May 31, 2014
Day 3 - Ice Camp to Sisters: We Can Do This!
What a difference a day makes....24 little hours!
Never been so true as today. We were up with the early birds and out of camp by 7:50 am. Feeling rested and wanting to get this done. First thing we did was head up to Cold Water Cove Camp to load up on water. Up will be the operative for the day!!
For the two days we had a total of 58 mi and 4500ft of elevation. The pass was at 4817 ft.
First off I knew I had to get my head in the game and 'Stay In The Now'. When I was backpacking back in the day I would use a system of counting to keep me focused on getting up a mountain. That is what I decided to do today. So all day it was.....1,2, 3 etc up to 10 then repeat. I have no idea how many 1-10's were counted but what ever it worked. I felt focused, my breathing was relaxed and I was moving up. We took breaks every five miles or so with food and water. This worked great...never bonked. Took us a little over four hours to go 15.8 mi to the top of Santiam Pass 4817ft. There is traffic...all fast however the shoulder is wide in most places and very clean. Most of the cars give a wide pass only one RV came close and those are usually the worst in my experience.
The down was six full miles. We had to stop every few miles to rest our hands and the breaks even with alternating breaks. Then it was big rollers for another six miles and ending on a flat with a tail wind at 14+ mph speeds. Felt great!!
For anyone traveling this route be aware that there are very few services. Bring water and food. If we had not had both it would not have been fun at all. We really wanted to have a break and there just are not any rest stops or really anyplace to pull in much. We finally found a ranch the Black Butte Ranch which reminded us of The Sea Ranch in No. California. It was a welcome oasis.
We are here in Sisters at the Best Western Ponderosa Lodge. Quite nice....and the air conditioner in our room was broken so they upgraded us to a suite which is nearly as large as our single wide mobile home we live in. This is calling my name!
We feel great and the day was beautiful.
Now I really do have to go..... Jack has the hot bath all ready!!
Today's ride: 37 miles (60 km)
Total: 120 miles (193 km)
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