Yosemite and beyond

Finally, some home-grown eggs!

 

Today we are in Lake Tahoe getting our bikes checked.  The library is closed so we are in a coffee shop with wifi, using my tiny iPod touch to access the web. It's surprisingly easy!

Since we last updated, a lot has happened. We made it to Yosemite national Park, narrowly missed a visit with a dear friend of Daisy's, climbed two passes in one day, and showered twice! We didn't know it at the time, but at the coffee shak where we wrote last we were mere miles from the geographic center of the state of California. Wow!  Also in that little town we bought some delicious home grown eggs from the feed store.  I had been dreaming of eggs for a long time and we proceeded to make fried egg and cheese burritos for lunch next to a beautiful lake.

Snow!

That same day we saw the first non-sunny weather of the trip.  A lot of it, too!  We triumphantly rode into Yosemite Park only to find that a storm was rolling in, and strong.  To get into the park we had to climb over two big hills of 2,000' each.  We got rained and hailed on during the first climb, and during the second... The snow really set in.  We were going really really fast to stay warm in the face of all that white, but about half a mile from the summit the visibility was terrible and the snow was starting to accumulate.  In the face of these actually dangerous conditions we decided to hitch a ride.  Actually, two since we had so much gear we needed two cars.  Jason got a ride with some recent college graduates, and I got a ride with a great couple from Maine.  They were super nice, especially when I left my soggy gloves in their car and had to track them down in a massive campground!

Yosemite was, as expected, spectacular.  We spent a full day there, during which it proceeded to rain all day long.  We were warm and dry in the visitors center and shuttle bus, happy as little clams to be resting. We ate an entire large pizza for a late lunch, and were so full that we only had bananas and gummy bears for dinner. Hee hee.

Reflections along Tioga Pass

We climbed out of Yosemite valley over Tioga Pass - the highest pass of the trip at 9,945'. It was incredible! The ride to the top took all day, and was at times very cold, but the views were utterly spectacular.  There were high meadows, steep mountains, and plenty of snow on the ground.  We were suitably exhausted at the top.  Exhausted, but also in awe.  Yosemite is another place we'll have to come back to.

We made it!  Highest spot on the route!

Yesterday we rode over both Monitor and Luther Passes.  Monitor pass was remarkable because it was 3,000' up the same hillside.  We just crisscroased it, climbing, repeatedly.  But we made it!  In a little town on the other side we stopped to buy stamps and met a woman who had been postmaster for 25 years.  She knew everyone and everything in that town.  She shared with us a few stories before we eased back onto the road.  After Luther Pass, which was another 2,000' of steep climbing, we descended into Lake Tahoe.  This lake is huge!

We were exhausted last night, and were happy to get a hiker biker site in a state park.  Today we will enter Truckee, and complete the second of our five map sections.  We are really getting into a groove and the mileages are really started to pile up.  We might still make it all the way to Canada!  We only have a few more truly epic(7,000'+) passes left.  Also, we're getting much faster at climbing!   

A Panoramic shot of a lake near the top of Tioga Pass (Burr!!)