Friday July 31st to Sunday August 2nd 2020
A red hot bike-packing adventure in the Sierras!
Jumping in ice cold lakes under the sweltering heat of the summertime sun.
The Sierra Valley to Gold Lakes Highway! It was a 40 mile loop that we split into two days.
We biked out of Calpine early the first morning, to climb up the mountain pass leading to the Sierra Buttes. It was a solid winding climb out of the valley, we had a solid stretch break at the vista showing the vast expanse of the (2nd?) largest alpine valley in the Sierras. A shady rest at the summit sno-park in a tiny square of shade provided by the outhouse bathroom structure. A wonderful first descent coming down Bassets.
A right turn onto Gold Lakes highway and climb up to our first jaw-dropping view of the Sierra Buttes, towering above in the distance, with an expanse of old-growth pine forests and pristine lakes all around.
Not long until we made our first detour at Sardine Lakes. These lakes are right at the foot of the picture perfect postcard view, with a gorgeous reflection of the jagged peaks in the sparkling blue water. A quick change-over into swim suits and eating oranges from the farmers market. Walking on the short trail to the shore, we right away saw a Bald Eagle soaring majestically overhead! Cheering and laughing Logan and I immediately dove in to cool off, tossing the bright orange flying disc out into the water to reclaim it quickly before it sunk too deep to grab from the surface. Not long after Mike and Anglea went in when we were (politely?) admonished by a woman across the lake for jumping into the "swimming prohibited" lake. Oops I guess we should have read the giant no swimming sign right behind us, it was a lake for "fishing only." Good thing we had our quick dip already.
Back on the bikes and continuing on with our climb up the mountain highway towards the next lake basin in the plateau above. A winding but smoothly paved side road into the Salmon Lakes. Passing lower lake, we were then rewarded with a stunning view of upper lake complete with islands and lakeshore boulders. We would stay the night here rouge camping in the trees off to the side of the shore. I was able to find a perfect hammock spot between two giant Pine trees. Exquisite corpse collaborative painting, and I painted the island while maybe being a little grumpy about my lack of personal space for painting. It's camping and I think it was time for me to have some more food! Backpacker's pantry and some (medium) cool Angry Orchard ciders from under a rock in the lake. The moon rise reflecting over the lake was magical, illuminating the far-side lake shore cabins and docks, as well as the peaks of the Sierra Crest and pct over the hill. I was still reading Margaret Atwood Maddaddam at the time, and nestled into my hammock to make some progress.
In the morning we unlocked our bikes from their incognito hiding spot behind the toilets, and then sun screened up for the second leg of the loop back down towards Graeagle.
We originally had made it our goal to stop at each and every lake along the Gold Lakes Highway for maximum cold dips in the hot sun. Or I did at least, or wildly imagined that it was possible. It wasn't, we quickly realized are over a dozen lakes right there just along that stretch of the basin and so we decided it was OK to just wave at them and do a shout-out as we rolled on by.
That descent wound up being something like 12 high-velocity wind-in-your-eyeballs miles of wheel flying downhill cruising. It was one of the better downhill's I've done loaded, and it could even compare to some of the Colorado mountain passes except the road surface conditions were a little more uneven due to the horizontal froze heave cracking...
My genius plan was to stop at this decadent looking Taco shop I found on yelp in Cilo. I was looking forward to it all day, and was planning to pig out for a mid ride calorie boost. Well I didn't understand that Cilo was a tiny settlement with barely a highschool and less of a downtown than it seemed on the internet. Well with Covid and all I should've guessed that the tacos were closed, and the next food stop wouldn't come until we loaded up the car again to leave to Sierraville.
That end of the ride was a bit hangry again, and the final segment heading back to the Sierra Valley was a lot dicier along Highway 89, with all the vacationer SUV's and RV's speeding by definitely too close for comfort. Luckily not too long on this stretch and home free back to the giant blue Tacoma.
We finally re-loaded all four bikes hilariously packed into the truck bed, and set out for the deli and ice cream store for some very much needed sandwiches and cold beverages.
with Mike, Angela, Logan and his new used Blue Tacoma
Commentaires