Our climbing started right away as we made our way out of Alpine. Just a few miles out of town we passed through the Viejas Indian Reservation. There is a large casino & resort as well as outlet stores there. The boulevard is beautifully flowered and the community looks very prosperous.
We travelled on I-8 for about 3 miles as there were no other options to get to where we needed to go. Below are some photos from a pullout along that stretch. I still have my love/hate relationship with interstates - lovely wide & generally clean shoulders with gentle grades, but lots of high-speed truck traffic. The road today wasn't too busy so the love beat out the hate.
The pie tasted terrific and it was nice to be inside where it was warm and dry. Hermione was my saviour again as she produced a spare dry jacket for me to put on for the (mostly) descent into Julian. A nice view point along the way.
And then into the cute little town of Julian. Population is about 1500 souls. According to Wikipedia, "Julian is located in a mixed pine-oak woodland at 4235' above sea level. Precipitation averages 26 inches a year, notably higher than rainfall totals in coastal and desert areas of San Diego County, due to the orographic effect." - whatever that is...... Although I don't think we crossed the PCT today it seems it is close by and this may be a resupply point. And - it seems that neither Patty nor Emily are buying my story that I'm sure I read somewhere that we are to have a magarita party every time we cross the PCT (16 times). Seems we're sticking with the WT tradition of only providing margaritas when we cross a state line (just twice).
A huge thank you to Fiona and Mike who carried my luggage and bike up to my second floor room!
Stats for the day:
54 km / 33 miles
4047 feet up
1498 feet down
Weather: rainy all day but never a downpour. Temp started about 9C and steadily went down to 3C. Recovered slightly after pie to about 6C.
Does not sound like a fun day - well, except for the pie... Hope that tomorrow is better weather-wise.
ReplyDeleteBRRRR...nothing worse than riding in rain and cold! This weekend last year I rode 22 miles of a 60 mile ride in the rain, cold and wind......it won.....I jumped in the car and put my bike in the trunk. Only a few of my friend made the whole distance. They have now moved that ride to September after 3 years of bad weather. Ride safe friend!
ReplyDeleteGosh that IS cold. Mind you, cold is a better friend to climbing than heat. Did the downhill make you feel like you were back home? Given the less than hospitable conditions, I'm grateful and in awe of the fact you stopped to take photos.
ReplyDeleteWounds and weather - be strong. Again! You have to get some poor weather riding most of May and most of June, at altitude. At Shell I worked with a crusty miner who used to say "If it was easy they'd have women and children doing it" (then quickly look around to see who was listening). Wrong - he could not keep up with you gals on this challenge and would be too intimidated to try.
ReplyDeleteWhat have you heard about Fort McMurray? Isn't that amazing? Newfoundland is crying too. Maybe we are not supposed to live in the forest in an age of global warming.
I have been following the Fort Mac info online. Heart wrenching. I could just not imagine the magnitude of the fire and what those people are going through.
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