NCal 04 Sorenson’s to Walker

 

It’s a cloudy morning; there’s even a little mist in the cool air (52 degrees).  We’re at 6,900 feet but in the first 11 miles descend to 5,500.  We’ve put on extra clothes, including long fingered gloves, and I’m comfortable on the descent. The route follows the Carson River for a while. The river is running fast, probably due to recent snow melt.

The climb to Monitor Pass begins at mile 15.  It’s a nine mile climb, gaining around 3,000 feet.  It begins to rain. Not a hard rain but more than a mist.  The gentle 4% to 6% grade eventually turns into 9% to 11%.  We’re using all the gears we have.  I make a mental note to equip the bikes with lower gears for our Canadian Rockies ride in August.  We stop about every 2 miles to recover, eat a snack and drink more water.  We’re working hard and breathing hard but this is doable.  With my GPS I monitor both the distance and elevation.  About 3/4’s of the way up, the grade gets gentle again as we anticipated.  But we’re surprised to to see it get difficult again near the top.  We’re close to 8,300 feet – is this the top? No. We remember hearing about a “false summit” as shown in the photo on the right.

Other cycling groups are at the summit.  Monitor Pass is part of the California Death Ride (110 miles with 16,000 feet of climbing) in July so local cyclists are here training.  Usually you get hot climbing but due to the rain and temperature we’re cold at the pass.  With an even colder descent in front is us, we add layers of clothing.  The descent is 3,000 feet in 10 miles.  Most of this is ok but there are a couple of sharp turns and one section marked 8% grade.

Back down to 5,000 feet - we have 10 miles to the motel. We even have a tailwind on this section but the grade is deceptive; it looks downhill but is actually uphill.  We’re all looking forward to great hamburgers at a burger joint next door to the motel.  It was as good as it’s reputation.  Of course after 44 miles and almost 4,000 feet of climbing, almost anything would taste good.  And there was no need for the early start; we’re eating our burgers shortly after 1:00 pm.

Above, road near the end of the descent from Monitor Pass. The town of Walker has 500 residents.  It’s elevation is 4,800 and regular gasoline is $4.10 per gallon.