Devil's Gate Summit to Bridgeport

26 June 2010

Two years ago, Alison and John, Ingrid and I did a self-contained version of the Tahoe-Yosemite ride we are now on. A few days into that ride, dry lightning storms caused numerous forest fires that blanketed northern California in smoke for a few weeks. The first day we encountered that smoke was on the ride from Walker to Bridgeport. Today, the scenery on that same ride was spectacular.



Bridgeport, at an elevation of 6460 feet, sits at the edge of a huge grazing meadow. To the west, the eastern ridge line of the Sierra Nevada is in clear view and the rugged peaks are still laced with snow. Today, the meadow is full of purple irises. The sky was bright blue and in the afternoon cumulus clouds formed.



The main part of today's ride was relatively easy: 30 miles and 2100 feet of elevation gain. An interesting wrinkle is that the climbing started in Walker and continued with almost no break for 18 miles until we reached Devil's Gate Summit. This means that the average pitch was only 2% (100 feet gained per 5000 feet traveled equates to about 2100 feet gained in 18 miles). But even a 2% grade can knock about my speed down by about a third, from 15 mph on flat ground to 10 mph.



After lunch, Ingrid and I did the ride "option," a 27 mile out-and-back ride to Twin Lakes. The route took us across the giant meadow to the west and then climbed about 800 feet into a basin tucked neatly into the foot of the eastern ridge of the mountains. In all, we rode 58 miles today, which will be our longest day of the trip.



The photos:
top — looking west along 395 just outside of Bridgeport
2nd-4th shots — scenes along the road between Walker and Devil's Gate Summit
5th photo — happy cows grazing in the meadow as we ride out to Twin Lakes
bottom — from the eastern shore of the eastern Twin Lake, looking west.