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Day 7. Sly Park to Silver Lake, CAYesterday: Day 6. Pollock Pines, CA to Sly Park Rec Area, CATomorrow: Day 8. Silver Lake, CA to Kirkwood, CA
Synopsis
The day started with a *thought* to take a gentle swim in the calm Lake Jenkinson first thing in the morning. But the thought faded once I started to feel the heat and was reminded of the climb I was about to face. The plan was to leave the campground and make my way up the Mormom Emigrant Trail (MET) to HW88 before dropping down to Silver Lake. The couple of people I spoke to the night before at the local restaurant said the MET was one of the most beautiful, and most remote, climbs in the area. The views would be breathtaking as I neared the top, making it seem worth it as I ventured my way up in the heat. These people also relayed stories of others like me they had met in the months prior. They had met a couple different groups wrapping up a cross-country trip along the same route on which I have begun. They spoke of rallying at the bar to collect nearly $150 for one such traveller who was in need for his last leg home to san francisco. They spoke of another who was riding to raise money for his ailing daughter. My day began as usual with the ritual of packing up the things into the saddle bags, contemplating which of those things I could do without. I did throw away a few things to lighten the load a bit before the day's climb. The neighboring campers offered that I join them for breakfast and I eventually went and once again enjoyed their company before heading out. I had spent much of the night prior with them, hearing and sharing stories. The campers were comprised of divorced brother and his divorced sister each of whom had brought their 2-3 kids. It was a great big family and I was immediately adopted into the gang. The two of them, the man's girlfriend, one adorable 6-year old, two 10ish year old boys (they loved it when i showed them my GPS and my headlamp) and a couple 17year old girls (neither of whom knew where the Grand Canyon was). They all were visiting with their boat from the Sacramento area and were a great group to pass the time with. Anyway, about the ride. On my way out of the campground, I stopped at the local store to do a once-over to see if I needed anything when I asked the cashier about the MET... I asked him if there were any stores or stands or anything for me to buy water along the way. As any of you who are familiar with this road are doing now, he practically laughed in my face. He says "no, there is nothing.... just wilderness.. ... oh wait, there are a couple streams up there somewhere". So I bought a couple more bottles of water and bungee'd them on top of the load before my climb, and made sure my purifier was not buried too deeply in the bags. Water count at the base: 5 standard cycling water bottles full of water or Ultima. One 1-liter Nalgene bottle of water. One 16-oz bottled water. One 12ish ounce bottle of Gatorade. Could someone out there do that math and tell me how much weight in liquid I was carrying? Okay, now I am ready to go. 30 miles of relentless up. As I started the climb, two female ultra-runners were running down the hill and made it a point to tell me that it was a long way up. (thanks). Part-way up two cyclists passed me and soon thereafter I was passed by a couple on a tandem doing the same climb. The woman in the backseat made it a point to be my own personal cheerleader both on the climb up and on their descent. Awesome. It really did help to hear her scream something like "you are awesome!" when she and her hubby were coasting down the other side of the road (hours later). I stopped probably about a dozen times and made it a point to spin up in my lowest gear for as long as I possibly could, in an attempt to minimize my effort, to minimize sweating... Staying hydrated while rationing my water supply was my number one obsession on the day. At one point, I pulled over into a little bit of shade, layed down and basically fell asleep for about 20 minutes.... I definitely remember some dreams from my catnap... dreams of a bed and a shower. The GPS also provided me with a great distraction for the day. Something to think about over the course of the long climb. I started around 3800 feet altitude. Then I cross 4000. Then I cross 5000. Shit, then I drop back under 5000. Then I cross 5000 again, etc etc etc... All the way to within inches of 8000 feet at the highest point. The views indeed were stunning. Upon arriving to HW88 and turning left to climb a bit more before dropping down toward Silver Lake, the views of the lake itself were some of the most breathtaking of the trip thus far. The hardened rocks, the forest for texture, softened by the cool imagery of a body of water collectively create that in which so many people find complete peace when exploring the mountainous wilderness. Awesome. The descent down to Silver Lake led me to a store at Kay's Resort, where I bought a couple bags of doritos (SALT) and a gallon of water. I had rationed the pounds of water that I carried up the hill just perfectly and now was the time to rejoice. I proceded to drink the gallon of water right then-n-there. When hanging out at the shop, I met three cyclists who had left from Davis that morning and who were heading to South Lake Tahoe for the night and heading to the casinos and BUFFET that night. They had rolled out around 6am and in the course of the day, covered the same route that I with my heavy load took several days to traverse. (they had small bags with their change of clothes for the next day's return.... that is about 160+ miles each way..... i wish i had my 15pound roadbike sometimes!) In any case, the day ended with me finding and having been offered an empty corner of a family's camping spot in the Silver Lake Campground. I set up my tent. Gathering all of my food into a couple panniers, I hung them from trees to protect myself from the garbage bear which rumor had was on the loose. After securing everything down, I was almost immediately asleep for the next 12 hours (oh yeah.... i actually wrote this on 17 august... i was too beat to write after the day's journey). hard. awesome, but hard. the plan is to ascend carson pass and end the day in carson city.
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