Most summers I head back to New England to visit family and spend a few weeks sailing the coast of Maine. This year was different. The Summer Fun Nationals were held at Mt Hood for the 35th time this summer and marked the end of an era as this year's was the last. I agreed to help as a course crew as I have done a couple of times in the past. Since I was going to drive and had my truck shell finished enough to go on a road trip, I planned a road trip around the drive to Mt. Hood. I would visit friends, bring my mt bike and skis and spend over 3 weeks traveling around a part of the country that I haven't seen much of. Well, that could be just about anywhere in the US but New England. This will just be the first area to get visited.
Leaving Breckenridge on the Fourth of July, I headed north towards WY.
Near the dam at Dillon Reservoir.
At Wolford Reservoir just north of Kremmling. Kind of an ominous looking start, but all went well. There wasn't a torrential downpour where I was.
Looking back toward Rabbit Ears Pass on my way.
Lots of clouds, little to no rain on this day. As it would turn out, it was a very dry trip.
My first overnight destination was the abandoned coal mining town of Gebo, WY, about 20 miles north of Thermopolis, WY. My solar system is new so I wanted to see how it would perform in these marginal conditions. This evening it didn't do much, but it kept my house battery (a Renogy 100ah LiFePo) sufficiently charged that I had no issues staying 'electrified'.
The next day I arose and headed out for Beartooth Pass and points beyond. I drove through Cody, WY and kept heading west to connect with the road over the pass from the southwest.
The Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (US 296) was the road I took. It lived up to its name.
Summiting Dead Indian Pass.
The river in the gorge dead center is the Clark Fork of Yellowstone River.
The Sunlight Creek Bridge. I presume the sign was there to discourage base-jumping.
Looking straight down from the bridge (downstream side) you can see why they wanted to avoid inappropriate use of the bridge.
Looking upstream.
A tarn along the way. You can see evidence of forest fire up on the ridgeline and on the slopes.
Traveling along I reached US 212, left the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and headed north east up the Beartooth Highway.
Pilot Peak kept appearing on the horizon both on the Byway as well as the Highway.
This 'feature' was at a new scenic interpretive vista.
The interpretive sign.
I was getting seriously delayed by the scenery. Every turn insisted your attention both to the highway and the views.
My favorite marmot. Unfortunately for the marmots there were a lot sleeping in the highway, too.
Approaching the summit of the pass, Pilot Peak makes another appearance. The number of tarns and absolute vastness of the landscape was amazing.
I met these guys at the true summit of the pass; there were about 15 of them. They are holding the National Māori flag. They had come from New Zealand to ride here. I didn't get to ask if they were renting or what their plan was; Sturgis was still about a month off.
Well, there was snow, I had skis, so the inevitable happened. The snow was not steep and it was very sticky so there was a lot of skating going on.
The leftmost patch of snow was what I skied. Needless to say, I stayed on the nearly level top. It would have been fun to ski the line, but alas, it was getting late. Note the goats on the left.
And the wildflowers.
The views continued to present themselves. What a drive!
Farther along was the summit of Beartooth Basin Summer Ski Resort. Its season was over, unfortunately, as I would have liked to ski there.
The bowl on the far left is Beartooth Basin.
I finally made it down the other side to some dispersed camping in Montana along Rock Creek.
The dew, the light that passed through it and the shadows on the edge of my shell's roof in the morning was kind of cool.
I stopped in Bozeman to visit a friend who I had last seen during the recovery from my broken back in '77-'78. We trained at Waterville Valley and raced together in the winter of '76. We went for a mt bike ride from his home. They were narrow with tall grass and flowers along them which made for challenging riding as you often couldn't see the track. Not knowing if there were hazards and forgetting to check my tire pressure (I came from 9700 to 4800 so they were soft) added to the excitement. As I forgot my phone, too, I'm stealing one of Rusty's photos to show how spectacular it was.
Photo credit: Rusty Squire, Sly Dog Production
I left Bozeman the next day on my way to Sandpoint, ID. I took an overnight stop along the way. I had been using freecampsites.net to find places to camp and it didn't let me down.
Along the Clark Fork of the Columbia (MT 200). The campground was owned by a utility, free, clean and delightful. The river is dam controlled so slow flowing along this section. It was quite warm, too. This was about the only swimming I got in which was a bit of a surprise when all was said and done.
A tasty, single pan dinner of sausage, garlic, sundried tomatoes and penne.
Farther along the Clark Fork.
Arriving in Sandpoint in mid-morning, I chose to go for a bike ride as my friend wasn't available until later.
Looking down on Sandpoint from midway up Gold Hill #03 trail.
The tread was really nice and despite how busy the parking lot was, not crowded on the trail.
Gold Hill #3. It was a lot of climbing in a short distance.
After my ride I hooked up with my friend and his wife for an afternoon on Lake Pend Oreille. We had a nice dinner at a dock side restaurant and got in a bit of swimming.
I parted ways with them and headed to another dispersed campsite. This one is at the Clark Fork Drift Yard Boat Ramp.
Home for the night.
From Sandpoint I was on my way to Hood River, OR to meet up with my friend that runs the SFN race. When I arrived in HR, I went to the Hood River waterfront where a fundraiser for cancer was just finishing up their kite-board big air show. I then went to see Meri.
The north side of Mt Hood. We organized stuff for the race and then went out for a nice dinner and Mike's ice cream.
The following morning I was up and out earlyish. After a fine breakfast at Bette's Place (thank you, Quigs) I drove down to a trailhead in Hood River. As I parked near the finish of the almost-a-loop ride, I rode the road for 4 miles to the Dog River TH and started climbing. And climbing. And this is what I saw:
Nice smooth trails that were a bit dusty. Lots of lush undergrowth.
But not always.
The first Mt Hood view. There were many.
Surveyor's Ridge - IMBA EPIC
Back where I had parked was next to a camp ground. Note the size of this trailer and car and then try to count all the flamingoes. Where they all fit while travelling I haven't a clue.
Cherries in their natural state. Yum.
I ended up at Frog Lake campground for 3 nights to give myself some good time to ride. While checking out the shuttle for my next ride, I visited the Mt. Hood Cultural Center & Museum.
A model of the Timberline Lodge main room.
The day's ride started driving to a shuttle stop in Rhododendron and hopping on the shuttle. $2 for a single ride. It was a regular shuttle bus with a trailer set up to hold 18 - 20 bikes. The shuttle took you back through Govy Camp and up to the Timbeline Lodge. From there you start descending over the course of 15 miles with almost no climbing. The top third was loose dusty dust with lots of rocks and small drops thrown in to keep you on your toes. The middle and lower third were a mix of smooth trails on nice forest duff.
Timberline to Rhododendron. There was 4,387 ft of decent.
The next day I planned to link a nearby (to the campground) trail with some Forest Service roads for a leisurely day. I got off on the wrong foot when the trailhead had been realigned with the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). The PCT is 'no bikes' so I carried my bike on that short section until I got to the trail where it was legal to ride. However the trail had very little use and was challenging to keep track of. And there were tons of down trees.
Blue Box Trail and FS roads
The final day I did just FS roads to simply cover more area and have another easy day. The bonus was I found a great place to camp. I still had a day left at Frog Lake but my neighbor had shown his colors in the morning and despite only car/tent camping they were running a generator in the morning. Determined to have a quiet morning the next day, I pulled up stakes and moved to this location that I found during my day's ride.
Just a spot next to a FS road but I never saw a soul...
... and got this following view.
The next few days were work days, the impetus for this trip. Moving gear up onto the hill, the registration party, setting up a complete race arena twice, two awards ceremonies and final load up into the vehicles to move the gear back to Hood River and unpack it. It was a great time but not photo time. I did take a lot of photos when I went to Hood a few years back to do the same race. The day after the race I drove to Bend, OR to see a concert: Neil Young's Coastal tour at Hayden Homes Amphitheater. It was fantastic. But before the show I found a dispersed campsite and went for, you guessed it, another bike ride. The area is known as Tumalo/Swampy Lakes Trail System. I did Ben's to Pinedrop to Lower Whoops to Phil's to Kent's to M. T. B. and back to Ben's.
This guy was just hanging out.
Lots of smooth narrow trails with gentle grades. Areas had been managed and some were closed during the day for management, but open after 3. A nice way to work the muscles but not get worn out. I drove to the show after riding and back after the show (duh). My camping place was held by a folding chair.
The following morning I had to return to Hood River to retrieve my PC which I'd left behind (doh) and despite being the same road, going in the opposite direction was just as pleasant as the drive down.
A quick retrieval and a drive through Portland got me to the coast.
I stayed at Cape Lookout Campground for a night. I'd reserved the camping at Hood and along the coast as it was high season with limited access. If I'd known how much dispersed camping there was around Hood, I'd have skipped those reservations. No matter, camping is cheap and access to privies and water is nice.
Does that 5th wheel make my truck look small?
A 200 foot walk down a road and over the dunes trail.
Same view, 2 hours later.
Lovely.
The next morning the fog had rolled in.
Short Beach
Cape Meares Light
On the way to Yaquina Head Light.
Yaquina Head Light
Beverly Beach Campground. This place was huge. While I was on a busy road, I was also next to a quiet stream.
And this octopus tree! It was apparently on a scavenger hunt as it was identified by this placard:
Moolack Beach with the Yaquina Head Light near the end of the point.
Devil's Churn
Every half mile (or so it seemed) there was a scenic vista. This site explains a bit of why the Oregon coast is still so scenic: Oregon Shores.
Random pull off.
Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area
Random pull off.
Ok. Enough of the beautiful state of Oregon. Just kidding. I loved my days there. I drove 2/3rds the length of the Oregon coast that day to end up in California's redwood forests.
An arbutus tree in my campsite at Grassy Flat Campground.
In the morning I packed up and headed to the Little Bald Hills Trail. This was in the Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park. It was shown as a shuttle ride, but I did it mostly out, then back. I wasn't in the mood to ride narrow two lane pavement. The trail had lots of different treads and a variety of flora including...
... REDWOODS!
In the area of redwoods there were named memorial redwood groves. This I thought was interesting although I would guess that the naming involves donations towards preserving the natural beauty of the forest. There were also a number of 'stout groves' which I haven't been able to confirm but seemed to be groups of very large redwoods, both live and dead.
This isn't close to accurate as Strava stopped recording, but it illustrates how rapid the ascent was.
A change of venue to a 'wilderness' campground in Klamath was nice. You could drive to within 1/4 mile of the tent sites, then you had to hike into the sites; no car camping permitted. From there I planned to do two ride, one north, one south. It turns out I only did the south ride. I drove down to the Elk Prairie Visitor Center to start a loop ride that did include a narrow two lane road for a few miles, but it was worth it. Along the road was 'Big Tree'. The tree wasn't the largest in the forest but it was quite spectacular.
Big Tree
Near the entrance to the Ossagon Trail. Up and over to the coast. Near the shore the trail entered a swamp that required walking in foot deep water for 20 - 30 yards. I left my shoes on as I didn't trust what I couldn't see. So with soaking wet feet I continued.
The trail stayed off the beach and followed the forest/grassy field line until it returned to a dirt road which turned into a very narrow paved road. So much for avoiding pavement.
Ossagon Loop Trail
Flint Ridge campground site #1
The wilderness campsites didn't have a view, but the road did.
I left the wilderness campground and decided to skip a ride and just start driving which allowed me a little more time for sightseeing that day. I returned to the first stout grove I'd encountered and took some pictures as I had left my phone in the truck thinking I was just taking a quick look-see.
I rolled up US 199 back to Oregon to start heading to Reno, NV.
At a rest stop on I-5 I encountered a fellow resting in his car, maybe waiting for it to cool down?
I knew Mt Shasta was along the way but I didn't realize it was so big and isolated. Impressive.
As it turns out while I didn't do a lot of stopping for scenery I did take my time driving it seems. If I'd ridden, I'd have been pulling in really late.
The Algoma dispersed camp sites were very pleasant and quiet. I got this space next to the creek pretty late.
The next morning I continued on to Reno, leaving Shasta in the rearview.
I hooked up with @Philpug and @Tricia in the mid-afternoon. We sat around chatting and chilling before going out to dinner at Phil's favorite Chinese restaurant. After that we headed up the Mt Rose Highway to Sky Tavern Ski Area for a welcoming meet and greet for the new University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) head ski coach. He spoke about building the team to be a Division 1 championship team. Finally we drove up past Mt Rose over the pass to a vista of Lake Tahoe.
Spectacular.
I stayed the night with them and in the morning Phil, @Andy Mink and I rode the Peavine area directly from Phil and Tricia's. It was a sunny day and we had a great ride.
I hung out with the Puglieses for the remainder of the day and joined them in celebrating Andy's wife's birthday with grilled steaks, corn on the cob and great conversation. The following day I met up with another friend in Reno and we headed back up the Mt Rose Highway to ride the Tahoe Rim Trail and the Flume.
I had to import Scott's All Trails GPX file into Strava and Strava shortened the time somehow. We really took about 3 hours. A great dinner a Scott's with his wife and another night in a real bed!
I was out of time and places to go so I started heading east to CO.
Who knew NV had some skiable dunes?
The view from US 50 in Austin, NV.
I didn't have anymore drive in me so stopped at another dispersed campground, Cleve Creek, a bit east of Ely. I parked in the shade in another location and fortunately before I'd set up camp, the only neighbor's generator kicked in so I looked for another site and found one out of earshot, in the shade and next to the creek.
My final day on the road...
US 50 seems to stretch on forever. I started at 6 and drove on until I needed to refuel and have breakfast at Mom's in Salina, UT.
A couple of panoramas along I-70 in UT.
It was about 100 all day until I got to Summit County. I am sure glad I had my AC fixed before I left.
The Taco has landed.
Thanks for checking out my trip. I hope you enjoyed it.
Leaving Breckenridge on the Fourth of July, I headed north towards WY.
Near the dam at Dillon Reservoir.
At Wolford Reservoir just north of Kremmling. Kind of an ominous looking start, but all went well. There wasn't a torrential downpour where I was.
Looking back toward Rabbit Ears Pass on my way.
Lots of clouds, little to no rain on this day. As it would turn out, it was a very dry trip.
My first overnight destination was the abandoned coal mining town of Gebo, WY, about 20 miles north of Thermopolis, WY. My solar system is new so I wanted to see how it would perform in these marginal conditions. This evening it didn't do much, but it kept my house battery (a Renogy 100ah LiFePo) sufficiently charged that I had no issues staying 'electrified'.
The next day I arose and headed out for Beartooth Pass and points beyond. I drove through Cody, WY and kept heading west to connect with the road over the pass from the southwest.
The Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (US 296) was the road I took. It lived up to its name.
Summiting Dead Indian Pass.
The river in the gorge dead center is the Clark Fork of Yellowstone River.
The Sunlight Creek Bridge. I presume the sign was there to discourage base-jumping.
Looking straight down from the bridge (downstream side) you can see why they wanted to avoid inappropriate use of the bridge.
Looking upstream.
A tarn along the way. You can see evidence of forest fire up on the ridgeline and on the slopes.
Traveling along I reached US 212, left the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and headed north east up the Beartooth Highway.
Pilot Peak kept appearing on the horizon both on the Byway as well as the Highway.
This 'feature' was at a new scenic interpretive vista.
The interpretive sign.
I was getting seriously delayed by the scenery. Every turn insisted your attention both to the highway and the views.
My favorite marmot. Unfortunately for the marmots there were a lot sleeping in the highway, too.
Approaching the summit of the pass, Pilot Peak makes another appearance. The number of tarns and absolute vastness of the landscape was amazing.
I met these guys at the true summit of the pass; there were about 15 of them. They are holding the National Māori flag. They had come from New Zealand to ride here. I didn't get to ask if they were renting or what their plan was; Sturgis was still about a month off.
Well, there was snow, I had skis, so the inevitable happened. The snow was not steep and it was very sticky so there was a lot of skating going on.
The leftmost patch of snow was what I skied. Needless to say, I stayed on the nearly level top. It would have been fun to ski the line, but alas, it was getting late. Note the goats on the left.
And the wildflowers.
The views continued to present themselves. What a drive!
Farther along was the summit of Beartooth Basin Summer Ski Resort. Its season was over, unfortunately, as I would have liked to ski there.
The bowl on the far left is Beartooth Basin.
I finally made it down the other side to some dispersed camping in Montana along Rock Creek.
The dew, the light that passed through it and the shadows on the edge of my shell's roof in the morning was kind of cool.
I stopped in Bozeman to visit a friend who I had last seen during the recovery from my broken back in '77-'78. We trained at Waterville Valley and raced together in the winter of '76. We went for a mt bike ride from his home. They were narrow with tall grass and flowers along them which made for challenging riding as you often couldn't see the track. Not knowing if there were hazards and forgetting to check my tire pressure (I came from 9700 to 4800 so they were soft) added to the excitement. As I forgot my phone, too, I'm stealing one of Rusty's photos to show how spectacular it was.
Photo credit: Rusty Squire, Sly Dog Production
I left Bozeman the next day on my way to Sandpoint, ID. I took an overnight stop along the way. I had been using freecampsites.net to find places to camp and it didn't let me down.
Along the Clark Fork of the Columbia (MT 200). The campground was owned by a utility, free, clean and delightful. The river is dam controlled so slow flowing along this section. It was quite warm, too. This was about the only swimming I got in which was a bit of a surprise when all was said and done.
A tasty, single pan dinner of sausage, garlic, sundried tomatoes and penne.
Farther along the Clark Fork.
Arriving in Sandpoint in mid-morning, I chose to go for a bike ride as my friend wasn't available until later.
Looking down on Sandpoint from midway up Gold Hill #03 trail.
The tread was really nice and despite how busy the parking lot was, not crowded on the trail.
Gold Hill #3. It was a lot of climbing in a short distance.
After my ride I hooked up with my friend and his wife for an afternoon on Lake Pend Oreille. We had a nice dinner at a dock side restaurant and got in a bit of swimming.
I parted ways with them and headed to another dispersed campsite. This one is at the Clark Fork Drift Yard Boat Ramp.
Home for the night.
From Sandpoint I was on my way to Hood River, OR to meet up with my friend that runs the SFN race. When I arrived in HR, I went to the Hood River waterfront where a fundraiser for cancer was just finishing up their kite-board big air show. I then went to see Meri.
The north side of Mt Hood. We organized stuff for the race and then went out for a nice dinner and Mike's ice cream.
The following morning I was up and out earlyish. After a fine breakfast at Bette's Place (thank you, Quigs) I drove down to a trailhead in Hood River. As I parked near the finish of the almost-a-loop ride, I rode the road for 4 miles to the Dog River TH and started climbing. And climbing. And this is what I saw:
Nice smooth trails that were a bit dusty. Lots of lush undergrowth.
But not always.
The first Mt Hood view. There were many.
Surveyor's Ridge - IMBA EPIC
Back where I had parked was next to a camp ground. Note the size of this trailer and car and then try to count all the flamingoes. Where they all fit while travelling I haven't a clue.
Cherries in their natural state. Yum.
I ended up at Frog Lake campground for 3 nights to give myself some good time to ride. While checking out the shuttle for my next ride, I visited the Mt. Hood Cultural Center & Museum.
A model of the Timberline Lodge main room.
The day's ride started driving to a shuttle stop in Rhododendron and hopping on the shuttle. $2 for a single ride. It was a regular shuttle bus with a trailer set up to hold 18 - 20 bikes. The shuttle took you back through Govy Camp and up to the Timbeline Lodge. From there you start descending over the course of 15 miles with almost no climbing. The top third was loose dusty dust with lots of rocks and small drops thrown in to keep you on your toes. The middle and lower third were a mix of smooth trails on nice forest duff.
Timberline to Rhododendron. There was 4,387 ft of decent.
The next day I planned to link a nearby (to the campground) trail with some Forest Service roads for a leisurely day. I got off on the wrong foot when the trailhead had been realigned with the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). The PCT is 'no bikes' so I carried my bike on that short section until I got to the trail where it was legal to ride. However the trail had very little use and was challenging to keep track of. And there were tons of down trees.
Blue Box Trail and FS roads
The final day I did just FS roads to simply cover more area and have another easy day. The bonus was I found a great place to camp. I still had a day left at Frog Lake but my neighbor had shown his colors in the morning and despite only car/tent camping they were running a generator in the morning. Determined to have a quiet morning the next day, I pulled up stakes and moved to this location that I found during my day's ride.
Just a spot next to a FS road but I never saw a soul...
... and got this following view.
The next few days were work days, the impetus for this trip. Moving gear up onto the hill, the registration party, setting up a complete race arena twice, two awards ceremonies and final load up into the vehicles to move the gear back to Hood River and unpack it. It was a great time but not photo time. I did take a lot of photos when I went to Hood a few years back to do the same race. The day after the race I drove to Bend, OR to see a concert: Neil Young's Coastal tour at Hayden Homes Amphitheater. It was fantastic. But before the show I found a dispersed campsite and went for, you guessed it, another bike ride. The area is known as Tumalo/Swampy Lakes Trail System. I did Ben's to Pinedrop to Lower Whoops to Phil's to Kent's to M. T. B. and back to Ben's.
This guy was just hanging out.
Lots of smooth narrow trails with gentle grades. Areas had been managed and some were closed during the day for management, but open after 3. A nice way to work the muscles but not get worn out. I drove to the show after riding and back after the show (duh). My camping place was held by a folding chair.
The following morning I had to return to Hood River to retrieve my PC which I'd left behind (doh) and despite being the same road, going in the opposite direction was just as pleasant as the drive down.
A quick retrieval and a drive through Portland got me to the coast.
I stayed at Cape Lookout Campground for a night. I'd reserved the camping at Hood and along the coast as it was high season with limited access. If I'd known how much dispersed camping there was around Hood, I'd have skipped those reservations. No matter, camping is cheap and access to privies and water is nice.
Does that 5th wheel make my truck look small?
A 200 foot walk down a road and over the dunes trail.
Same view, 2 hours later.
Lovely.
The next morning the fog had rolled in.
Short Beach
Cape Meares Light
On the way to Yaquina Head Light.
Yaquina Head Light
Beverly Beach Campground. This place was huge. While I was on a busy road, I was also next to a quiet stream.
And this octopus tree! It was apparently on a scavenger hunt as it was identified by this placard:
Moolack Beach with the Yaquina Head Light near the end of the point.
Devil's Churn
Every half mile (or so it seemed) there was a scenic vista. This site explains a bit of why the Oregon coast is still so scenic: Oregon Shores.
Random pull off.
Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area
Random pull off.
Ok. Enough of the beautiful state of Oregon. Just kidding. I loved my days there. I drove 2/3rds the length of the Oregon coast that day to end up in California's redwood forests.
An arbutus tree in my campsite at Grassy Flat Campground.
In the morning I packed up and headed to the Little Bald Hills Trail. This was in the Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park. It was shown as a shuttle ride, but I did it mostly out, then back. I wasn't in the mood to ride narrow two lane pavement. The trail had lots of different treads and a variety of flora including...
... REDWOODS!
In the area of redwoods there were named memorial redwood groves. This I thought was interesting although I would guess that the naming involves donations towards preserving the natural beauty of the forest. There were also a number of 'stout groves' which I haven't been able to confirm but seemed to be groups of very large redwoods, both live and dead.
This isn't close to accurate as Strava stopped recording, but it illustrates how rapid the ascent was.
A change of venue to a 'wilderness' campground in Klamath was nice. You could drive to within 1/4 mile of the tent sites, then you had to hike into the sites; no car camping permitted. From there I planned to do two ride, one north, one south. It turns out I only did the south ride. I drove down to the Elk Prairie Visitor Center to start a loop ride that did include a narrow two lane road for a few miles, but it was worth it. Along the road was 'Big Tree'. The tree wasn't the largest in the forest but it was quite spectacular.
Big Tree
Near the entrance to the Ossagon Trail. Up and over to the coast. Near the shore the trail entered a swamp that required walking in foot deep water for 20 - 30 yards. I left my shoes on as I didn't trust what I couldn't see. So with soaking wet feet I continued.
The trail stayed off the beach and followed the forest/grassy field line until it returned to a dirt road which turned into a very narrow paved road. So much for avoiding pavement.
Ossagon Loop Trail
Flint Ridge campground site #1
The wilderness campsites didn't have a view, but the road did.
I left the wilderness campground and decided to skip a ride and just start driving which allowed me a little more time for sightseeing that day. I returned to the first stout grove I'd encountered and took some pictures as I had left my phone in the truck thinking I was just taking a quick look-see.
I rolled up US 199 back to Oregon to start heading to Reno, NV.
At a rest stop on I-5 I encountered a fellow resting in his car, maybe waiting for it to cool down?
I knew Mt Shasta was along the way but I didn't realize it was so big and isolated. Impressive.
As it turns out while I didn't do a lot of stopping for scenery I did take my time driving it seems. If I'd ridden, I'd have been pulling in really late.
The Algoma dispersed camp sites were very pleasant and quiet. I got this space next to the creek pretty late.
The next morning I continued on to Reno, leaving Shasta in the rearview.
I hooked up with @Philpug and @Tricia in the mid-afternoon. We sat around chatting and chilling before going out to dinner at Phil's favorite Chinese restaurant. After that we headed up the Mt Rose Highway to Sky Tavern Ski Area for a welcoming meet and greet for the new University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) head ski coach. He spoke about building the team to be a Division 1 championship team. Finally we drove up past Mt Rose over the pass to a vista of Lake Tahoe.
Spectacular.
I stayed the night with them and in the morning Phil, @Andy Mink and I rode the Peavine area directly from Phil and Tricia's. It was a sunny day and we had a great ride.
I hung out with the Puglieses for the remainder of the day and joined them in celebrating Andy's wife's birthday with grilled steaks, corn on the cob and great conversation. The following day I met up with another friend in Reno and we headed back up the Mt Rose Highway to ride the Tahoe Rim Trail and the Flume.
I had to import Scott's All Trails GPX file into Strava and Strava shortened the time somehow. We really took about 3 hours. A great dinner a Scott's with his wife and another night in a real bed!
I was out of time and places to go so I started heading east to CO.
Who knew NV had some skiable dunes?
The view from US 50 in Austin, NV.
I didn't have anymore drive in me so stopped at another dispersed campground, Cleve Creek, a bit east of Ely. I parked in the shade in another location and fortunately before I'd set up camp, the only neighbor's generator kicked in so I looked for another site and found one out of earshot, in the shade and next to the creek.
My final day on the road...
US 50 seems to stretch on forever. I started at 6 and drove on until I needed to refuel and have breakfast at Mom's in Salina, UT.
A couple of panoramas along I-70 in UT.
It was about 100 all day until I got to Summit County. I am sure glad I had my AC fixed before I left.
The Taco has landed.
Thanks for checking out my trip. I hope you enjoyed it.
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