When we awoke (sore, groggy, and still tired) the sun was already quite strong and so we... rushed around packing up, trying to make the most out of a cool-ish morning. The day started with quite a large gravel climb and we were soon able to look down into the deep valley where we had camped. The climb wore on and we traversed dusty red roads for the whole morning. The next valley over had a small stream crossing and we eagerly dunked our shirts into the coolish water. On one of the downhills I hit a rock, got bumped up in the air and my left hand grabbed the front brake on the way down. I skidded and scraped up my left leg pretty badly and was a little shaken before brushing it off and continuing. Ziven had done an admittedly horrible job securing the tent poles to the outside of his bags, so they would occasionally jostle out of the straps and hit the tires and drag in the dirt.

The next climb started and we passed another rider, slogging up into the scraggly pine forests before descending into yet another deserty valley. This valley was special because we knew it contained Geronimo Trail Guest Ranch, a fancy ranch that was tired of bikers knocking on the door and left a table of ice water and snacks out for us. We met two other bikers, one of which had a flat tire and was frustratingly fixing it at the base of the driveway. We happily refilled our water, left a donation, and marvelled at the sign that stated all emergency rooms were $300 a night, even for poor little stranded bikers. We continued on, happy that we were able to refill our water before another climb where we were dusted by the fancy red landrovers ferrying people to and from the ranch. We continued on in the same vein all afternoon and made sure to stop at Beaverhead Ranger Station where they had a spigot which we used for water refilling as well as a leg shower to wash the blood off my scrapes. I refused assistance from several backcountry EMTs and rangers who seemed to think my road rash was more severe, and I bravely continued onward into another desert valley where we were surprised to see a Fedex Truck delivering packages like normal. The road wound through the valley and along a large wall of rock that jutted out of the dust before vanishing and casting us into a nothingland of Windows screensavers. The endless rolling hills and huge wide open sky spooked me and I was panicking at the lack of trees as we delved into the wide open prairie that reminded me of the mythological Fields of Asphodel. The good news was that this landscape didn’t last forever. The bad news was it took all afternoon to traverse the constant rolling hills, edge around cows on the dirt road, and pause for snacks without any shade in the wide grassy land. The rolling hills eventually got more rolling and the hills grew while trees started to materialize out of the endless meadow. Finally we found ourselves once again in a pine forest and there were signs of life in the form of small cabins peeking through the trees. The flat forest road soon curved downwards and we emerged into another wide open plain, chasing antelope out of their hiding places along the way. This section of meadow felt a bit different and we headed endlessly straight before turning at an arbitrary intersection and entering what felt like a more alpine territory. The sun was beginning to set and the light faded as we elected to find a spot in the small canyon we were entering. The road became bumpier and we squeezed past signs that indicated the road ahead was closed, choosing to push any issues into the next day. We finally found a suitable flat spot on a hill above the road and pitched our tent. After cooking some noodles for dinner and arranging all of our stuff to be critter proof, we settled into bed and drifted off to sleep.

***In hindsight, this was the only night we slept in true wilderness. All other nights were at the very least, at a campsite.