My home in Glendale sits about 1000' above the levels of a rising ocean. 1500' if you were to count the Salton Sea in Southern California!
Throughout the day, the altimeter rose steadily.
Two thousand feet, as I was passing Lake Pleasant. Three thousand leaving abandoned ranches in my wake, thirty five hundred when that 6' diamondback crossed my path.
Four thousand as I reached my point of no return.
At five thousand feet I'm standing on the pegs, leaning hard forward and contorting my body like Houdini, counteracting the angle of the washout, my front tire just bounced off my chosen path up that killer hill!
When I'd reached six thousand feet the going became easier, the road actually a road, almost wide enough for a Jeep and an XT side by side.
As I looked far back south, down the mountains I'd just conquered, the numbers rolled past six thousand seven hundred and finally sixty eight hundred feet above sea levels.
What a climb it had been! A dozen roads, a hundred mountains, a thousand curves... a gazillion magnificent vistas, and it was all downhill from here.
There were scattered houses showing in the distance, several ATV's and then a parade of side by sides rolled by, some with senior citizens at the wheel.
We were close now, in the high pines. The saguaro cacti left far behind with the rattlesnakes, down below. Here it was cool, just over 50 degrees F. I stopped, had another sip of water, and put my sweater and MSR jacket back on.
I thought for a moment that this jacket had covered a hell of a lot of ground over the years, and wasn't worn out yet! It would still see highways and biways and roads and tracks.
Crown King village was just around a few more corners, the numbers and bar graph were heading in the other direction now.
What a day it had been.
Crossing the narrow bridge into downtown Metro CK, my tense muscles were beginning to relax, the legs aching, but happily worked over, my butt sinking a bit deeper into the blue saddle.
WELCOME TO PARADISE!
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