Day 17--A Three Summit Day!

This morning I woke up to find another tent sharing my site. It was Rick and Mary. Rick had ridden in last night, looking for a place to camp. Picnic Point was full, but I had plenty of room at my site. He said he would go find Mary. Well, they didn't return before I went to bed (okay, so I went to bed at 8:30). I figured Mary had found another spot. But, no, they had just ended up hanging out with some Canadians. Anyway, we got to chat while we were packing up. They are doing half of IHSMBR counterclockwise (the smart way). They've also done the Great Divide. They said this is very similar (very good to hear as I'm kind of treating this as a shakedown for the GD). Stupidly, I didn't get a photo of them before they left.

I headed out knowing I had a mother of a climb right off the bat. And it was too!

See the lake? That's where I started. See the curvy road? Yep, I rode up that.

The climb was 6.9 miles. I was doing 2.6 mph on the really steep parts. At one point, I came to a spot where there were a bunch of chipmunks. One was eating a dead one in the road! I had no idea Alvin was a cannibal! The little bugger even dragged the carcass off the road as I got closer! Of course, maybe he wasn't trying to eat him. Maybe he was trying to do CPR??? Little dude, your buddy is flatter than a pancake! I think he's a goner.

I finally reached the summit.

I took a break, deciding a Payday bar was earned.

The descent was good, but only about three miles. Then I hit the dirt. 

Notice the washboard surface. It comes and goes, but it is not pleasant. Riding to the far left or right is sometimes possible, sometimes too soft sandy.

I came to this meadow.

Quite nice.

As I was riding along, I saw 4 riders coming toward me. The first one even had a kid in a Wee Hoo bike trailer. He didn't stop, but the other three did. They are also doing half of the route.

Erin is pulling the BOB. The other two are her parents just out for the day. You can see Erin has fashioned herself a Da Brim of sorts. She ordered a real one, but it didn't come in time.

The next climb was to Deadwood Summit. It was the easiest summit I've ever done.

Still I'll count it as number 2.

The descent down Deadwood was pretty steep and long. Once again, I stopped to let some air out of the tires. Back on the flats, about 25 miles in, I came to Deadwood Lodge. Rick and Mary had told me about this place. I stopped in and had a bottle of Gatorade and some homemade oatmeal raisin cookies. The gal also filled my two empty water bottles. We had a nice chat. There was a gal with a two month old baby boy named Zeb. Made me miss My Sweet Baboo! After a decent rest, I continued on.

Soon enough, the road began to climb again. At about mile 37, I finally passed Deer Flat CG. This is where I was supposed to have gone yesterday. I must have grossly underestimated the mileage because there's no way I would have set myself up for that (it would have been a total of 64 miles)! It was a good thing I stayed at Picnic Point. 

A ways further and I came to Deer Creek Pass.

Number 3 for the day!

I had a gentle descent into Bear Valley.

Pretty huh?

I was heading for Bear Valley CG. When I got there, it was full. There were a couple of sites that would have room for my tent, but no one was around at those sites to ask. So, I went across the road where more people are camped along the creek. I noticed there was a nice spot by the water, so I set up camp.

There are no toilets, but there are at the campground. There's no piped water, but there's the creek. I still had three bottles of water. I boiled up a pan full that I'll let cool overnight to fill my bottles for tomorrow.

Total miles today: 44.3

Average speed: 6.51