Mood:  smelly

The first 60 miles of Tuesday were idyllic.  The weather was very pleasant and the modestly climbing rolling terrain sped past.  The goal was to have a large breakfast in Sedro Wooley, a nice lunch in Marblemount, and "camping fare", at the campsite about 10 miles east of Newhalem. 

Newhalem is a town built by Seattle City Light in order to manage the power generation of Ross and Diablo dams.I stopped at the little Newhalem grocery for tomorrow's treats.  It would be the last place for the next 50 miles.

 Have you heard of how marathoners "hit the wall" at the 20 mile mark?  All of a sudden their legs seem to lose their strength.  Although I've never had this happen to me before on any rides, this is what happened to me on the last ten miles.  The first climb out of Newhalem, a semi-steep one, (I had bicycled it, fully loaded with gear, the previous Summer with little problem) left me gasping for air.  As much as anything, it was the shock that I was having such difficulty at this small stage when I knew that the major difficulty still awaited.  Then there was a 3 mile steep grade that I strained and wobbled over, finally stopping at the campground, completely exhausted.  Had it not been for the fact that I knew I had to eat (it's like re-fueling your engine) I would have dropped off to sleep immediately.  It was around 6 PM. 

The campground had no potable water and was closed.  Actually, one could camp there for free if you had water.  Fortunately, I had a water purification kit, so I got water out of Diablo Lake, and ruminated on what kind of catastrophe was I going to have tomorrow.  Did I mention that no one else was in the campground that night?  I started praying.

Will McMahan