Spring 1997 - Cincinnati to Yukon
Journals - 10 April 1997
Day 10 - Portsmouth, OH
10 April 1997 (very cold in morning; frozen H2O bottles; pleasant in
evening; mostly sunny all day; mileage = check map) -- A - It got really
cold again (20s) (the water bottles froze! [but the bags didn't {X - what's
in that stuff?}], but we managed to keep warm while we slept. Thank
goodness for ZLB, though! We got up at 8:30 and hauled out by 9:40.
Our fingers and toes were mighty cold, though. I'm sure the operation
(packing up) would have gone quicker if we weren't so cold. We headed off
into the unknown pretty much, in search of the end to our trail. We
determined we weren't on the trail we'd hoped and we feared this one would
just stop! It was well over an hour before we found it and then it was 1)
just go down the side of the ridge or 2) turn around and go back for a few
hours. We went for it. Or it went for us! I was too chicken to stay on the
bike, though Chris did for most of it. It was bumpy, rocky, and DOWN hill!
Again at one point, I cried because I was scared. I was sure Chris would be
catapulted off his bike or I would slip and fall down the mountain.
However, we did make it. Chris eventually had to walk his bike also, or
rather push it through bushes, over trees and rocks, and under vines. We
could finally see some houses below and got down to them and BARBED WIRE
fence!! Oh no! So close, yet so far. Chris went and asked them if we could
push the bikes under a low spot and come down through her yard. She was
very nice and let us. She said it was awful rattlesnake territory where we
were, but thankfully they didn't appear to be out yet! We were once again
on paved road. My front tire seems to be leaking, but other than that,
nothing noticeable wrong for all that trauma! X - The entire trail started
at the west lookout tower and ran south just east of Gas Hollow. I mention
it since it is worth remembering, since it was such a spectacular trail
which followed the ridge for miles. Once we did get to 52, we had a
relatively tame ride into Portsmouth stopping once at a gas station where
we found a trash can! Wow! In Portsmouth, we rode around aimlessly for a
while. They have some very nice murals on their flood wall. It looks like
their town went into the toilet when Korea learned to make shoes (their
former enterprise). We rode to the north side of town and after stopping
at a motel with no hot H2O found one that did. Moral -- ask about hot
showers. We took a delicious shower then went to the laundromat and put our
clothes in. We then went shopping for food (dinner) and had baloney
sandwiches in the laundromat. I had to ride back to the motel to get
something we forgot and wanted washed. We returned to the room, sorted our
stuff, patched April's tire and are ready for shower #2.
![[Bike]](./only2500b.gif)
