July 18th: Garden City to Logan or…damaged!

The “climb of never again” was awesome!!!!! Got up early at 7 am and saw a dark sky looming over the campground. No postponing this time…Had breakfast at the front door of the camping store – no tea and the coffee was too strong for my taste. Dump it! On I went. Like an ant crawling over the street – that’s how I must have looked from the sky. As I got out of the town a deer greeted me! Slowly I crept up the winding road taking me higher and higher above Bear Lake. I had to stop to look at the scenery: glittering water surrounded by dark clouds and mountains. 

And higher it went – for 8 miles. I heard sheep in the distance – saw a horse along the road – and some sheepherders waving at me! At the near top the rest rooms were closed – did not count on that one! But had still enough water. Over the bump and bye bye Bear Lake – welcome Logan Canyon. From ski resort all the way down to the town of Logan – a flash! The wild Logan river had damaged the road surface in different places and sand bags were still being used to dam the water!

It wasn’t the only thing damaged! I saw too many dead animals along the road – all tragic car accidents – from big deer to small squirrels…sad! From the open spaces at the top to the sometimes very narrow canyon, always turning and turning. A life deer with antlers stood along the road eating leaves from a tree! At one pull-out a man got out of his car and showed me a water bottle. I gratefully accepted his offer and topped of my water bottles on Sweet Machine. It’s almost 30 miles downhill – and since I was so early the wind just pulled me out of the canyon. Just before arriving in the town of Logan there is this nasty little uphill – ¼ mile – but it’s always a killer after 30 miles of cycling in high gears! Logan is a city – not a town anymore. This is the first step back to civilization. 

The very dark sky and the rainclouds I now see make me go and hide in Hastings – a bookstore! Who needs a better place? There are usually sofa’s and tea and biscuits…and of course books you can read and not buy! After the rain I (I spent 2 hours there) it was only a mile to “home”. Guess what – Chuck-a-rama this evening! BTW: I picked up my first "thing" along the road. Guess what!