John and I rode up to the top of Yaqui Pass this morning. I broke a spoke, but otherwise everything went well. I’m not used to riding more than once a week, so I was struggling to keep up with John during the climb. He tried to drop me in the last hundred feet, but I managed to stick with him:
Endomondo only captured the ride from the beginning to the top of Yaqui Pass, where we turned around. Total ride length was 34 miles:
This afternoon, Trish and B went into town to scope out the Wednesday knitting circle at the knitting store. They didn’t stay, but they did visit the library and the ridiculously overpriced grocery store.
This morning we said goodbye to the Seven Cedars casino and drove West to Sequim, where we found the cheapest diesel I’ve ever seen:
From there, we continued West to Port Angeles and Olympic National Park:
The kids worked on the Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges:
The road to Hurricane Ridge climbs about 5000 feet of vertical over 18 miles from the visitor center, so I decided to give it a shot:
It was raining on the way up with 20 mile and hour winds and it was in the high 30s at the top, so I was soaked and pretty miserable by the time I reached the summit:
Not much of a view today:
4895 feet of vertical over 17.9 miles:
After the ride, we drove back into Port Angeles to overnight at the Walmart. See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.
Today the kids did some cookie decorating in the RV:
Trish made mini apple pies:
Meanwhile, I decided to ride to the summit of the road up Wheeler Peak. The ride starts in town at 5,318 feet and ends 15.6 miles later at 10,163 feet, a vertical gain of 4,845 feet. Outside Magazine listed this ride as one of the five best North American hill climbs. The climb is longer and as steep as the Tour de France’s Hors Categorie climb of Col d’Izoard.
I left at 11am, and the first half of the climb was really hot. Eventually, I climbed past 8,000 feet, and the temperature dropped considerably. Up here, it’s already Autumn:
Looking at the switchbacks in the foreground and the start point, the town of Baker, in the background:
The higher I went, the deeper into Autumn I travelled:
At last I reached the summit, nearly one vertical mile above my start point. The climb had more vertical than Whitney Portal but less than Horseshoe Meadows:
Wheeler Peak in the background:
I suffered two flats on the way down, but it was still a great ride!
Back at the visitor center, the kids received their Junior Ranger badges:
We watched the Park’s excellent video in the modern visitor center:
It was a little late to drive on to a new location, so we settled into a great dispersed camping spot I found on BLM land:
As I write this I can hear the swiftly flowing stream a few feet from the RV as well as a host of crickets. Good night from Great Basin National Park!
UPDATE: The kids produced a podcast for today’s adventure:
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