Day 38: Arthur's Pass to Springfield
April 9th 2014
Distance cycled: 83 km
Total distance to date: 2306 km
Today was one of the most physically and mentally exhausting days I've had on this tour. It was a day of biking through amazing scenery in the cold mountains. I awoke to a beautiful fog lifting from the hills outside my host Lorena's cabin.
I thought the day would be mostly downhill, so I took it easy in the morning. I went for a coffee and a small hike to Devil's Punchbowl waterfall.
Then I set on my way to Springfield.
After a few rolling hills in the forest, I broke out onto some plains that offered gorgeous views of the mountains.
The guy who took that picture was from Pennsylvania. He was touring New Zealand with 3 friends, all from Pennsylvania, who joined our conversation one by one, and all seemed impressed with what I was doing. Even though I had to repeat myself for each person as they joined the conversation, it was fun to talk to them.
I continued my journey, past mountains, a helicopter, limestone rock formations, the whole time waiting for the downhill to kick in.
Then I came across a car park that had this sign posted:
Ohhhhh. So I had another pass to conquer before headed out of the mountains. That's why I hadn't hit the downhill yet. In fact, there were a few really hard hills up to this point. It was only 3pm but I was starting to worry I wouldn't make it out of the mountains before sundown, meaning I'd have to camp up there. And I was already wearing most of my cold-weather gear, so I could only imagine what nighttime temperatures would be.
I took a break at Lake Lyndon, knowing I only had 23km to go until Springfield. But first, Porters Pass awaited me.
Every slight uphill or incline had me in the lowest gear. I was losing steam. I started considering bumming a ride, thinking that maybe I just didn't have it in me to conquer a pass.
Another slight hill came along, and I chugged up it. But this one was different. At the top there was fog and a camera crew with vans and a drone.
I'd never seen a drone before so this was exciting. They were filming aerial footage for a commercial. I asked if they knew where Porters Pass was. They didn't know. One asked where I was going.
"Out of the mountains," I said.
"Well it looks like you're on the end of them," he replied, gesturing in front of us. Sure enough, the highway snaked down through the patchy fog along the side of the mountain. "Maybe it goes up again on the other side, but not by a lot."
I was so happy. I flew down the mountain and onto a highway that had me going in top gear for a good half an hour. By the time I stopped for a break, I checked my phone and was delighted to see I was only a few kilometers outside of Springfield. Yay!!
Camp was nice if just a bit wet - but luckily the rain started after I was snug in my tent.
posted by Kyla @ 03:00
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