lane don't appreciate a bike in front of them. making it down, we came into beautiful bridgeport.  lunch at the historic hotel. ever since the bird sanctuary in henderson, ...

in the morning, we were up early again, said goodby to gigi, and started out ready to do some climbing out of the river valley and up toward mono lake basin,  10 miles outside of bishop, we rolled off the main highway, 395, and on to a side road for a more relaxed and scenic climb. through the little town of paradise, originally a cabin resort, where the old restaurant, now a home, straddles a mountain stream.  we actually saw running water.  water that helps feed the growth of los angeles a couple of hundred miles away. a short drop down into whiskey canyon, where we came to a mountain stream and ponderosa pines.  the pines are changing, getting taller and wider, with red trunks and long needles.  we sat by the rushing water and enjoyed the change. at the top of the canyon, tom's place, the local bar, eatery. then downhill into mammoth lake basin, which we were to learn is in fa...

we took the morning slow, with chai and breakfast at the puff fish cafe where gigi works part time. she lent us her car and sent us up into the mountains , 10,000 feet, to see the world's oldest creatures, bristlecone pine tree.  the oldest one is 4,000 years old.  they're not physically impressive, but that's part of the art of surviving that long.  bad soil, high altitude, limited competition, very slow growth, low density to limit spread of fire. we finished up the day back with gigi with pizza, beer and the usa v mexico game. tomorrow we start riding again, climbing 4,000 feet up into the seirras.   it's supposed to be cold at night!

in lone pine, you wake up every morning with mt. whitney at the end of the block. there's a series of towns every 15-20 miles up the eastern sierra valley.  in each of the towns you'll see backpackers walking down the street.  the pacific coast trail runs down the western side of the summit with trail heads coming down at the towns along the valley.  hikers come down into the towns to resupply and maybe sleep in a bed.  some of the towns have shuttles to the trail heads. we woke up early, ate breakfast a little after 6 at alabama hills cafe. 60 miles to bishop, pretty much flat.  a test to see how we had recovered from the heat and the sun of the mojave.  only we were still in the heat and sun.  projected temp 100, no clouds, no rain, lots of sun.  big difference was that the morning was cooler, the heat wouldn't hit hard till around noon.  and we were heading north. and we were back in civilization, with towns every 1...