Pure FUN

Day 19—Saturday, Aug 20—Holland Lake to Cottonwood Lake

40 miles; hot

These are my directions with mileage to guide! Works pretty well but ya gotta pay attention. There are no street signs out here.

Hot day today and another one of them long climbs. After 70 miles yesterday my legs felt more like giving me 40-ish. So I'm in a “dispersed” camping area tonight in the national forest: no services, food is hanging from a tree, water has been filtered from a nearby fast stream. What else does one need? 

Ardend & Paul from South Africa in the middle; Inga & Jan from Netherlands. Four more people I couldn't keep pace with. These impromptu meetings on the trail are fun!

Met up with several pairs of riders: two brothers from South Africa on a 21-day adventure; a Netherlands couple who have been on the road biking for 3-1/2 months starting in Vancouver and going to Argentina (wow); and a couple from Ireland going north and coming into the last days of their adventure. And two younger guys from British Columbia on a 10 day loop. Always interesting to hear other people’s stories.

Double track

Finally a vista worth sharing—have being enclosed on all sides with pine trees!

Single track section:  stay on the trail!

Going down the other side on single track; 5 miles of pure fun.

Most fun part was screaming down the other side of the mountain on a single track trail for 5 miles (crazy) and then a few more miles down on gravel roads. I honestly don’t know how everything stays on the bike on these downhills!

In terms of jostling around, in my toiletry ziplock I have a tube of antibiotic ointment that completely unscrewed itself and yeah made kind of a mess…and for my next trick...

Also jostling: I noticed today that my gear shifter had lost a critical bolt (from the vibration?) and was starting to come apart. I had brought some extra bolts and was able to find one that fit. I need to check the bolts on all the connections.

Scene from the road

Thunderstorm mode through about dinner time…nice steady light rain…a little cool air as well.  With thunderstorms there is always a chance for lightning (fires) so trying to stay aware!

Sometimes, even when lightly cursing the relentless curving climbs that seem part of every day, I do stop and wonder at the great privilege it is to do this trip. I am grateful for the hills throughout the day, fresh and cold water coming out of the ground, safe places to sleep, and even the little skeeters that bob and weave outside my tent. The heat has been intense but so be it! It is part of the given day, each of which brings new sights and sounds around every corner.

Cottonwood Lakes: it started to rain about dinner time and as I sidled up to a pine tree to stay “dry” I saw an older guys picking berries in the rain. He was from Missouri originally. He told me these were not blueberries but Sauvis berries. Hmm, I asked him to spell it but he couldn’t…I think there is a Serviceberry? The accent threw me off?