The excitement was building! The last day of the ride was here! Rusty was being very supportive but I'm thinking he was thinking "she's making too big a deal out of this". But it was the end of the trail! the final push! Closure! Accomplishment!
The Adventure Cycling map describes this particular stretch of the ride as "Noteworthy climbs and descents include the climb approaching Jacob Lake". The ride was 30 miles and the elevation panel shows a constant climb of abt 25 miles to 8,000 feet from 4,500. The map can be intimidating but often the ride turns out to be not as bad as it looked.
After stewing and fussing abt the best way to "attack" this mountain I decided to start from Fredonia. Rusty drove me out seven miles from our motel in Kanab to start at abt 7:00am. The sky was overcast. The temperature cool. Tender Mercy!
I got in the Zone and started to ride. "Hills are my Friends" and I was planning on making some new friends today.
Rusty went back to the motel to eat breakfast and load up Willie. Eighteen and a half miles up I stopped at a view point to wait for him. I was pretty much out of water and there was no water source at the view point. Bought a pair of earrings from a Navajo woman at a jewelry table there at the viewpoint to remember the ride. I call them my "18.5 mile earrings". It was a good rest stop and after Rusty arrived and refilled my water bottles I rode on.
This was one of those rides that turned out to be not as bad as the map made it look or was it that I was just "in the Zone" and ready for it?
Rusty and Willie were supporting me all the way! We arrived at the Jacob Lake sign before I expected it! "What? Is that it? That wasn't such a tough ride after all!" (a lesson in expectations and tackling one's personal mountains, neh) But a great moment to celebrate together! WE HAD SHARED SUCH AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE FOR THE LAST FOUR WEEKS AND WE WERE THERE!
Rusty found the campground for the reunion and we were the first to arrive!
An excerpt abt Jacob Lake from Wikapedia:
"Jacob Lake is situated at roughly 8000 feet in a large ponderosa pine forest which is part of the Kaibab national Forest. In its lower elevations, the Kaibab Plateau consists of pinon-juniper forests, and the ponderosas give way to aspen, spruce, and fir higher up. However, the ponderosa biosphere is home to the endangered Kaibab Squirrel. Jacob Lake is also home to mule deer, coyotes, porcupines, bobcats, numerous bird species, horned lizards, and mountain lions."
ROADKILL:
GLOVE: 1
Final Mileage count:
Rusty: approx 247
Georgia: approx 700
(My daughter Natalie had worked at The Jacob Lake Inn the summer after her graduation from high school. She left the day after graduation and was gone until about a week before she left for BYU. Her Laurel Leader had recruited her. The young people who work there are mostly from church schools. They live in dorms and have a great summer together. I really enjoyed watching the young people and visualizing my Natalie there "just a few years ago". Actually about 20?)
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