Heading west - in 90 days from New York to San Francisco: The Sierra Nevada

My next and probably last hiking-stopover I wanted to go to was Yosemite Valley. This place, probably one of the most famous in the US was no directly between me and San Francisco so I definitely shouldn't miss that. The best way it could turn out, would be getting a permit for hiking half-dome, the famous round-shaped mountain in Yosemite but apparently it's way harder to get an instant permit for that compared to Mount Whitney or Grand Canyon, probably because it's way easier accessible and not to high or to hot for most hikers. If you wanna get an instant permit then you either have to take part in a lottery which gives you a 50% chance or apply for a permit in the park for which you have to wait at least one or two days, so I already started to look for other hikes there instead.

But before I could get started I remembered that low pressure in my back-tire the last couple of days so I wanted to check that first. Surprise! I never would have guessed that it could be a wire-piece AGAIN! (Nr. 4 now!) and the fact that it didn't let all the air out at once was just because of the fluid inside the tube which slowed down that process. Luckily I had three extra tubes this time so I should be really safe for a while, so thought I... Putting in the first tube, pumping it up and BOOM! The tube burst already at 35psi, I've got no idea why but whatever, sh*t happens and two more tubes left. When I opened the second tube I've got my next surprise: They sold me a 29' tube instead of a 26' one. It was simply useless! Now I've got just one more try and luckily this one fit without any problems and I could continue without any more extra tubes.

Bishop, the next town 80km from where I started that day, was the only chance to restock my extra tubes and I was lucky again to get into the only bike-shop opened on Saturday till 3pm (have been there at 2:40). From this town I went on climbing up 900m on a plateau with insane headwinds (it was horrible!) and camping just right after that near a lake called Lake Crawley.

This evening I tried calculating all the kilometers I did till New York, day by day, to see where I was exactly cause till now I always just estimated how far I would be and never knew exactly. What I found out really surprised me. I calculated one, two more times but it was right I've done already 7800km within just 60 days of cycling and I still had 17 days left till the 17th when I planned to be in San Francisco. Sure I recognized being faster than expected before, but definitely not that much ahead and being just three days away from my final destination also meant that I wasn't in a rush at all and could see as many things around California as I wanted. But then I recognized something else: If I would do normal speed I would probably do 1900km more which would mean ending up with 9700km, sure way more than I expected at the beginning (to be honest I didn't even think that I could reach the 8000 I wrote on the sign:) but that would be definitely a bad number, being just 300km away from the magical 10000 and as you maybe know me I'm way to ambitious not to try that as I probably wouldn't get a second chance very soon:)

And again...

Tower-loaded this morning:)

So I decided on taking the remaining 17 days not toooo cozy, needing a 130km/80mi average per day to complete the 10000. All this needed some quick planning on a new route cause doing 2200km more, being just 300km away from San Francisco meant doing some crazy zick-zack riding, seeing as many different places as possible while not crossing the same route again and not doing to many kilometers for having a nice rest at the end. When I looked up the map quickly I already saw where I could extend my route with some nice detours: First I would skip on going straight to Yosemite via Tioga Pass (3000m) and cycling up north, circling Lake Tahoe (which I had now idea how it looked like but it seemed interesting), crossing the Sierra then and approaching Yosemite from the west. Secondly I would be going south after Yosemite, joining the Pacific coast near Paso Robles and cycling north on Highway 1 towards San Francisco. Like that I could also visit Jodi (a friend of Kristen Prince in Indianapolis) and her family in Santa Cruz and if I would arrive in San Francisco with to less kilometers I could simply cycle around the bay and as far north (inland) as needed and approaching the Golden Gate (on Highway 1 again), this time from the north. Plan done!:)

The Sierra Nevada always to the left:)

Cycling through Owens Valley, one of Americas deepest valleys!

Campsite near Lake Crowley

My favorite sign:/

That happens when the pass road is too steep:)

The next two days I was heading straight towards Lake Tahoe, the most northern point in California I would reach. The road during these two days took me over several medium-high passes on a pretty high average level always over 1400m/4600ft cause I was cycling on the eastern side of Sierra now, not following a certain valley anymore which meant going up and down all the time over several mountain ridges. Cause it was the edge of the desert I was cycling through dry grasslands, areas with tall bushes or Pine forests all the time, depending on how high and how close to the mountains I was (the higher and closer to the Sierra the more green the landscape became). Only really interesting place on this part was Mono Lake, pretty much halfway to Tahoe, one of Americas oldest lakes (something around 700.000 years) with interesting rock formations sticking out of the water like needles but unfortunately the lake has receded during the last decades so most of them are out of the water now:/
The night in between then I luckily reached a random campsite next to a little river when it was getting dark (for which I usually had to pay) but there was simply no other place to sleep in this narrow valley. Luckily the campsite was full and a large American family (about 25 people) had there annual family reunion there for the 30st time or something, going camping and fishing for a week every year:) They offered me a place for my tent on one of there sites and invited me, sitting, talking and listening to their stories around their campfire with them while enjoying some of their delicious chili after I accidentally dropped my Mac&Cheese on the ground:) Such a nice family, I felt really sad that I missed their pancake-breakfast the next morning cause I left quite early:/

Sunset at Crowley Lake

Always switching between pine forests and desert

Approaching Mono Lake

Rock formations at the lake shore

Looking back to Mono Lake from Conway Summit

Wide lawns near Bridgeport

Endless grasslands

Devil's Gate Sunset

California Night Sky

Definitely the right place to be during 36°C/98°F in the shade:)

Free drinks:)

My shared site

As a compensation for that I surprisingly passed a "Spaghetti All You Can Eat"-sign the next day when I entered Nevada again for about 80km. I simply couldn't resist although it was still quite early for lunch but it was just 4,99 Dollars and I didn't have Spaghetti since I came to the US. It was definitely saving money cause I had three plates of them in the end all together with garlic-bread and water for free:)
Filled up with enough energy I quickly reached Carson valley with just one last pass to climb till the lake. Unfortunately I accidentally deleted my pass-selfies from Mount Whitney till San Francisco so I can't show them anymore except of them which are on Facebook:/
It is quite hard to imagine that Carson Valley has an altitude of 1400m while Lake Tahoe on the other side of a small mountain ridge has an altitude of 1900m, which makes these mountains a giant dam against a massive amount of water which Lake Tahoe holds as one of the deepest Lakes in North America (with a depth of more than 500m/1650ft even deeper than the bottom of Carson Valley!
Unfortunately I didn't just have to climb up to 1900m but 2200m/7200ft instead on a super steep road to get to the other side and finally seeing the lake.
It was definitely one of the best decisions I could have made to go there, such an amazing scenery in the evening hours! The lake is surrounded by mountains everywhere and the Pine forests all around give a magical color in the evening sunshine together with the really deep blue water, just amazing! (only bad thing is that there're thousands of tourist apartments and private houses along the lake shore, in fact everything around here is very touristic but more or less hidden in the woods so it doesn't bother the natural look of the lake very much). It kinda reminded me a little bit of Sweden which looks quite similar (without the big mountains) where we were often when we were kids. Just another 20km further I found a nice place to camp right next to the lake not far from the California border which I would cross again the next day.

:)))

Valley near my campsite

Approaching Nevada again

three times!:P

Choose the church you want:)

That road in the background I have to climb up:/

Almost there:)

Ice-cream and drink for free (guy at the counter was really impressed by my story:)

Watch out!

Lake Tahoe in the evening:)

This next day I experienced how beautiful and exhausting Lake Tahoe can be (but more beautiful than exhausting:) It was another pitch perfect day of sunshine and temperatures around 34°C/93°F on 2000m! which really made me want to go for a swim but first I wanted to reach the south shore with its nice beaches (according to my map). The ride to these beaches lead me around the whole lake getting lots of amazing looks down into the colorful water. At some shallow parts of the lake the water has a crazy turquoise color and you feel more like in the Caribbean than in the mountains! Unfortunately they wanted to make the road around the lake adventurous as well which brings us to the exhausting part, a total climb of more than 1600m/1mile uphill during the day although you're not even gaining a single meter in the end! (at least you get some nice views of the lake as a compensation:) When I reached the south shore of the lake then I couldn't resist to get into the water anymore and directly chose the closest beach I could find. Wow! the water wasn't cold at all and really felt more like being in the Caribbean than in the mountains! Sooo refreshing, not too warm or too cold, just perfect! Later I should find out that Kristen (from Indianapolis) has been on the same beach, the same day, the same time, how crazy that would have been if I would have run into her but how could I've known before:/

Totally calm water in the morning!

Crazy colors!

Getting better and better, here: Emerald Bay.

Cycling on the top of a small mountain ridge:)

Caribbean or Sierra Nevada?:)

Definitely Caribbean!

Anyway, after this nice refreshment I gained new strength and did another 40km on the road, cycling over Luther Pass (2400m) and reaching the top of my Sierra Crossing, Carson Pass (2615m) right after sunset where I decided to stay the night as well. Around half an hour before I've reached the pass-summit, someone jumped out of woods on the side of the road and asked me to stop:) He turned out to be another cross-country cyclist from New Zealand. His name was Grum. He was maybe in his early 50s and was currently cycling with a young teacher from Colorado he met a week before, Hanna, who was also cycling from New York to San Francisco but rather the straight way. He himself was way more crazy than Hanna or me, cause he didn't just do the US but rather the whole world! He started in New Zealand 3 years ago and has already cycled plenty of countries on all continents with an total of almost 45000km while collecting money against cancer, which is a pretty cool thing connecting some charity work with an adventure like this. Now he was on his way to San Francisco to start his last part of his adventure: cycling down the west coast from Seattle to San Diego together with his wife! He gave me his card to look at his Blog on Facebook and you can also do this if you're interested via "GrumGoesGlobal" (his journey ends at the beginning of October so don't miss his arrival in Hanmer Springs, NZ:)
Cause he told me they would get up quiet early the next morning I was confident that I would meet them again the next morning and cycled till the top of the pass to have a comfortable start the next day.

Looking back to Red Lake from Carson Pass.

On the top of the Sierra Nevada.

Exactly like I expected I caught up with them the next day after a couple of miles on the road. Cause we were cycling the same direction in the moment we decided to stay together until their road would turn right towards Sacramento after 50km. These following 50km and the 20km afterwards turned out to be the best downhill ride I've ever had! 70km of pure downhill, not to steep but steady, allowed constant speeds of 40km/h / 25mph and more! The road was recently paved and built on the top of a mountain ridge between two valleys always overlooking the whole Sierra to the north and the south all the time. Shortly after splitting up I reached the end of the downhill in a small town called Jackson (did 70km in 2 1/2 hours!) and was in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada now on the western side. Suddenly everything was dry again but all grass so I guessed that this was just because of the current summer drought and would probably change during the winter.
The Sierra foothills reminded me a lot of the hills I had back in Pennsylvania, not because of the look but rather because of the very extremely exhausting up- and downhill in the heat which doesn't allow you a gain of single meter in altitude but brings you to your limits! The roads were also quite narrow, windy, without a shoulder (which is very very rare in the US!) and had so much traffic that I was really scared after every curve that a car maybe couldn't see me (even a police-car stopped and warned me) but there was simply no other road south so I had to take this one anyway. Luckily the road became wider in a town called Angels Camp (by chance?:) and I could cycle for another 10km until I found a secret spot next to the road near a little village called Tuttletown not far from Yosemite:)