After a lovely breakfast, we said goodbye to our lovely Warmshowers hosts and hit the road. 60 miles and many (thousands of) feet of climbing, we were happy to get off the road and out of the sun. Our ride today took us up a gorgeous winding road that morphed into a killer hill right before connecting to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Unfortunately, by "connecting" I mean "running parallel to" for several miles. After riding up the hill of death, it was an easy decision to bushwhack through the poison ivy rather than ride the extra miles (the wrong direction) to the connecting road. Sonja intelligently wore her rain pants for the occasion, while Alix forged boldly ahead (hoping that the thick layer of sunscreen on her legs would protect her from the plant). Neither has developed signs of damage from the event, but its really too early to tell. We'll keep you updated.
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| Doing battle with some noxious weeds |
Next to our previous climb, the hills on the Parkway seemed perfectly tame. We snapped a photo or two in an attempt to capture and share the beauty of the NC mountains:
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| Sonja climbing things |
Next, we descended 1200 feet into Banner Elk to meet up with our Warmshowers hosts. After a shower and a snack, John and Kathleen treated us to a beer at Appalachian Brewing Company in Boone.
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| Cheers! |
We look forward to a smoother (read "less hilly") ride on the way to Damascus, VA tomorrow!
You keep finding such nice hosts!
ReplyDeleteDamascus is a nice backpackers/bikers hub.
Thanks for the blogging -- it really gives us earthbound people a flavor of what you're doing!
Oh -- and before you were born, Mom & I more than once hiked the Grandfather's Mountain lands from Route 105 (below Banner Elk, on the way to Boone).
ReplyDeleteGlad the ibex made it on the trip! :)
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