June 1 (The Mountain - The First of Many - Mackenzie Pass)

Ouch.

Climbing a mountain is not easy. But lets keep this chronological shall we?

Woke up shivering today. Apparently the extreme cover all the trees here give the campground also make the nights super cold; I didn't expect that at the beginning of June. In any event, I had a pot of noodles for breakfast and then headed off for the mountain.

As fortune would have it, I met a trio of touring cyclists right outside the campground. Two were on a full TransAm tour, while the third was doing a more local ride. They informed me that the McKenzie Pass trail was closed to cars, and was a cyclist only paradise for the time being! I paired with them for a while, though after an hour or so I accidentally left them behind. (I couldn't just stop and wait for them after one called "Hey look at him go" could I?)

I met a variety of other cool riders on the slow and painful ride up. I kept running into an older group of cyclists at the various resting locations that I had chatted with back at Paradise Campground. Another rider, Amy, slowed to chat with me for about 10 minutes on the ride up. She even gave me her "token" - a handkerchief - as mine was at the bottom of my pack and not accessible. Still another rider gave me some water that he didn't need. (Out of his car mind you – I wouldn't have taken a cyclist's water off the bike!)

The climb itself was exhausting; most of it was steep and there was 36 km of it. (Notably not as steep as the first climb I mentioned two days ago; one of the cyclists I met actually mentioned that that is one of the worst spots he knows in the area.) Furthermore, the terrain was punctuated by shoulderless switchbacks like this. An error on this mountain would be...unforgiving.

By the by I slowly worked my way up to the summit  and what a view awaited me at the top! Surrounded by lava floes, able to see every mountain for miles around! There was even an observatory at the top, which gave you an even better view.

I took some panorama shots at the top, trying to capture some of the view for you guys.

The observatory also had these cool windows that were aimed at each mountain visible in the distance, and l took shots of the mountains and their nameplates and compiled them in this Imgur album.

Anyway, after taking a good long rest and making sure to get a picture of myself with the elevation sign, I began my descent. And then ended it 20 minutes later. The descent was as fast and fun as the climb was slow and painful. I think I even let myself hit 50 km/hr going down that. Good times.

Anyway, I somehow managed to get myself to push 20 miles past the town at the foot of the pass, and entered into Redmond. I stopped at the local Subway for some much desired dinner, and I hit it off with the employee there. Apparently he is looking to do a similar tour – though not quite as long – in the near future. It was really fun talking to him, but when we parted he said he was "inspired." Made me feel out of place, like I've got a formal suit on that doesn't fit, y'know?