We did manage an early start today, leaving by 7.40, it made a big difference to the day, as we were straight in to the climb. With a little coolness (that is Martin always trying to appear cool) and a reasonable track we made rapid (taking the meaning of rapid to be anything greater that slow, with slow being a litle faster than very slow which in turn is faster than a snail’s pace. How snails pace is another matter altogether) progress.

The views got steadily better as we cycled upwards (yes cycled not pushed). It was the usual forest tracks with the occasional cutout where you could see down the valley.

Then all of a sudden we were at the top 5700 ft.

A nice descent was had by all, passing piles of elk poo but not an elk in sight. We are getting quite good at poo identification now, but as far as a life skill goes not much use in Blackheath.

A few ups and downs and we hit the highway and a short drop down into Lincoln, with the campground on the far side of town. Lincoln is another town where it exists along the main highway along a 4 mile stretch. The word compact is an anathema to US town designers (similar to their car designers, who needs a 1.2 litre mini, when you can have a 4.5 litre pickup, by the way fuel is around $2.36 a gallon. Remember a US gallon is smaller than a proper gallon, 0.833 to be exact).

The campground is nice, no showers though (yet another tap wash, yes I do wash).

While we were there, a lot of helicopters flew overhead carrying bags of water. Talking to the librarian (the library is the best place to get any information you need about anything in town!) there is a forest fire northwest of Lincoln and they have just about got it under control. It has destroyed around 10 acres. Fires in the summer are major problem here as everywhere is in the middle of a forest.

And.