Date:
05.07.2018
Altitude:
5213.3 ft (1589 m)
Distance:
93.48 mi (150.44 km)
Total
Altitude: 132358.9 ft (40343 m)
Total
Distance: 4558.11 mi (7335.56 km)
What
a long and tough day, but at the same time it was an amazing day.
Right at the beginning of the day the biggest challenge for the day
was ahead of me, the Washington Pass. Washington Pass was the fourth
and last pass in Washington on my way to the Pacific. The weather for
the day was perfect, the sun was shining the whole day and the
temperatures were comfortable. The weather really complimented the
gorgeous scenery, today.
I
started my route as early as possible this morning, since I already
knew it could become a long day. Unfortunately breakfast didn't start
before 7am at the motel, so I was on the road a few minutes after
7:30. I hoped I would be able to get an earlier start. But today it
was really important to get a good breakfast, because there was not
going to be a place to get something to eat for about 70 miles and I
really needed all the energy I could get. Almost right after
breakfast the ascent to Washington Pass started and it was a long
one. I had to gain about 3300 feet to the top of the pass. The road
to the top of the pass was great, with a good surface and wide
shoulders. This was nice, so I didn't had to worry too much about the
cars and could enjoy the scenery even more. From the four passes in
Washington, today's pass was in my opinion the most beautiful. All
four passes were so different in there characteristics and the
scenery along the way and I really enjoyed all of them. The road to
the top of the pass went through forests and with the snow topped
mountains in the distance. On the way up I met Bruce again, the guy
on his road bike I met already yesterday. Bruce was also on a cross
country tour, together with his wife. His wife was accompanying him
in the car, so he had the big advantage of not having to carry any
luggage on his bike. Today I met him when I was taking a break on the
uphill to take a few pictures. I felt really good on the uphill, it
was a nice steady climb without too many changes in the gradient.
This made it easy to find a rhythm and just keep moving. Getting
closer to the top, there was still a bit of snow by the side of the
road, I was a bit surprised by that, since the pass has only an
altitude of 5477 feet (1670 m). After I reached the top I had a lot
of downhill ahead of me, although there were still a few shorter
climbs I had to overcome. The first one was Rainy Pass, shortly
after I started the downhill from Washington Pass and a few more on
my way to Concrete. When I reached the end of the downhill I still
had over 30 miles left until I finally reached the end of today's
route. Originally I had planed to only go to Marbelmount, but since I
didn't had a signal on my phone and wasn't able to call the bank to
unblock the credit card I wasn't able to pay for a motel. This meant
I had to keep going and the next town with a motel was Concrete. The
route to Concrete was still beautiful, but after the pass in the
morning and a long day I was getting tired and I didn't pay too much
attention to it anymore.
In
Concreted I finally found a motel to stay at and I had a signal on my
phone so I was able to call the bank and get my card unblocked. I was
exhausted and really didn't wanted to keep going anymore, so I didn't
care that there was no WiFi at the motel. I guess that means this
block entry will be a day late. Even though the motel didn't have
WiFi, but it was right next to an Korean BBQ restaurant and so I
could get at least get some great food after a strenuous day. The
food was great and was perfect after such a long day. I wouldn't have
expected a place like this in a town like Concrete.
Conclusion
for the day:
It
is really terrible to be dependent on having a working phone to be
able to use the credit card and get a motel room.
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