Julian Pie or Bus!

From 200 feet below sea level at the Salton Sea, the next two days of riding would take us to an elevation of around 4000 feet with much beautiful and ever changing scenery along the way.  Approaching Anza-Borego Desert State Park the natural desert landscape takes over.  This state park takes up 1/5th of San Diego County and is named after Juan Bautista de Anza, the first Spanish explorer to create an overland route from Mexico to Alta California, and the “borrego” or bighorn sheep, an endangered species in the area.

  Our campground at Anza Borego was nestled in at the base of a large mountain range that we would be climbing up the following day on our way to Julian.  As the sunset to the West, the full moon moved up into the sky and shed it's light on our hiker/biker campsite.

Thursday morning saw the departure of four of our friends, sent off with a beautiful sprawling double rainbow backdropped by the mountain.  The rest of the crew hopped on their saddles and began to forge up Montezuma Valley Road.  The first 11 miles were a grueling climb of about 3000 feet, but that would have been too easy so mother nature sent us 20-30 mph winds in our face.  But we braved the winds and continued our way on up the mountain.

Our cycling adventures came to a close in Julian, CA where we were hosted by Camp Stevens and enjoyed the comfortable accommodations of a cozy lodge.  In exchange for our lodging we spent some time in the morning helping with some garden projects planting crocus and tulip bulbs.  Check out their website to learn more about the garden and other programs at Camp Stevens.  http://www.campstevens.org/  

 

So that closes out another successful Sustainable Living Bike Tour.  There is rumor of a fall bike tour around LA to visit some schools in the area before volunteer riders return to the education program on Catalina Island.

Until Then...Happy Cycling!

I thought of that while riding my bicycle.
~ Einstein on the Theory of Relativity