Total miles biked to day was 81 - hot, hot, hot
We left Mazama at 4:45AM this morning knowing that we had 19 miles of climbing to get to Washington Pass and another 5 miles of biking up and down to get to Rainy Pass. Within two miles of leaving Mazama we started to climb and the first 5 or 6 miles was quite steep and then it leveled out for a bit, but not for long. We did see a number of deer this morning standing along side of the road as we started our climb.
What a long day this was. We have had 5 days of climbing and we are beat. Mainly we are exhausted because of the heat. It has been over 90 degrees the last several days and with the amount of miles and terrain that we are biking we are pretty well done in. We bicycled 81 miles today and it was all climbing or riding up and down the Cascade Mountains. The views were spectacular and the waterfalls and creeks were incredible to see. John and I are actually speechless on how to describe this beautiful area (yes, even Kathi is speechless). We had carried extra water and food and it is a good thing we did because we needed every bit of it. When we finally arrived in Newhalen we walked into the grocery store and I grabbed a ice cold bottle of cola that was in a cooler and opened it and started drinking before paying for it. It was so good and the gal behind the counter just laughed and said that has happened before when other bikers have come in.
We arrived in Marblemount about 4:30PM and checked into our hotel. We were pleasantly surprised about the wonderful accommodations (yes it cost us $98.00 for the room) but it is very nice and homey. To celebrate our completing the Cascade passes we went across the street and we shared a grilled buffalo steak for two with zucchini sauteed in a delicious sauce and baked potato's. Even Kathi had a beer with John to celebrate (now you know that doesn't happen very often).
We talked with a couple from Oregon that had been vacationing and hiking in the Cascades the last week. They were also staying at our hotel and we enjoyed our time visiting with them.
We have approx. 110 miles to bike to Anacortes and we will probably do that over the next two days as we are going to slow it down a bit. The weather is forecasted to be in the 90's again tomorrow and into the weekend.
What an adventure this has been!
Happy trails!
We left Mazama at 4:45AM this morning knowing that we had 19 miles of climbing to get to Washington Pass and another 5 miles of biking up and down to get to Rainy Pass. Within two miles of leaving Mazama we started to climb and the first 5 or 6 miles was quite steep and then it leveled out for a bit, but not for long. We did see a number of deer this morning standing along side of the road as we started our climb.
What a long day this was. We have had 5 days of climbing and we are beat. Mainly we are exhausted because of the heat. It has been over 90 degrees the last several days and with the amount of miles and terrain that we are biking we are pretty well done in. We bicycled 81 miles today and it was all climbing or riding up and down the Cascade Mountains. The views were spectacular and the waterfalls and creeks were incredible to see. John and I are actually speechless on how to describe this beautiful area (yes, even Kathi is speechless). We had carried extra water and food and it is a good thing we did because we needed every bit of it. When we finally arrived in Newhalen we walked into the grocery store and I grabbed a ice cold bottle of cola that was in a cooler and opened it and started drinking before paying for it. It was so good and the gal behind the counter just laughed and said that has happened before when other bikers have come in.
We arrived in Marblemount about 4:30PM and checked into our hotel. We were pleasantly surprised about the wonderful accommodations (yes it cost us $98.00 for the room) but it is very nice and homey. To celebrate our completing the Cascade passes we went across the street and we shared a grilled buffalo steak for two with zucchini sauteed in a delicious sauce and baked potato's. Even Kathi had a beer with John to celebrate (now you know that doesn't happen very often).
We talked with a couple from Oregon that had been vacationing and hiking in the Cascades the last week. They were also staying at our hotel and we enjoyed our time visiting with them.
We have approx. 110 miles to bike to Anacortes and we will probably do that over the next two days as we are going to slow it down a bit. The weather is forecasted to be in the 90's again tomorrow and into the weekend.
What an adventure this has been!
Happy trails!
Hello;
ReplyDeleteI bumped into your blog this morning as I was browsing around the web while filling in some missing pieces of my blog.
Interestingly, yours is a near mirror image of mine - my journal of my bike trip East from Anacortes, WA to Kingston, ON - mainly along Highway 2 across the US.
Congratulations on your accomplishment.
If you are interested, you can visit mine at http://jajh.ontheroad.to/rrmc2rmc/.