Packwood - Eagle Cliff Campground, WA: They don't have climbs like this in Colorado! - The Granny Panties Tour

June 20, 2015

Packwood - Eagle Cliff Campground, WA: They don't have climbs like this in Colorado!

Eagle Cliff Store and Campground 360-558-1431 mm15 FS 90 - that's the best address they have. $60. for a nice little cabin with a half bath, kitchen, gas stove, kerosene lamps. Shower house to take a bath. The store has soda, beer, chips, candy, prepackaged sandwiches, canned chili. Enough to make a meal if you aren't picky. We were VERY happy it was there.

Psckwood had any number of interest totem pole type carvings. Did I take photos? No. This is what caught my fancy.

We had a fair amount of discussion about this remote road and the chances of getting lost. I called upon my CG guru's - Pete, Allison, and Wayne for details on the day. Oren and I decided to ride together to Randle, 17 downslope miles and then until 131 turns into 25. From there it looked to be pretty straight forward. Stay on 25 to 90 where we only had one mile to the campground.

Oren was quite taken by this truck parked at the restaurant.

We were all three supposed to leave together, Jacinto was concerned enough about the length of the day and the climb to leave early. Or he was concerned enough until it was time to leave and it was too cold for him. Oren and I took off together. Even though it was a nice down slope, no wind, etc. Oren quickly pulled away from me. I believe I have far less gear on my bike, although for overall weight we are probably quite similar as I"m much larger than Oren. But still, I should have been able to keep up with him on the downhill! I decided the difference must be in the wheels - I need custom wheels. Don't you think? I ran all of this past Oren and he said his wheels were stock also. Hmmm. Back to the drawing board.

By the time we got to Randle I could no longer see Oren. There was one grocery/gas station looking place. No Oren. I quickly cycled through the 10-12 buildings in town. No Oren. Now what? I must have missed him, but didn't want to back track. He had been so good to take care of me, I hated to just leave. I tried to call, it went straight to voice mail. Hmmm, what to do. I rode on slowly. Ah, ha. There's a real grocery right at the intersection of 131. A very nice grocery with a meat section and everything. They even had a toy section with chalk. Now we could start leaving notes on the road like Moni taught us when she toured in Colorado.

I had purchased all of my items back in Packwood. I had way more than I wanted to carry, we would be in the forest for two days. It wouldn't do to run out of food! Oren went back inside for bagels and came out with the closest he could find, English muffins.

Pete, the man of the steel trap memory, said we would do a mile or two of residential countryside, climb a big hill and then the best part of the trip would start.

Pete says this is where the real riding starts. Little did I know.

Typical scenery for the day. Lots of shade and trees close in.

I cut Oren loose at the bottom of the big climb. Now I was on my own to enjoy the day. Little did I know what was in front of me. I was busy being happy, riding in the shade. I turned up the tunes and cranked the pedals. The only part that wasn't peaceful was the number of motorcycles going by. Not that I begrudged them the nice road, but the speed limit said 35 on this twisty turny road and many of them were going dangerously fast. The road surface wasn't always good and it was difficult for me to see in the shade, just imagine going at motorized speeds!

We are back on the lush side of the state. Lots of ferns and flowers. Trees so close together it is difficult to see. Lots of moss on everything.

Soon we were on the real climb. At the bottom, while I was still happy, I caught up to Oren and Jacinto caught up to both of us. We shared around some of Jacinto's five pounds of cherries. Slowly we were reducing that weight.

A rare photo of the three of us together.

The guys took off. I keep pedaling. And pedaling. And pedaling. Darn, this was tough. What the heck? I thought I had good climbing legs. Things opened up some and I was warm in the sun. This grade was steep - the Garmin kept flashing numbers 10% and above. I keep running the numbers about how slow I was going and how late I would arrive. I didn't take as many breaks as I would have, trying to keep some sort of pace. But then I got hot foot and hungry. I think I really go slower if I don't stop as I need to. I decided I should be taking some breaks anyway. I ended up stopping every four songs. I'd eat a few cherries and keep going. Elk Creek Pass had an elevation of 4,080. The elevation on my Garmin slowly but surely ticked upward. I was VERY happy to reach the top. VERY sad, but not surprised there was no sign.

The mile marker sign was the best I could do for a pass sign. Today's snack at the top was salami, cheese, and V-8. I was really hungry and slammed it down. Something didn't settle right. My stomach let me know. Blurp, blurp all the way down the pass. Yuck.

OK, Harpo - top this one. I packed a 42 oz bottle of V-8 to the top, darned if I wasn't going to make a serious dent in it!

I didn't hit the top until 2:30 PM, despite leaving town at 7 AM. Damn. I am slow. Very slow. Why am I so slow? At least I am sure. I always get there. Today I would like to get there faster. I hope it's a nice downhill. But I already knew it wasn't a nice downhill. Pete had warned me to watch for the heaves and cracks in the road. Afternoon shadows added to the fun.

I was really hoping for a serious downhill so I could get this day over with. I was toast and my stomach didn't feel good. I don't know if it was too much fat (thinking of what Bob V had to say about fat and the stomach emptying, although I eat fat all the time when I ride). Or if it was too hot and my food had gone bad. I had ordered Spiz to be delivered in Hood River, so I had been using up my supply with no concerns. The last bottle I mixed had definitely gotten hot and tasted bad. I kept searching for reasons for my stomach issues. Whatever they were, it wasn't a happy situation. My legs weren't happy either. What's with that? I thought I was well prepared for the trip. All riding so far had been excellent. Since I had miles and miles to mull over the issue, I came to a conclusion. Right or wrong, I decided my legs were so fatigued because the climbs in Colorado are very civilized. 5-8% gradients. The climbs might be very long and have high altitude, but the grade of the road is usually reasonable. The grades on Elk Pass were real rough - 10% and above. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I got the the bridge. Allison had warned me to start paying attention at mile 61 and not go too far. Yep, there we go. A note from Oren with arrows pointing left. Bonus! A downhill. I knew it was less than a mile to the Campground. I did not know it was a downhill mile. Thank you! In no time I pulled in. This is the most fatigued I'd been cycling in a long, long time. I was ready for bed right then. If my legs would carry me that far. We were in cabin #3 - right on the main road into the campground, so everyone going in stirred up the dust on us. Jacinto was sitting outside eating pistacios and more cherries. I sank into the chair. Good luck getting me up!

The cabin was very cute, it had a loft with two more beds, a table/chairs, kitchen, half bath, and another bed downstairs. Finally I made it to the shower house. That left a little to be desired. There were two showers for the whole campground and they needed cleaned more frequently.

Dinner was whatever was in the store. The selection had improved with the new owners. Previous reports said there wasn't much available. Fresh items were onions, potatoes, and limes. That's it. Lots of prepackaged sandwiches. Drinks and snacks. My stomach still wasn't happy. Jacinto had my left over chicken fried steak from the night before. That was supposed to be my dinner, but did I want to chance left over meat that had been in the sun all day? Sure, what the heck. My stomach already feels bad.

I warned Jacinto my legs were very sore and I would be using Icy Hot tonight. He doesn't like the smell and made faces, but I didn't care.

We shared a beer and a Mike's Hard Lemonade. Oren came over for a map meeting. I was really dreading the next day. We had another pass and another long mile day, my legs were tired. Jacinto and I walked back to the store. I got a can of Stags Chili and ate that cold. Yum. We were in bed before dark. 8:30?

The bed had flannel sheets. They were so nice and warm. I slept well until some wee hour when I woke up thinking "oh,no oh, no" about what a hard day was coming up.

There's lots of climbing on this route, just in case you didn't know. It's also very beautiful.

Today's ride: 63 miles (101 km)
Total: 531 miles (855 km)

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