Character building day. I scraped together some breakfast from bits I had to go with a couple of cups of the motel coffee - whilst listening to commentary of the cricket.  

 

As I was leaving I bumped into a CDT hiker I’d met at the cafe yesterday lunchtime. He said the fire station was doing a free 4 July breakfast which was tempting but I was keen to get on so opted to hit the road.

 

After an initial pavement section out of town, I turned onto a really beautiful road which tracked a river down a gorge with steep rocky cliffs. Further rain had been forecast for today and sure enough it arrived, with increasing intensity. The gorge road was fairly rocky so fine to ride on but as I turned off it became the dreaded peanut butter mud. At which point I quickly pulled over to avoid clogging the bike up too badly, although work was still required to remove the clay mud from around the wheels and frame. The rain passed but it was over two hours until the road was ridable again (one failed attempt required further bike cleaning). During which there was nothing to do but stand at the road side and listen to podcasts. 

 

Finally got moving again and began climbing up to the only peak of the day. By which time the next storm was closing in, racing me to the top of the hill. We got there about the same time and I began the descent in driving rain. The road remained solid for about 10 miles and I was making great progress toward my intended camp spot. But then, bam, right back into the sticky stuff. Only this was worse. I tried to push the bike off the side of the road but that only introduced grass and hay to the mix which seemed to help the binding process like Adobe cement. I was able to push the bike about two meters before a full de-clog was required, including collecting water from a nearby stream. A couple of guys in a truck stopped to see if I was ok and said the road improved at the next cattle grid, which I could see was only about 500m away. So I decided to remove the bags from the bike and carry it until the surface improved. One final de-clog and I was able to carry on. That one impassable stretch was less than half a mile but took me well over an hour to get through. 

 

I’d planned to stay at a ranch which allowed cyclists to camp and apparently had a shower, which by this point was very much needed. On arrival the gate was closed and chained. A previous, less bold version of me may have just presumed they were closed for the holiday and reluctantly cycled on. But I decided to unchain the gate and go have a look. I tried knocking on the main house but there didn’t appear to be anyone here. I contemplated just pitching my tent in the spot marked camping but had visions of waking up with a less than polite enquiry as to why I was trespassing. Eventually I saw a little stand with some information, which made it clear it was a self check-in situation. 

 

Extremely relieved I was able to hose down the bike and indeed have a lovely hot shower - not bad for $10. One final bit of drama came in the form of extremely strong winds which were still blowing and made pitching the tent a struggle. Clean, fed and watered and happy in the knowledge the forecast for tomorrow is much better. Although I can’t complain too much as I’ve been extremely lucky with the weather so far.