Milford to Panguitch

I'll bet not many of you have heard of Panguitch, Utah, huh? Well, this is the first internet connection we've had for a few days. When we woke up in Milford Thursday morning there was snow on all the mountains around. The forecast was for scattered thunder showers, but with clearing in the afternoon, and thats just the way it went. We climbed over the hill to Cedar City and in so doing, left the Great Basin. Now the country around looks more like one would expect Utah to look, red rock cliffs and table top mesas. Cedar City is a bustling town of 20 thousand people, the biggest town we've seen for a while. We stayed in the KOA there, and could have had internet but we lost the access code and the office was closed by the time we discovered the loss. At breakfast we shared coffee with a fellow rider ,Ed, who we met in Baker. He was staying in Cedar City for a prolonged rest as the next leg was the hardest climb of the trip so far. We faced 4500 ft. of climbing up Cedar Canyon in 21 miles.
Indeed this climb made Carson Pass seem like a cake walk. In twelve miles we had climbed 3000 ft. and were done in. We stayed the night in a nice little wooded campground just off the highway. The one consolation was that the scenery was stunningly beautiful. The next day we finished the climb at 10,500 ft. elevation in Cedar Breaks National Monument. Here the environment was alpine and the air quite cool. Then we turned downhill for a 30 mile roller coaster ride into Panguitch. We are camped in a small RV park with a little patch of lawn in back for tents. The next two days will be fairly easy rides, finishing in Escalante, where we will take a rest day.

Baker to Milford

Tuesday morning we packed up to roll out of Baker on our own. Bill, Pete and Susan wished good luck before we left and they packed for their return to Sacramento. We slowly peddled out of town with heavy loads. We were going to split the next 85 miles into two days and dry camp at the top of Wah Wah Summit. We soon hit the Utah border and took pictures.

Many friends have enquired about Jack and here is a picture of him riding in his chariot (the dog cart) as we ride towards Mormon Gap.

We had two long climbs and the valleys in Utah seem so much bigger than in Nevada. There is also an interesting wind pattern to each valley. Descending from the pass we have a headwind, across the flat we have a crosswind, and ascending the pass on the other side we have a tailwind. After 52 miles we found our campground at the top of the pass. Here is a view up the dirt road from the highway. We listened to the weather radio and knew the good weather was changing again. This morning clouds filled the sky, we packed up and headed into the headwind on the descent from Wah Wah. At the bottom of the Wah Wah valley we were hit by tremendous side winds reducing our speed on the flats to 5-7 mph. Rain clouds, thunder and lightning could be seen on the San Francisco mountains ahead. We persisted and finally reached the point with a tailwind and made the 1400 ft. climb to Frisco Summit. The storm had passed over us with some light hail on the climb; however a very cold tailwind pushed us to Milford. After we warmed up, we checked the weather radio and realized that we had just ridden through a major wind advisory for southern Utah and Nevada.

Rest Day in Baker

After two long days totalling over 140 miles, we needed a rest day and some time to explore Great Basin National Park. Bill, Pete, Susan and John decided to go hiking/snowshoeing to the Bristlecone Pines. Dave and Belinda decided to see the world famous Lehman Caves. They were dropped at the Caves with their bikes to ride back to the motel since the hikers might be out longer. The caves were amazing with many unusual features. There were huge columns, shields, and draperies. One room was called the bacon room because light shined through the draperies had the appearance of slices of bacon. The caves were used for many things before the park service took over; parties, weddings, boy scout campouts, and a movie set.
At the day's end, we all got back together and shared adventures over another great meal at the Lectrolux Cafe. We had commandeered the main table for several meals now and were on a first name basis with the owner.

Ely to Baker

Well, this was the first day riding without Bill. He decided to go in the car with Pete, Susan and Jack to explore The Great Basin National Park. We will miss him and his own special brand of humor. We were able to ride unencumbered again as we would all be reunited in Baker, NV. We rode against a stiff headwind until we began the ascent of Conners Pass when the wind turned to help us over the top. At the bottom of the descent we stopped at Majors Junction where we had a beer and saw a Basque condo (sheepherder's wagon). We then turned north through Spring Valley with a great roaring tailwind. We turned southeast to climb Sacramento Pass, our last climb in Nevada. At the top of the pass, Wheeler Peak came into view.

We had a quick descent towards Baker with a tailwind until Dave got a flat tire. Soom we peddled into town and the Whispering Elms Motel where Jack quickly made friends with the parents of the owner. We were only 6 miles from Utah!

Eureka to Ely

Our first day without a cloud in the sky and some super assistance at the same time. Since Bill is ending the trip at the Nevada border, he asked some good friends, Peter and Susan to pick him up. However, they were enthused about providing some support to the trip and so they came two days early. Today they loaded up Bill's Honda with all our gear and we made the 78 mile trip unloaded. Below is John from San Francisco with Belinda, Pete and Susan after the car was loaded with 16 panniers, the dog cart, the dog, and all the camping gear. Later in the day, Pete and Susan showed up with a gourmet lunch much to our surprise and delight.

Early in the ride we spotted this pronghorn antelope quite close to the road. We've also seen some deer in the past couple of days.

In todays ride we crossed four passes. The last and highest was Robinson Pass. after that it was a long down hill finish in Ely. Tomorrow Pete and Susan will sag our gear one more time to Baker. From Baker we enter Utah and will not have internet access for three or four days. We will not be able to post but we will be thinking of all our friends and family. To those who have been making comments here we thank you. We have enjoyed this connection with you all very much. Keep those comments coming.

To John's Mom, your son is a very fine young man. We are enjoying his company on our ride very much. You can be very proud of him.

Austin to Eureka

Wednesday we took a rest day in Austin and it rained nearly all day. It was a fairly lazy day, but we did walk out to an old "castle" which was a three story stone building built by a man named Stokes as a vacation house. It reminded us of the tower houses of Ireland. On Thursday we rode out of Austin, and you can see in the picture below some of the switch backs on the climb out of town.
Thursday's ride was short but steep. We climbed three passes in 25 miles. We stopped and camped at a place called Hickison Summit. We had time in the afternoon to take a short hike to view pictographs on rock formations near by. On Thursday the sky was quite dramatic and we kept looking back at the Toiyabe Mountains covered in clouds and snow. While the weather has been challenging, we have been awed by its affect on the landscape.
Today, Friday, we had an easy day of 45 miles with sunshine and high clouds on the way to Eureka. The landscape is getting drier and the Devil's Gate reminded of us of Utah. Our young friend, John from San Francisco (headed for NY), has tentatively decided to stay with us until we cross the Rocky Mountains. Tomorrow we head for Ely with clear weather.

Middlegate to Austin

The picture below was the morning scene in Middlegate. We ate a very hearty breakfast at Middlegate Station and packed up. When we left it was sunny with some clouds and about 63 degrees temp. These conditions were not to last.


Soon a large thunderhead sailed overhead going our direction. The rain began and the temperature dropped to 40, and then the hail began to fall. The hail stones approached a half inch in diameter. Large enough to sting and make us glad we had helmets on. It hailed for about a half hour, covering the road and the surrounding desert. After that T-storm passed we had intermittent rain for the rest of the day. We climbed New Pass, a ten mile long grind. Then we dropped a couple hundred feet and ascended another pass, after which we had a glorious ten mile descent.
Afer this long downhill we faced the climb to Austin, but not before Belinda had a flat tire. As it was getting late Bill and John rode ahead to town to secure us motel rooms. Dave and Belinda fixed the flat tire but as we prepared to set out Dave discovered that his rear tire had gone flat. We were fixing that when a woman touring on a Vespa motor scooter stopped to ask if everything was ok. We told her it was and as she was going to stay in Austin we asked that if she saw our friends to tell them we had a second flat and not to worry. Well, at last we were able to get back on the road. We had not gone very far when the angel on the Vespa showed up again this time without her baggage. She had talked to Bill and John, we had rooms, and she took as many of our panniers as she could to lighten our load for the steep climb into town. Our road angel is named Starr. She is from South Carolina. She has toured all the way to California and is now on her way home. After we got established in our room, we all went out to dinner for a very nice evening.


Last, I just want to say that our motel, the Mountain Motel in Austin is very friendly to cyclists and pets. There accomodations are very nice and at a reasonable price.