I was born under a wanderin' star

I have been going on many hikes and even a few bike rides since I got here, but until yesterday I had neglected to bring my camera for ya'll to see any pictures. Allow me to remedy that situation:

 Welcome to Glass Creek Meadow, a nice easy hike up through pumice rock and Jefferey Pines to a beautiful, fertile, spring meadow, crisscrossed with creeks and cricks and babbling brooks. The mountain ridge in the back is the divide between the Owens Valley (where we were) and the San Joaquin river valley. Flat areas all around seem like good places to make base camp for exploring the area further.

What these pictures do not show you is that I actually went hiking with someone else yesterday: a young man named Steven who I met at the Mono Lake Visitor Center who happens to share some of my days off. Combine that with my cycling coworker and it looks like I won't be doing quite so many activities by myself this season. Which, I have to admit, is kinda nice for a change. Now if only I can find a good cribbage partner...

Anyway: I've got two days of work facing me now before I drive up to Reno and fly to Kansas for Drew and Holly's wedding this weekend. After which, operating on the hope that I get my first paycheck, I will be hitting up several different sales establishments to spend my pay on groceries and various other merchandise. It should be a nice little mini-vacation for me, I think. :)

On top of the world!

Today I kicked off my weekend in style: I rode my bike from Bridgeport to Twin Lakes for a round-trip total of just over 27 miles in about an hour and forty-five minutes. It was grand.

But back it up: yesterday I finally met the other stabilisation crew guy, Dane, on his way out to go for a bike ride. I had been informed that he was a serious biker, and so I threw out that I was also and that my bike was here. Before I knew it, I was hearing from other coworkers that Dane and I were going to go on a bike ride Sunday. I hadn't been aware of this, but I was down with it, and when we bumped into each other later that night he asked me and I said, "Sure!"

So today we met at 10 o'clock and drove down to Bridgeport for a relatively flat (and thankfully not-so-windy) pedal up to Twin Lakes and back. I could tell by the way he was talking that Dane didn't think I was going to be up to the challenge - he kept reminding me that we only had to go as far as I wanted, and I told him that I'm a stubborn girl. To his credit, he had done this same ride both days prior and with much heavier winds after having been at elevation much less time than me. But I led the whole way up, and the whole (except for one mile) way back down (which was largely into the wind). It felt AWESOME. I love a good bike ride, and this certainly was up to par with my standards. The whole way up I had Noah Gundersen singing "Jesus, Jesus" in my head; that lasted part of the way down until we got back out of the mountains and onto the windy flats when my mind cleared completely and I focused only on the cadence of my pedals. I averaged about 14mph on the way up, and managed to bump that up to almost 17mph on the way back down, in spite of the mild headwind.

Back in the truck on the way back home, I was pleasantly surprised that I continued to feel awesome and not the least bit sore or tight. Dane admitted that he had expected me to wimp out on him and turn around part-way and that he was very impressed. He proudly and enthusiastically told my coworker at the kiosk that I knew "how to hammer it!" I thanked him for the fun ride, and he did as well, adding that I was a very good rider. I'm glad to hear it: cycling is so much a part of my life, it'd be kinda sad if I wasn't any good at it. ;)

 Thanks to all my cycling teachers out there.

~Jaclynn

P.S. I also got to see a coyote, live and in the wild, while riding today. Fantasmargonical!

Goals.

Before I came out here I set a goal for myself: to do a bike ride and a new hike every weekend. So far I have had two weekends, and I have managed to keep good on my goal so far. The hardest part is the cycling, because there is no pavement within the first 3 miles of Bodie and all I have is a road bike. But I figure, if I want to actually make good on my goal I have to actually do what I set out to do, starting now and no later.

Last weekend, I did a Sierra Club hike to the Paramount Mine and surrounding area in the Bodie Hills. For a bike ride, I borrowed a visitor's mountain bike and did a quick mile loop at the end of my last day off. Talk about squeaking by.

This weekend I had a bit more of a success, but only a bit. I actually got two hikes in: one up Lundy Canyon - about 5 miles or so of very beautiful country, with beaver ponds, waterfalls, and plenty of trees; the other was to what I thought was Glass Peak/Mountain/Hill/whatever, where I had been told there was a lot of obsidian. Either someone pulled my leg, or I hiked up the wrong mountain, because when I made it up that crazy shale-covered ridge I found only more shale. For a bike ride, I went out this morning with my car and my bicycle and drove to the start of the pavement, parked my car, and road a frigid 4 miles down an 8% grade hill, up another, and then back. The whole thing took about 20 minutes, but I was decently chilled by then, not to mention winded from my first experience hill-climbing at over 8000'. Still, I think it was a good start. And what's more: I have, so far, made good on my goal of one bike and one new hike each weekend.

Sorry everyone, no pictures this time around. I keep forgetting to bring my camera on these things. :)

Until next time!