July 27, Saturday

We shipped some packages out today via UPS from the hotel. Jamie had received her old seat from the Trans Am trip to replace the stock Surly seat on her Ogre and also got a huge bag of home made cinnamon dried apples, chocolate and other dried foods. We ate at a cafe in town and met some cyclists from Seattle and Salt Lake who were scoping out the area for a club trip. Then we headed out of this very small town and almost immediately hit dirt roads.

Roger had decided to take a pavement alternate, since he had gone the dirt route before and been unimpressed. Our path today was relatively flat, with some rollers and we travelled up a wide glacial valley with ample water. The valley contained the reservoir for Lima and eventually some lakes/ marshland dedicated as a national wildlife refuge.

We passed a dead cow and I thought it made John sick to his stomach, but his chain had just come off and he was contemplating taking a picture of it. So much for me questioning his constitution.
A storm developed at the western end of the valley and threatened to overtake us all day, but then veered into the hills, which slowed it down a bit before it returned to the valley and chased us again. We made it to Upper Lake CG just as it began to rain.

Roger had beaten us there by about an hour and had pitched his tent, so Jamie, John and I followed suit and jumped inside. The rain only lasted about 30 minutes, but in the meantime Kevin, Glenn and Susan showed up.

There was a marvelous spring which had been focused through a pipe and landscaped with railroad ties. I washed my arms, legs and face, but the water was so cold I had no plans to go further.
We made another no-cook rehhdrated meal, pasta and sauce; complete failure. We are not daunted!  Rice only! It is possible to survive on rice dishes!

There was a beautiful sunset over the lake and loads of mosquitos. This is a particularly beautiful CG filled with aspens.
Stats:
Start odometer 1177
End 1234
Max 31.9
Total 57
Avg 11.1
Time 5:07