First Night’s Camp

We awoke to the sound of loons echoing across the lake. I liked this campsite when we arrived last night but this morning it was absolutely magical. The sun was coming up over the mountains, the lake looked like a mirror, the clothes we washed in the lake last night were dry, and the bag of food we had hoisted up in a tree across the meadow was still there-untouched by bears or even chipmunks. We were all smiles as we made our coffee and oatmeal.
We could hear a few cars on a road across the lake but for the most part we were in the middle of nowhere. The only person in sight was another cyclist who had pulled in late last night looking for company as he is doing this ride alone.
We rode together, stopping for photos every few minutes, until about an hour into our ride Hans noticed that the Spot device he loves so much was no longer attached to the back of my bike where he had put it this morning. I was getting used to riding with the loaded panniers but at one point a single track and a few rocks that would normally be no problem made “Buck” decide to throw me off into the rocks. We suspected that the Spot had fallen off there, some 8 miles or so back. Hans unhooked the trailer and headed back while our new pal decided to go on ahead and I walked down to a beautiful lake where I filtered water, made lunch, then waited. And waited. And waited. Almost 3 hours had gone by and I knew he had no food and very little water so even if he hadn’t had a mechanical failure (or worse) it was time to backtrack. I threw the panniers into the brush, grabbed the first aid kit and some bike tools off the “BOB” and headed down the trail. Sure enough, after about a mile I see Hans pushing his bike up the steep hill for the second time in a day. The look on his face told me he had not had any luck in his search for the Spot. By now he had put on an extra 20 miles and we would be late getting to the campsite we had planned on but our map said there was a lodge only 5 miles ahead. It was a beautiful trail, expecially with the black skies and lightening in the distance.Of course now would be a good time to get a flat tire so I did.

Fixing our first flat tire

By the time the Lodge was in sight we knew we were in for rain so when Mr. Innkeeper said “Sorry, we’re full” (of people who had given them the required 24 hour notice that entitled them to a room and a great meal out on the deck) we must have looked pretty pathetic because he suddenly remembered that he did have a yurt out in the woods that we could have. He even sold us cold beer and a glass of wine that we were welcomed to enjoy on the patio as long as we agreed to disappear before his guests came down for dinner. Did we really look that bad already??

Mt. Engadine Lodge

The yurt was perfect with a glass dome on top for stargazing, instead we watched the rain come down and knew we had lucked out.