Day 48 - Camp Nelson to Kernville - 9/24/15, Thursday

53 miles, 3695 up

2300 ft of climbing in the first 11 miles!

As pooped out as we were at the end of the day yesterday, we weren't finished yet. So, onward we went!

If there's one thing to describe this route: it's up or down. The scenery is spectacular, but we either have all the time in the world to enjoy it or it's flying by as a blur.

Not that we're counting...

The top is 7250 ft.

Finally!

We decided a reward was in order!

A "rest stop" never tasted so good!

Charley and Rose appreciated the break, too!

There are a lot of camps around the summit, and this was the store / restaurant.

This one is just because...

It's when we started to descend into the Kern River valley, like this...

The wiggle is our road ahead.

Just after I took this, a fighter jet flew through the valley!

Here's the Kern River, first sighting.

Another one of those...

Heading in at the end of the day.

We stayed at a campground just before Kernville, we were the only campers because it was midweek. The host told us that school groups come in over weekends at this time of year. The campground is really geared toward rafting groups, but the water hasn't been there for several years.

Well, it was quiet and the showers were great!

Day 47 - Three Rivers to Camp Nelson - 9/23/15, Wednesday

The 65 miles, 6848 up - that makes it a long day!

It all started out nicely enough, a nice rolling climb around what's left of Lake Kaweah.

After we passed the dam, we rolled through miles of lemon orchards.

Then we turned onto Yokohl Dr., and the ride gradually became more intense. 

The view from the driver's seat.

Then, this. 

Hmmm - come to think of it, the only car I've seen was at the moment I pulled over to take a leak. 

Here's the valley we came from.

I just thought this looked good.

So, on we rolled... A twenty mile climb, then a ten mile decent into Springville, where we found a Mexican restaurant that served burritos that were so big, I could only eat half! So, I added about 5 pounds of leftovers to my baggage...

The next available campground was 15 miles away - uphill, seriously uphill!

Trudy said "I've got another 15 miles in me!"

Not so... There were pitches so steep she had to push her bike. Not fun, 57 miles into the day (or any time!)

It was so tempting to drop the bike and jump in here.

Unfortunately, it was about 75 feet down a steep embankment.

Here's fortitude!

With about 7-8 miles to go, Trudy was done. We decided she would try to get a ride to Camp Nelson. I would ride on and if she didn't get a ride, I would recruit someone or, worst case, dump my baggage and come back to carry hers up. It was 4:30, so we didn't have much daylight left!

Fortunately, Road Angels Gary and Cindy appeared with a pickup to give her a lift. 

They stopped when they reached me to let me know she was all right and where to find her.

I kept riding - it took me two hours to finish the ride, 6:30, and it was starting to get dark.

With about two miles to go, the "face flies" came to torment me!

When I reached town, I asked someone for directions to our camping spot. Within ten minutes of my getting there, he came by and offered to let us stay at his place!

Trudy had already unpacked and set up, so we declined, but we're running into this kind o generosity all the time, so I wanted to mention it.

Day 46 - Pinehurst to Three Rivers 9/22/15, Tuesday

61 miles, 5872 up

We're on our way to Kings Canyon National Park, and we have a long uphill climb to get there, so we got an earlier start. We completed about half of it yesterday, but after 4444 feet of climbing in 33 miles, we were finished.

Today, we're refreshed and it's still cool.

The climb is pretty steady, but we're slow   - 3,4, maybe 5 mph. In the shade, the "face flies" come! They're tiny flies that hover just in front of your face... Occasionally, one will land on my glasses and walk around. Just a torment- they go away when the breeze picks up or the sun shines. I ate a few, but that didn't seem to deter them and they didn't taste that good.

On our way out of Pinehurst, there were a few signs like this one posted. The town had just returned from a mandatory fire evacuation a couple of days before we arrived.

As we climbed, the view opened up a few times.

We finally made it to the park, but the campgrounds were closed due to the fires, so we decided to go on to Sequoia National Park to see what we could see there - the General Sherman tree is close to the highway and our route would be mostly downhill to Three Rivers, where we planned to stay.

As we crept up the hill, a car slowed down next to to tell us that they loved the "blindly" lights we have mounted on the backs of our helmets because they saw us from a long ways away. We love 'em, too!  And, our rear view mirrors...

Rose came out to see the big trees.

Here's the General... Panoramic style.

If you ever see a footprint like this, it means the General is on move.

Get out of the way, because it's the biggest tree in the world (volume wise).

It was getting late and we still had miles to go to get to Three Rivers, but here's how we got there.

We started way up here...

And went way down here.

For around 20 miles! It took two days to gain the elevation we gave up in about an hour! Sorta like spending your whole pay check on Friday night!

Trudy and I agreed it was the best decent we'd ever done.

Day 45 - Piedra to Pinehurst

33 miles, 4444 up

That climb with no camping that made us decide to stop yesterday? We did it today. 

But, today we learned that the campground where we planned to stay in Kings Canyon was closed due to the "Rough" fire - the roads were open, but there was no place to camp until much further on.

So, we stopped in Pinehurst and were able to rent the only room in town, a cute cabin!

We started early to avoid the heat.

Hitchhiker...

Climb...

Climb...

Climb!

Day 44 - Auberry to Piedra

35 miles, 2155 feet up

Whooeeee!

By the time we got back to Auberry, put the bikes back together and were on the road again, it was 90 degrees. Just a few days ago, we were wearing everything we had to stay warm.

Guess what? Mostly a quiet ride through the countryside... Dry and hot!

Pine Flat Resevoir is very low... 

We decided to stop at Piedra because afterward there was a long climb with no place to stop and... We were baked!

We stayed in a County park, took a nap and a swim in the river before we set up camp for the night.

Where we've stayed - about 2/3s of the way...

1 night - kindness of strangers, first night

3 - Warm Showers hosts (2 hosts)

2 - hotels (1, pooped out; 1, no other options)

8 - friends in Mt. Shasta, Truckee, South Lake Tahoe and Fresno

29 - camping

Day 43 - layover day in Fresno!

Mmmmmm! Rita was so good to drive us around to do errands!

Hair cut for me... There was this gray haired guy on my shoulder every time I checked my rear view mirror - I couldn't outrun him, so I cut him off! Ha!

Trudy wore out her tires and her air matress was leaking, so she replaced them. I added a third water bottle cage to move some extra water lower on the bike  and to lower my center of gravity. I've been carrying 1-2 extra liters of water on the back rack. 1 liter of water weighs 2.2 pounds and a full water bottle weighs about 1.5 pounds, so I keep about 1 liter on the back rack, now.

We picked up some groceries.

We went out for a huge lunch... I'm still amazed at how hungry I am!

Then, we were able to hang out and relax and visit- it was a very relaxing visit!

Not to mention sleeping like a log in a real bed - sweet!