October 6-7
44mi/71km (plus a zero day)
1000ft/305m elevation gain
It was a noisy night camping near several ranches. First, the coyotes would start, which triggered the dogs. This would get the cows riled up, and the ducks. It would take a good 15 minutes for everyone to get settled down again. It didn’t make for the greatest night of sleep.
Remember yesterday when I said the trail would get better? I guess technically it did, but not until after it got worse. In truth, we skipped a lot of it because it was closed due to hazardous conditions. A recent wildfire tore through this section. All the trees are dead, the ground is still covered in ash, and there is frequent deadfall. We stuck to the road instead.
Paul was not happy about skipping the trail, thinking it was a nice section we were missing. But once we finally did rejoin, about 20 miles out of town, it was still quite bumpy and overgrown. It was slower going than the road was, although it was nice to be free of traffic.
Eventually, things did get nicer on the trail. We took a break in a section called the Swede’s cut, a 110-foot deep excavation through rock that was dug with steam powered shovels to build the rail line. We ate some snacks and secured a hotel room in Klamath Falls before continuing.
The trail was nicer the rest of the way into town, but even when we reached pavement it was still covered in cracks. Not little cracks. Paul referred to them as trenches. It limited our ability to ride with speed, but we finally arrived in town in the afternoon. Aside from eating some Thai food, we spent the rest of the day relaxing. Our legs are tired from all the climbing we’ve done this past week.
For our zero day, we tackled chores. Groceries, laundry, grabbing a couple things at the sporting goods store, downloading maps for the next section of trail, and cleaning up the bikes. Tomorrow we cross into California!
