March 1, 2011
Day 4 - Round Trip Furnace Creek Camp - Artists Drive Loop/Artists Palette: Well Shut My Mouth!
Our sunrise wake up call came promptly at 5:55AM. This construction crew is very punctual! At last nights gathering of photographers everyone was talking about where they were going for 'first light' shots this morning. I should have already been up and on the road....I did set my alarm for 5AM. However when it went off it seemed really cold and I am thinking that it is much easier to get up at 4-5AM to take photos when you are in a hotel room with coffee waiting for you. Anyway I didn't make first light today or any morning this week. Sorry....next time - I know, I know.
Yesterday was wonderful! The ride was beautiful and maybe because we had been off the bikes for two days it seemed like a fairly easy ride. I think I actually said when we were back in camp that it didn't feel like we 'earned' our lunch-the ride felt way to easy. 'Well Shut My Mouth' - we earned our lunch today! Artist Drive was WORK....leaving Furnace Creek Camp you head up to sea level take a right turn on Badwater Road go downhill for a few miles then around 9mi take a left and head UP Artists Drive. This didn't look to bad a first but after about a mile we realized that this was a serious climb! We ended up with a total of 2000' of gain in around 5mi...
There are not to many photos from today as the sky was very overcast for most of the day and there was that thing about a 2000' climb. I was just trying to get back to camp. When we did make it back we decided to tour the Ranch - The Furnace Creek Ranch is next to the campground and it is a really beautiful oasis. We found the stables and had a really nice visit with the locals back there.
Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 61 miles (98 km)
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