Day 05 - Cooks Station to Crystal Spring CG

                                                              Sunday May 28, 2017

We woke up to a nice sunny day. We had breakfast at Cooks and talked a bit more with the young couple(?). We both had similar goals for the day, climb over Carson Pass and camp near Woodfords on the other side of the Sierra Nevada. We left before them expecting to see them again on the road, or at least at the campsite.

The climbing was hard today. The heavy bikes just don't want to go uphill. Luckily, Ian and I are very well matched with a similar cycling pace, even when climbing. We have stayed together throughout the ride so far. However, drafting is not really an option with heavily loaded touring bikes, partly because they cannot stop nearly as quickly as a lighter bike. But maybe even more importantly, if you are up close behind a bike with panniers, you cannot see the road ahead of it very well. So there is a much higher chance of hitting road debris, potholes, etc.

We didn't actually start seeing much snow until about 7000 ft in elevation. But if you look at some of the photos below, there was still quite a bit still present up high. All of the high campgrounds were still closed. We were expecting that there would be a gas station, or restaurant up along hwy 88 near the Kirkwood ski area where we could get some food and water. However, the few that we passed were still closed for the winter. Kirkwood itself is off Hwy88 a mile or 2 and uphill a bit. We decided not to go up and continued on up to the pass.

It was a relief to finally get up to Carson Pass, knowing that the uphills were finally over. As passes go, Carson Pass is a good one. It looks like passes should.

Our stats for the day; 49 miles, 36 up to Carson Pass and 13 fast miles down to tonight's campsite at Forest Service run Crystal Spring. Total climbing was 5200 feet according to Ian's Garmin, at 9.8 mph. This was more than we expected due to a few big drops along the route that made us regain elevation. I burned a 2nd match today. We are both tired, but not wiped out.

We never did see the young touring couple(?) again today? In fact, we only saw one other cyclist all day, a solo road biker who climbed Carson from the east.

Our campsite tonight is scenic, but basic. This means a 2nd straight night without a shower. We badly need to do laundry and take a shower. There was also very poor cell service again. That's why these posts are a bit late.

Mike