OBC-Day 3-My Favorite So Far!

Just Following the Purple Line

Today we were up even earlier…well, 1/2 hour earlier. Even though we didn’t cook breakfast (just cold soaked it overnight), it still took us nearly 2 hours to get going. 

Sunrise over the lakebed. 

Last evening we had met a couple of guys who were camping and riding mountain bikes. Eric and Ben took off from the hot springs in their truck. As they pulled out, I noticed there was only one bike on the back. I thought it was strange. Later on they came back, and stopped at our campsite. This time they had two bikes. Apparently, the extension on the rack had come loose, and fell off, taking the  bike with it. They had a good idea where it might be, and sure enough, found it sitting, still on the rack on a cattle guard. They borrowed my hex wrench to firmly tighten the bolts. The only damage to the bike was the saddle. They headed off to camp out on the lakebed. 

As you might have guessed from yesterday’s post, we were out onto the Alvord Lake Bed nearly immediately. It was pretty awesome. I told Jana that I would stay on the purple line. As long as she could see me, she would know where the route was. I think we could see Eric and Ben’s truck, but it was far away. 

The lakebed was mostly hard pack dirt. If it had been wet, I think it would have been impossible. 

It was about 10 miles across. Once we were on the other side, there was sagebrush that we had to negotiate around to stay on the purple line. 

There were also these deep gully things. Fortunately, this was the worst one. We were able to ride across the others. 

Soon, it was clear we were on a road. We were heading to Big Sand Gap. As one might gather, it got progressively more sandy. We stopped and let air out of the tires. That helped, but we still had to push quite a bit. The pushing was made more difficult by all the water we were carrying. There was a pretty steep sandy climb. I got MC up to the top, then went back to help Jana. It was still hard with two of us pushing. 

Near the top, we walked over to check out this fissure in the rock. 

The bikes rested. 

Once we finished the climb, we were pretty much off and on riding and pushing for what seemed like a long time. We saw some wild horses on the ridge, but they were too far away to get a photo. 

Pushing sand 

That’s Sand Gap in the background, with a hint of the lakebed. 

Jana emptying sand out of her shoes. 

Soon we had longer periods of riding versus walking. It helped that it was flat. 

There were two POIs regarding today’s route that indicated difficult way finding. The first one was a turn off a road onto a faint double track. Again, we just followed the purple line. After a bit, the double track became more visible. We also came to this. 

We found a way across that didn’t get our feet wet. 

We had to go through several fence gates. One was really hard. First we couldn’t get it open, but I finally got the wire loop off by shaking the post. Getting it back on was strangely easier. 

We were getting to the point where we needed an extended break. It was about 11:00. We spied a couple of taller bushes that were creating a tiny bit of shade. We also employed our umbrellas. It worked pretty good. 

Mine wasn’t as good because it’s so light (4ozs), that every time a gust of wind came, it blew it off the bush. Mostly I ended up holding it. 

Jana’s stayed in the bush really good. 

One element of my lunches was some powdered hummus with an 11 oz packet of olive oil, and water. It turned out to be delicious! Jana even had some on her bagel!

From lunch we had about 5 or 6 more miles. 

Back to a gravel road. 

Jana changing into her Crocs for the rest of the ride. 

We arrived at Willow Creek Hot Springs shortly after 1:00. Of course it is blazing hot, and there is no shade, so we created shade with our tent rain flies. 

While I won’t go so far as to say it is cool inside, it is lots better. 

We also soaked in the hot springs. 
The pool behind me is too hot. 

This one is cooler (but still quite warm).

There is a creek where we will get water later when it cools down a bit. Otherwise, I’m just sitting in my chair under my rain fly, happy when a breeze blows through. 

This was my favorite day of the route so far. The Alvord Lake bed was really cool to ride across. Big Sand Gap was hard, but amazing. Being successful in the “difficult wayfinding” spots added confidence, and of course, it was nice to have a shorter day in the saddle.