Sept. 21 – Ain’t no Mountain High Enough (Hah)

Geez…I knew that the pass was going to be tough – but it was ridiculous! As you approach the climb, there are two signs – one big flashing sign says “Bikers Use Caution – Steep Climbs and Narrow Shoulder Next 15 Miles” and then another smaller sign – “Route 14 Not Recommended for 18 Wheelers” – or something like that. The first sign was correct – and not one trucker paid attention to the second sign. Throw in the gusting headwind that I estimate at about 30 MPH and I pray that this is the toughest climb of the trip! It was beautiful though – with views like this:

I also met another cyclist on the climb – his name was Yoki and he was from Montreal, Canada. But, the cheater or genius (depending on your thought process – I am undecided) was on an E-bike and zipped up the pass, leaving me in his dust. Here was my progress report:

I reached the top after about 5 hours of climbing!

I guess the state of Utah got wind of my plan to re-name all the Summits, and so raised the height of the sign to be unreachable to all but an NBA player. I guess I could have shimmied up the pole, but I barely had the energy to smile. This is the highest I could reach:

After a little rest I headed on down the road through some very lush and beautiful high country. I was going to try and make it to Panguitch Lake, which has multiple camping options. But the climb had taken a lot out of me, and by 5:30 or so it was obvious that I would not make it to the lake. I passed by a sign for a picnic area and turned in to find a really nice day use area – not technically a campground……but I was too tired to care and set up camp. Worked out just fine.