Day 26: To Bootleg campground, Walker river.

August 4, 2009

The temperature got down to 50F overnight. I got on the road at 7:45, early for me. Riding back to Bridgeport was easy. Mostly downhill with only 2.1 miles of washboarded gravel. It's nice to see irrigated pastures.

In Bridgeport I turned south for a mile, then turned on Jack Sawyer road. Travertine hot spring is at the end of the road. The last mile is gravel, steep uphill. This is a great hot spring to visit in the morning to have good views of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the west.

Travertine hot spring. Bridgeport in the distance.

Back in Bridgeport I did laundry (2nd and final laundromat on this tour), bought groceries, and had lunch at a restaurant. I finally left town at 1PM. Bridgeport is a charming tourist and ranching town. It's notorious for having very expensive gasoline and groceries (gas costs $1 more than in Bishop or Carson City). But I still like it.

The stores in Bridgeport have very high prices, but I still like the town.

North of Bridgeport US 395 steadily climbs 1100 feet to Devil's Gate summit (7519 feet elevation). The road is 2 lanes and some sections have no shoulder. Fortunately the traffic was relatively light. I had a strong tailwind in the afternoon. The temperature rose steadily to 85F.

Just past the summit I stopped for a soak at Fales hot ditch. It's the runoff from a closed-down hot spring resort. It has huge flow but the water wasn't super hot. Only 98F. Super easy access because it's only 50 feet from US 395.

After the summit is a long downhill to the Walker river. 4 more miles downstream I turned into the Bootleg campground. It's a large Forest Service campground with many areas that were completely empty. The fee was $20. I set up camp in a site that was out of sight. I didn't pay because I think $20 is unreasonable for a campground that doesn't have a flush toilet. The facilities consisted of a pit toilet, trash cans, water faucet, and a table at the site.

I'm still in the Great Basin. Water doesn't flow to an ocean. The Walker river flows east into a basin and evaporates.

I made a much-needed shower and had plenty of time to relax. Today was a short easy day. My distance and average speed show that I pedaled the bike less than 4 hours today. I could have gone much further, but that would have been downstream into an agricultural valley that is hotter and has no campgrounds. It's nicer up in the forest.

Distance: 39.4 mi (63 km)

Climbing: 1707 ft (517 m)

Average speed: 10.3 mph (16.5 km/h)

Max speed: 41 mph (66 km/h)

Today's ride: 39 miles (63 km)
Total: 1,160 miles (1,867 km)

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