~5500 ft of climbing

Camping at 14,500 feet

Knock on wood, but today our tires stayed inflated - BIIIIIG WIN!! The day started with a steep and loose 2500 foot climb. Actually, scratch that - the day started with Megan feeling her feelings again and having some tears. This route is hard! When you wake up, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all that lies ahead. But after a good chat with Erin (aka the best stoker), the tears dried up, we took down camp, and we set off on our steep climb. Step by step. Or, push by push in our case. Erin rotated her handlebars backwards so we could more easily push the bike up the steep, loose ascents. We would take turns - one person pushing from the front, the other pushing from the back. Along our ascent we passed two young boys - at first we thought they were going to school. But we think they were actually just out for a walk. We also passed a woman with five dogs, and another older gentleman. It’s wild - you feel like you are so far out there, so remote, and then you come across people walking - or living in small huts - nearby. 

We celebrated our first big ascent of the day by taking some pics and then layering up for the descent. It was a cloudy and cold morning, so we put on nearly all of our layers. The descent was beautifulllll!! We passed cows (and calves) and more donkeys. It feels like we are getting to know the flora and fauna a little better - around 12-13k feet, everything is so green and lupine-like purple flowers are blooming everywhere. 

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It was a cold descent - Erin was shivering and was ready to be done for the day and sleep inside. But then the sun came out at lunch and Erin said she could keep going! During lunch, we FaceTimed my mom (happy birthday!!), updated our blog and Instagram, and made a plan for the next two days. Since we are going to be above 14,000 feet for a ~75 mile stretch starting this afternoon, we wanted to make sure there would be a hospedaje (indoor lodging) for us to sleep at to avoid sleeping in the cold. (Looks like some weather will be coming in in the afternoons - particularly snow up high). 

With a plan (proud of ourselves for making a decision!), we started up our next climb of the day. We were hoping to make it to a lake where we could spend the night. Good news: the dirt road was so bikeable! Good gradient and quality gravel. Unfortunately, we could see storms building ahead, and we didn’t want to be stuck at our high point (15,500 feet) in a storm. We decided to just keep going - we could always stop and pitch our tent if weather hit. It was a long, sustained climb, so we needed a few off the bike butt and back breaks. As we kept climbing, the sun poked out and the clouds looked like they were moving away! Hooray! At this point we had 700 feet of climbing and 7 miles to the lake where we planned to camp. We could do it! 

It was a glorious (and also tiring) last 7 miles with the sun shining on wide, green pastures with sheep and cows and alpacas. It truly felt like we were on a safari, watching the beautiful alpacas frolick in the distance. Since the clouds were clearing, we could also start to see some of the tall peaks around us. We finally reached the top of our ascent and had a beautiful, smooth gravel descent to the lake. The lake was cold and windy, so we set up camp and made dinner (tuna and ramen - a trend) very quickly. We have sampled an array of Peruvian cookies by this point, and tonight we decided we like the mint ones best. Megan says, “It counts as a vegetable, right?”

It is typical for us to be laying in bed, very tired, and realize it’s only 6:30pm. Today was certainly a good challenge, and we are a good exhausted.