Day 5: Silver Lake to Carson City

Ride Stats:
Distance - 58 miles
Ave. Speed - 10.7 mph
Elevation Climbed - 2420 ft
Temperature - 35 to 105 F (a 70 degree swing!)

After spending a night at frigid Silver Lake, we got up and moving at 6:00. We broke camp and were on the road in record time (granted, we only had the night before at Jenkinson Lake to compare against, but it was a new record, nonetheless!). The climb back up to the road was a great way to warm up.

This was the last day that Ian would be riding with us. He had only planned to go as far as Carson City, and that was our destination today. He'll be riding to Reno, tomorrow, and then catching a flight back to Chicago. We'll miss him...not only for his uncanny water-toting abilities, or his wizardry with the Google machine for selecting hotels and restaurants, but more importantly...because he's a great kid. He's fun to be around, he's smart, he loves to camp out, and he's a great coach for his Dad. I was just kidding about the ”loves to camp out" part. In fact, he said to me, the morning after our first camp out, that he would never camp out again...ever. He sees no point in it. Well...just 12 hours after saying that, we were camping out at Silver Lake! Never say never, buddy!





Here's the view upon leaving Silver Lake. The sun was just starting to make it's way into the valley. Note the full moon overhead.







Again, the camera doesn't capture the 3D effect of this view. Take my word for it, it was wicked awesome (insert Boston accent here)!







Karl and his coach (Ian), hammering up the road before Carson Pass is closed for 2 hours. We found out the day before that they were blasting the road, just past the Pass between 10 and 2. If we didn't get there before 10:00, we would be stuck for 2 hours. So, we kicked it into high gear and pounded up the mountain.







This is for you, Mom. We're thinking of you (and Dad). We love you both.







This is Caples Lake...I wish we could've spent more time here...but, the clock was ticking and we had to be to the top before 10:00. Off we go.







I made it to the Pass by 9:30, and the rest of the 3 Amigos pulled in at 9:45. We made it!







Karl and Ian, after an accomplishment that they can cherish for the rest of their lives.







Even though we made it to the top before 10:00, they were still only allowing traffic through in one direction at a time. We waited for about 15 minutes, and then they let us through. We were the last group of cars and bikes to go through before they closed it for blasting.







Just over the pass, there's a lookout over Red Lake. They should've named this Green Lake, as it appears to be heavily laden with algae.







That's where we just came from...just kidding. I believe that's Waterhouse Peak, elevation 9497 feet. If there was a road leading to the summit, we would've climbed it, because that's how we roll ;-).







Here's a view of a fire near the town of Prairie View. We heard from a couple of locals that it was started by two kids that built a fort, started a fire, and didn't put it out before walking away. They caught the kids and are now in juvenile detention. They had to close the highway and evacuate people from their homes nearby. Fire Services had to drop water in overhead.







One state down, four more to go.







We're in cattle country now. When we stopped nearby, to take a break, quite a few of them came over to the fence, like they were trying to listen in on our conversation. Notice the smoke, from the fire I mentioned before, in the background.



When we entered Eldorado County, on the climb up to Jenkinson Lake, I saw an official county road sign that read "Any dog caught attacking or harassing cattle will be shot.“ Yikes!