How I Spent My Summer Vacation: July 21: The Wenatchee National Forest

It was a cool evening and I woke up early to a heavy fog and two big slimy slugs snuggled up to my tent. Aaron already had a fire going and Ryan cooked bacon and eggs. When we cleaned up camp, Alex began riding back to Seattle.

     Down to three, our group proceeded up the Iron Horse Trail, surrounded by big, snow-capped mountains, deep valleys, and vast pine forests. Then came the Snoqualmie Tunnel. The ride through it was 2 1/2 miles of total darkness--at least when we turned our bike lights off.   Plus, it was cold with lots of dripping water. It was not only a new bicycling experience for me but also, I cannot ever remember seeing that kind of complete darkness anywhere. Just after the tunnel, we met two bike riders. They were probably a little older than me and they were clearly very knowledgeable about virtually every bike route in Washington and Idaho. One of them was an Adventure Cycling Ambassador. They told me that my 60-70 mile-per-day goal might be a bit over-ambitious (they were right) and they told us about some of the things we would encounter up ahead with stories of big climbs and big winds. They were interested in my ride and excited for me. Their final bit of advice for me was "never give up.  Never give up."
     I understood what they were getting at: There will be many challenges, both physical and emotional. Take them in stride and do not let them get you down. I appreciated the encouragement, but I had long ago made the personal commitment--the only reason I would ever quit would be a serious injury that caused me to be physically incapable of propelling a bicycle. Like a broken skull, an exploded knee, or death. Certainly I would not quit because it was too difficult, too lonely, too boring, too scary, or too uncomfortable.
     At this point, Ryan turned back and now it will be just Aaron and I all the way to Spokane.
     On the east side of the Cascade Mountains, the climate is noticeably hotter, dryer and less scenic, in my opinion, and that opinion is validated by my son. And, boy, it was hot all afternoon and it sucked the spirit right out of us.
     In Cle Elum we had a sandwich and a beer in air conditioning and it was hard to head back into the blazing sun, but we did it, and after about six breaks in fifteen miles we made it to the Mineral Creek campground in the Wenatchee National Forest.