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2011-04-10 tl;dr: Sore, tired, burned, hungry, a little dehydrated, and still itching from ant bites. Good times. I slept okay last night. I might have slept better had it not dropped down below freezing. Something besides hard ground under me might have also helped.This often happens when I camp in the middle of nowhere: an hour or so before dawn I hear a vehicle come to a stop and subsequent door slams. I was confident that I couldn't be seen from the road. And indeed that was the case. But with miles and miles of road these guys choose to park within rock-throwing distance of my tent. I can only assume they were hunters. I could see their flashlights bobbing away from me in the direction that I had chosen not to camp in because it might be too easily discoverable. I waited past the coyotes until dawn. I then waited until the sun was high enough to peek over the mountains in the east and melt the frost from my tent. Then I packed up and hit the road again. Los Gatos Road continued to be very scenic as it wound around mountains following rivers up and down. Trees were most thick at the higher elevations. Monster pine cones littered the road. For a route that basically follows a river this road sure does go up and down a lot. My past experience with these mountain pass roads led me to believe that I'd cycle up increasingly steep slopes until I reached the summit. This proved to be true. Three times. The first pass was the highest at 3200 feet. The next two weren't quite so high, but my steadily declining strength and dismay at yet another climb invoked equal challenge. At least it was sunny and the wind was more-or-less to my back. Eventually I hit Highway 25 and was able to head north. I had been anticipating this road because I was almost out of water and wanted to find some real food. It was not to be. Los Gatos Road contained a surprising number of houses and ranches. Highway 25 was barren. Eventually I pulled water from a cow tank feeder and ate the last of my bread and cereal. I spent the rest of the afternoon biking into a steadily increasing headwind. The sky was sunny, but it still wasn't warm enough for short sleeves. This is probably just as well, because I sunburned every part of me that was exposed. Sore, tired, burned, hungry, a little dehydrated, and still itching from ant bites I finally stopped in Hollister. This area is too urban to try to camp. At least I'm finally putting some real miles behind me. |
 waiting for sunrise   mule deer  |