After a quick pseudo breakfast, we pack up and get ready to hit the road. We say our goodbyes and before you know it, another late start. I don't know how that always happens. The climb from Panguitch was gruelling, right from the start. I started thinking, "How am I going to do this?" The first two and a half miles were really tough, and then it started becoming a little more reasonable. I knew it was going to be a long day and we had 35 miles of climbing to do, so I had to pace myself. There was little traffic, but a lot of signs warning about bears and mountain lions, so that helped me keep up the pace. At 15 miles, I stopped for real food, which I knew would slow me down, but I was hungry. It did slow me down and I still had 20 miles to go before I reached the 10000 foot summit. It was 1:44 when I left the cafe, and it was slow going. At times, I was only going 3 mph. Up, up, up it didn't seem like it would ever end, but like all things it did end. There were a few false summits, but just as the sun was going down, we reached the summit sign. Clive wanted to camp there, but there was no way I wanted to camp that high. It was all downhill to Cedar City, so we decided to go for it. It was 17 miles down and getting late, so we had to use our lights, but we made. This is the first real city with traffic lights and chain restaurants in about 3 weeks. It feels a little weird. And I had a tough time trying to sleep in a bed after sleeping on the ground for so long.
That brings me to where I am now. I woke up at 5:19 and started responding to email, uploading photos and making phone calls. And updating the blog. In a few hours, I will be heading off to Nevada. It'll be nice to have warm temperatures and food options again.
