Days 54 & 55: Cedar City, UT to Caliente, NV

• Distance: 102.68 mi
• Elevation: 3,054 ft
• Dedication: Uncle Tim
• Ride group: Collin, Katy, and Bethany, with a little riding with Mike, Glenn, and Bailey in the middle
• Host: Kershaw-Ryan State Park, coordinated by 4K alum Leslie

Two nights ago we developed a last-minute reroute to avoid going way out of our way to Milford, where we also didn’t have a confirmed host. Instead, we set out for Caliente, NV today (pronounced “Cali-enny” by the locals), which doubled our mileage for the day but gave us a bonus rest day!

As I expected, I didn’t sleep very well out on the patio that night and woke up feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. Yesterday was a big mental struggle for me, but as usual my friends were so supportive and helped me get through it. Plus there was a very exciting moment: Maggie got back on her bike for the first time since crashing on our ride to Fort Morgan! She has been a real trooper with the knee pain she’s had since then and all the van days she’s had to endure. She crushed 19 miles today and I was so, so happy for her.

Despite feeling off mentally I was doing well physically up until a rest stop at mile 60. We stopped at the Nevada border and took some fun pictures at the state sign, but then heard that the run van was having mechanical issues a few miles behind us. All of the lug nuts on one of their tires were loose, one had fallen off, and the wheel was very close to coming off entirely. Collin rode back to them with the water van to help out, so my group waited out at the water stop for what felt like a very long time. I was on the verge of falling asleep when they got back, with the run van in drivable condition.

From there I felt awful for the rest of our climbing for the day. There was no shade at the water stop and I was overheating; I filled up my water when I got there but didn’t refresh it before I left so it was warm and I had nothing to cool down with. The climb wasn’t anything crazy but felt so hard and I was definitely slowing my group down. Close to the top we passed Mike, who I dropped back with to give him some company and to give myself a break. At the top we met up with Glenn and Bailey and descended as a group. As upset as I was for feeling so weak, nothing is better than a good descent! We had incredible views of some mountains and could see for miles. At the bottom we stopped for lunch at a friend of a 4K alum, Leslie, who is currently living in Caliente for the summer. After lunch we headed to Kershaw-Ryan State Park, where Leslie works, as yet another storm was rolling in! We have had rain almost every day in Utah and Nevada which I did not expect at all. Rain is an inconvenience, especially when we’re camping, but I appreciate the cooler temperatures.

The campsite was a bit of a whirlwind as most of the team decided to head to Las Vegas and spend the night and their rest day there. More importantly, Vegas is the closest Enterprise hub on our route for a few days, so we wanted to get our problem vans there in hopes that we could switch them out on the rest day. I knew that I did not have the physical, mental, or emotional energy to handle the trip so I chose to stay behind with Mary, Max, Tori, Bryce, Bethany, and James to recharge. We went out for dinner at the Knotty Pine, a local restaurant proudly offering slots, beer, liquor, and ATMs (who needs Vegas???). I had a steak, which was mediocre but felt like a real treat.

We arrived back at the campsite as the sun was setting and it was so gorgeous. We’re nestled in a canyon, one side of which was still lit up by the sun after it had set behind the other. All of our bags are currently in tents to make room for people in the vans that went to Vegas, so I claimed a mostly full tent for myself and dubbed it the director’s suite :) I attempted to watch some Stranger Things but was falling asleep so I went to bed around 10.

I slept in until the very late hour of 7 AM this morning feeling so refreshed! I laid around for a while but my tent did start to get a little hot in the direct sun. Mike, Mary, Tori, Bethany, and I went out for coffee and breakfast while James, Bryce, Max, and Leslie went for a bike ride. We found a coffee trailer that looked sketchy at first but was so cute! We got breakfast elsewhere and then went to pick up the riders, who wanted to bike down the canyon without having to turn around and bike back up to the campsite (respect).

I then went out with James, Max, Bryce, and Leslie for lunch and a quick exploration of Cathedral Gorge State Park. I don’t know what I expected from the park but it exceeded all my expectations and was maybe the most beautiful thing I’ve seen on this trip. We explored some small, narrow slot canyons carved into the rocks. It was stunning to be deep in the rocks, shielded from the sun for the most part, and to look up to the sky above you. I hope these pictures do it justice! The pictures don’t capture how radically the temperature changed as you walked into the slots, though– you would never think it was late July with how cool the temperatures became as you walked further into the canyons.

After picking up some stickers at the visitor’s center we headed back to Caliente, stopping at some local markets for dinner donations. We had surprisingly good luck and got enough gift cards to secure dinner for our small group tonight and breakfast items for the team tomorrow. It did start to storm again, much worse than yesterday, so at one point we were shopping by flashlight. My private suite unfortunately did get a little wet, but nothing too terrible. We waited out the rain under a pavilion and made hamburgers for dinner. The sun came out just in time to light up the ridges of the canyon like last night, this time with a faint but full rainbow above the canyon as well.

The Vegas crew got back around 9:30 with some exciting van updates: the run van was repaired and functional, and, after much negotiation and pestering Enterprise, we finally have a second 15-passenger van that can accommodate bike racks! Tomorrow is going to be a very long and hard day without the extra challenge of packing up our campsite and loading things into the new van, but for now I’m celebrating the little victories :)

Until then!

Lauren