DSC07411 Photo Courtesy Bill Bushnell

Mammoth Trip, 2016

September 10

Sonora Pass (West)

I was anxious to get moving so as not to get any colder up there, and I managed to interrupt the party long enough to make my intentions known and depart, agreeing that Stella was to gather me up where the gradient flattened out. The descent was sometimes a little sketchy with roughness or debris, and a rowdy line of cars that caught me right when I got to the 25% hairpins, and who were not pleasant in overtaking me when the road straightened out. It was warmer further down, and much warmer once I started pedaling again when the road flattened out. I just hoped Stella would catch me before I reached 395. She did. All three cars went by me, and Stella stopped at a trailhead. Once I had the bike loaded up, and had taken the wheel to do my share of the driving, I found I'd have gotten to 395 maybe two minutes later.



Dinner and wine tasted good that evening. Bill and Stella's enthusiasm for their idea for the next day's hike struck me as rather ambitious for a first day opener. But - what the heck.