Day 2 - The WA desert.
Easton, Washington to Vantage, Washington
I had no idea that Washington was so desert-ous. The first day was what I expected: pines and snow-capped mountains. Today our landscape drastically changed. Within 20 seconds of hopping on the bike this morning my toes and fingers lost feeling, and someone later informed me that the temperature was down to 35 degrees (which I’m so glad I didn’t know at the time). It didn’t take too long to warm up, and we had a pleasant rural ride through valley ranches and the such. Tiny towns, cute, and I even saw a cowboy hat or two. I rode with a couple of different groups today, and for the first part of the day we rode on a beautiful stretch along a river ridge. Far below us, it was bittersweet for sure. The river was of decent size, with a swift current and many rapids. It was a strange feeling because I wanted to be paddling it desperately, but cycling alongside of it had its own delights.
Before long, our terrain became brown, brown, and brown. Though contrasted with the brilliant blue sky, it was an awesome contrast. All of the sudden we came upon a Best Western and every kind of fast food joint you could think of, which felt so absurd that in the middle of nowhere here this whole city can exist. About six of us walked into a Subway, and were happy to sponsor us a meal when I asked. I think that will be the key to our lunch stops: it doesn’t hurt to ask for an alternative to PB&J sandwiches.
We picked up a bit of a headwind on our way up a looooooong gradual ascent today, in the heat and sun, but we were having a good time. We kept on expecting the next turn to take us into the summit, but it just kept going and going and going. Finally when we reached the summit and the long descent, it was so anti-climactic as we still had to pedal against the wind; when we should have been flying we were averaging around 20 mph. But when it comes down to it, it didn’t really matter because we were enjoying ourselves. Our cue sheets pointed out a Petrified Forest about 2.5 miles from camp, which was “worth the look about.” So we got there, locked our bikes up, started the trek up the ridge, and came upon the first two holes in the ground with fossilized tree stumps. We had a good laugh, decided we’d had our fill, opted not for the “interpretative trail” hike, said our thanks for stretching out our legs, and hopped back on the bikes.
Camp was at Vantage Riverstone Campground with a pool, laundry, store, and cafe, in the middle of nowhere again. A river had been dammed up to form a beautiful blue lake against the brown terrain, and later, the radiant skyscape. All day today, the clouds in the sky were just gorgeous, and just got better and better as the sun went down. We got into camp around 2:30, cleaned some bikes, took some showers, ate some watermelon, played some cards, and had a dinner catered for us at the restaurant (spaghetti of course), and went to bed.
I had no idea that Washington was so desert-ous. The first day was what I expected: pines and snow-capped mountains. Today our landscape drastically changed. Within 20 seconds of hopping on the bike this morning my toes and fingers lost feeling, and someone later informed me that the temperature was down to 35 degrees (which I’m so glad I didn’t know at the time). It didn’t take too long to warm up, and we had a pleasant rural ride through valley ranches and the such. Tiny towns, cute, and I even saw a cowboy hat or two. I rode with a couple of different groups today, and for the first part of the day we rode on a beautiful stretch along a river ridge. Far below us, it was bittersweet for sure. The river was of decent size, with a swift current and many rapids. It was a strange feeling because I wanted to be paddling it desperately, but cycling alongside of it had its own delights.
Before long, our terrain became brown, brown, and brown. Though contrasted with the brilliant blue sky, it was an awesome contrast. All of the sudden we came upon a Best Western and every kind of fast food joint you could think of, which felt so absurd that in the middle of nowhere here this whole city can exist. About six of us walked into a Subway, and were happy to sponsor us a meal when I asked. I think that will be the key to our lunch stops: it doesn’t hurt to ask for an alternative to PB&J sandwiches.
We picked up a bit of a headwind on our way up a looooooong gradual ascent today, in the heat and sun, but we were having a good time. We kept on expecting the next turn to take us into the summit, but it just kept going and going and going. Finally when we reached the summit and the long descent, it was so anti-climactic as we still had to pedal against the wind; when we should have been flying we were averaging around 20 mph. But when it comes down to it, it didn’t really matter because we were enjoying ourselves. Our cue sheets pointed out a Petrified Forest about 2.5 miles from camp, which was “worth the look about.” So we got there, locked our bikes up, started the trek up the ridge, and came upon the first two holes in the ground with fossilized tree stumps. We had a good laugh, decided we’d had our fill, opted not for the “interpretative trail” hike, said our thanks for stretching out our legs, and hopped back on the bikes.
Camp was at Vantage Riverstone Campground with a pool, laundry, store, and cafe, in the middle of nowhere again. A river had been dammed up to form a beautiful blue lake against the brown terrain, and later, the radiant skyscape. All day today, the clouds in the sky were just gorgeous, and just got better and better as the sun went down. We got into camp around 2:30, cleaned some bikes, took some showers, ate some watermelon, played some cards, and had a dinner catered for us at the restaurant (spaghetti of course), and went to bed.
posted by elizabeth at 11:11 PM
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