We started riding from Pauma Valley on Fri morning by climbing the unpaved Nate Harrison Grade up to Palomar Mt. It was steep, so Taco used his manual transmission to switch into the granny gear
It worked, and he was delighted:
The road is steep, and nice views open up as you ascend
Apparently gliders use this area as a launching point
After ~ 4000ft of gain, you could see the top of the main climb
And soon after that, we entered the state park, met a paved road, and found weird white stuff on the ground.
It would come and go; at this point traction mostly wasn't a problem. We kept riding, admiring the getting-more-pleasant surroundings. Then we stopped for caffeine. I made coffee, and Taco drank his "Bang" cotton-candy flavored energy drink. It contains super creatine, bcaa aminos and natural flavors. It is also a potent brain and body fuel.
We kept riding. The pavement disappeared again, but the terrain was still top notch.
We then crossed this creek:
The crossing was frozen, but the ice broke through when Taco was riding on it, sending him over the handlebars. He was banged up, but was in good-enough shape to keep riding
Then there was a meadow
and an observatory
The road we were on (Palomar divide road) passes behind the observatory, with no obvious access to it. We were running short on time, so didn't try very hard to visit. That's ok; we looked at San Gorgonio, San Jacinto, and the craggy Cahuilla mountain instead.
The lookout tower at the high point of Palomar Mt came into view, and we took a small detour to visit. The area immediately around the tower has burned recently:
No matter. We summitted, found an unopened beer sitting on the table, and celebrated a succefful ascent by splitting it 3 ways.
Miller Lite isn't the best beer I've ever had, but at least none of us got the plague; yet.
I couldn't find the benchmark, so this reference mark would have to suffice
The descent down was more icy than the climb. Traction was a problem, and there were some falls. Nothing requiring rescues.
But there were views!
We popped out onto the highway just after dark. Now we were just 30 miles away from the day's destination: Borrego Springs. Taco remembered this being mostly downhill, so it was going to be a breeze. After many cold hours of riding and 1400ft of gain, we crested the top of Montezuma Valley Rd, and descended into town.
The next day was a 70-mile paved ride back via Julian. We passed by lots of metallic wildlife
Then we climbed over Yaqui Pass, and took a photo by some road marker.
After climbing Banner Grade we arrived at Julian, and were surprised to see it completely full of non-cycling folk. We had the customary pie: Boysenberry-Apple crumb. It was quite good.
Then it got dark, and started raining. And 40 short miles later, we were done!
