So many mountains, so much climbing

Onyx Summit - The highest either of us have ever climbed on tour.

Last time we posted, we were in Idyllwild, CA.  We thought that was a big day of climbing, and we topped out at 6,200'.  Two days ago we went over Onyx Summit... at a whopping 8,443'!  That was a big big day of climbing.  We went up nearly 7,500 vertical feet that day.  Today, we are going back up to 7,901', after having dipped down to 3,000' yesterday.  A few stories:

After our big climb we stopped at the summit to take some pictures.  Surprise!  The local cycling club was having their Tuesday night race to the top.  We got to watch the 'finish', aka arrive exhausted at the summit going a lot faster than we had been going.  A lot.  We bundled up for the descent in our jackets and warm gloves.  It's cold going downhill at 8,000', regardless of how bright the sun is shining.

On the climb up to Onyx Summit

That night we stayed in a great hostel in Big Bear Lake.  It was a really neat place - bunk beds for nearly 50 people, two kitchens, bathrooms, etc.  It was actually full because of the crush of PCT hikers right now, but they let us camp in the yard and use the facilities inside.  The bustle and chatter of the kitchens reminded us of the co-op in State College: lot's of friendly outdoors folks in their early twenties.  We were also very very lucky to meet a cycling fellow named Dave who was about to start leading the Adventure Cycling group on this route.  He has been leading tours for 17 years!  At the beginning of his 'career' leading tours, all the other riders were younger than him, but now they are mostly older.  He was 54 years old.  I (Daisy) got really excited - it means I can just keep on touring for the next 50 years! Yay!



A view of the Rim of the World Highway



We thought that we would have lots of descent coming out of Big Bear, after all it was located at nearly 7000.  We were kind of right.  There were some very very steep little hills awaiting us, as well as a few longer (2+ miles) gradual climbs.  The scenery, however, was stunning.  The mountains!  I love them.  As long as we are at high enough elevation I can just keep riding, happy as a clam because it's not deathly hot.  I love the pine forests.  We even have started to see some redwood trees.  More of those in the next week...

A mural on the side of Rim of the World Highway.
Click on the image for more detail

We went on this crazy road called The Rim of The World.  It was a depression era public works roads that just barely clung to the side of a mountain.  Somehow, for some crazy reason, some genius built a high school on top of it.  Seriously.  The traffic was pretty bad, but we made it safely. 

Last night we stayed at a big campground overlooking a resevoir.  The best part?  We got $5 hiker biker sites!  Regular campsites (which weren't as nice) were $45.  Thank goodness we didn't have to pay that.  The showers though...  were so high pressured it hurt to get wet.  We didn't use too much water.

Our lovely campsite last night

We have a little more climbing left to do today, but we are already at 6,000' so it's nice and cool (ha! it's actually 80).  Here's the most exciting news of all:  Tomorrow the Tour of California professional cycling race is going to pass us!  I am super super excited, as I've never seen a pro tour peloton in real life before.  We've been watching the bike race signs on the signs of the roads for two days, and we're going to see them tomorrow.  If you watch the tour or tour highlights from Friday's race you'll see a LOT of the roads we're on (and maybe you'll see us cheering too).  Here's a link for more info. 

Train tracks in the desert - as seen this morning