Colin:
Day four began well enough with our fastest time breaking camp and making/eating breakfast. The quality de-camp did not lead to getting onto the road much earlier because i had to dig everything out again to find my phone while carol got a head start.
After that we were off. The day began with a five mile climb, followed by a descent which cost us all of that hard-earned elevation. This loss was felt a bit more dearly once we got onto the 18 mile climb up to Rainy Pass. The climb was long and steep in places, but the views of the surrounding mountains made it easy to stay present in the moment.
From there, and after a mile long descent it was on to Washington Pass where we had lunch.
We started today in the typical lush forests of the pacific northwest before passing into snow and boulder fields in the higher parts of the mountain passes, both of which were punctuated by frequent waterfalls at all levels of the mountains.
The transition, which had gone almost unnoticed was more obvious as we sped down the opposite side of the pass between 20 and 30 mph. This isnt terifically fast on a bike, as any road cyclist could tell you, but is a much different and more stressful experience on a bike loaded with full front and rear panniers.
After getting out of the mountains a stront tailwind kept us moving along at an otherwise unsustainable clip all the way into town.
The landacape on the far side of the paas was very different from the previous day as temperate rainforest was replaced by high desert dotted with ranches. It reminded me of the landscape in new mexico. This effect was only enhanced
This effect was only enhanced after we arrived in the western themed town of winthrop. We checked into a hotel, went out for dinner and looked back thankful to be out of the mountains as some sort of storm seemed to be covering the whole part of the range we had been in for the last two days.
65 miles
245 miles total.
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