Through Utah and into Arizona

After watching the Nebraska Cornhuskers manhandle the Kansas State Wildcats on Thursday night in the El Ranchero Motel in Ely, NV, I hit the sack, anticipating a long day on the bike Friday. In the morning I found a little diner down the street to grab a bite to eat for breakfast, but not before getting sprinkled on a little bit. The weather forecast said that the rain was past and that it was supposed to be clear, but I think the state of Nevada just couldn't allow me even one day without getting wet while within it's borders. At the diner, I inhaled the food rather quickly, and before I could get to the cash register, a woman named Crystal asked if I was biking for a cause. She had seen my jersey, but didn't quite catch the organization before I sat down. When I told her what I was doing, she said she wanted to pick up my tab for breakfast.

As I was leaving town, I picked up a few more provisions at the grocery store. It was going to be 63 miles before I saw any kind of civilization. Leaving Ely, I continued through the valley for 15 or 20 miles before hitting the first climb for the day. This was also the highest elevation I would hit while in the state of Nevada at 7,722 feet. At the top of this climb, there was a construction zone that limited traffic on the downhill side to one lane. The traffic flagger allowed me to leave before the rest of the traffic. Cruising down a mountain with a guarantee of no traffic in either lane is a very nice way to spend the next several minutes after a rough climb. As I coasted along, I saw a giant, snow-covered peak across the next valley. When I got to the bottom, I asked the other traffic flagger what mountain that was. It was Wheeler Peak, standing somewhere over 13,000 feet. Wheeler Peak was surrounded by other large mountains, so I was a little concerned about how I was going to get across the next range. My route took me several miles down the valley, away from Wheeler Peak, before cutting into the range and up Sacramento Pass.

As I coasted off of Sacramento Pass I entered the town of Baker, 63 miles from Ely. It was still pretty early in the day, so I stopped for a bite to eat. From the town of Baker, Nevada, to the next town on the route, Milford, Utah, there was another gap between services. This time it was 84 miles. I made sure I was full on water as I left Baker and continued down the road and into a new state. The last climb for the day was over Halfway Summit, which proved to be pretty mild compared to everything else I had seen thus far. As I cruised into Pine Valley, between the Halfway Hills and the Wah Wah Mountains, I was looking for a place to camp for the night. The immensity of Pine Valley still sort of blows my mind. I could clearly see straight down the road, all the way to the other side of the valley to where it climbs into the Wah Wah Mountains. It looked like it was all just right there. About 45 minutes later, it appeared as though I had not gotten any closer to the Wah Wah Mountains. It felt like I was on a giant treadmill. There was a dark spot in the distant valley that, at first sighting, I thought was a dark colored pickup on the side of the road with something white in the bed. When I got my camera out and used it's 15x zoom, I saw that it was not a truck, but a gigantic tree shading over a white house. It really stood out, as it was the only thing taller than knee high in the whole valley, other than myself. I thought about camping near this house, but it looked like uninhabited private property. I don't like the idea of squatting on private property without speaking to the owner.

I pulled off the road about a mile into the desert and set up my tent. I would have had to go about 30 miles if I wanted to get to a place where people wouldn't see me from the road. To conserve water, I did not cook that night. I ate peanut butter tortillas, trail mix, sesame sticks, and drank some V-8 that I had brought from Ely. I had traveled more than 100 miles that day, so I laid down pretty early, as the sun was setting. Given the amount of liquids I take in daily, I can't make it through the night without having to get out of my tent to relieve myself. This was the first night that I was glad to get out of my warm sleeping bag. When I got out of the tent, I saw stars that I've never seen before. It was incredible. I was camping at about 5,000 feet elevation, and there wasn't even a light bulb within 40 miles in any direction. That night's sky is something that will stick with me for a long time.

In the morning I ate more of the same thing I had the night before and packed up my one night desert home. As I rode, I finally came to the white house that was dwarfed by the giant tree. It felt like I had been approaching this landmark for days. The house was approximately where the valley floor started back up again towards the Wah Wah Mountains. As I descended into Wah Wah Valley, I saw a very large farm at the bottom. This was the first attempt at agriculture I had seen in a very long time. As I got closer, I saw a sign pointing towards the farm that said, "Wah Wah Well". Further down the valley, at the very bottom, there was a dry creek bed labeled "Wah Wah Wash". The rest of the valleys didn't have everything named. I think someone appreciated the alliteration a little too much.

On the other side of the valley I climbed over Frisco Summit, which I thought was the worst climb of the whole week since Carson Pass. On the other side I coasted down to Milford, Utah, where I was ready for a large meal. I ordered a double cheeseburger with bacon, egg, and just about whatever else they had in the kitchen. The cook said I was going to have a heart attack half way through the burger. From there it was another 50+ miles to get to Cedar City, UT, where I had made arrangements to stay with a family through the website www.warmshowers.org. It was motivating to have a bed and a shower waiting for me. There was one last climb between Minersville and Cedar City that rose rather slowly, then descended all the way to Cedar City and beyond.

Ian, a member of the family I stayed with (and owner of a maroon Surly LHT), advised me on my route out of Cedar City. From town I went south on I-15, turned off towards Hurricane, UT, and Colorado City, AZ, before arriving at Pipe Spring National Monument in Arizona. I got to the monument just in time for the last tour of the day. It was interesting and quite sad to hear the history of this spring. A group of Native Americans were living here, but then the Spanish came and started selling their children into slavery, so they became nomadic to retain their children at the expense of their home. Then the Mormons moved in and built on top of the spring. It sounds as though the U.S. government wasn't very nice to the Mormons, and the Mormons weren't very nice to the Native people who's land they were on.

Anyway, I'm at a campground a quarter mile down the road. $5 for a site with water and electric, the biggest and nicest bathroom I've seen at a campground, and there's wireless internet. Nice.