Mazana,WA - Okanagon,WA (60 miles).
Last night we stayed at the Bicycle Barn in Mazana. What a great place! Jim has his yard set up for cyclists with a warm shower, composting toilet, tap with drinking water, WiFi, and plenty on space for camping! After going without a real shower for a few sweaty days it was nice to be able to remove ALL the salt. And a little added bonus was a clear night sky filled with millions of stars. I haven't seen that stars that brightly in a long time!
Today we went over another mountain pass (Loup Loup), which wasn't as steep or as long as the ones yesterday, but man was it hot! We are now riding through the high desert so the temperature has risen significantly and it's extremely dry. So the 7.5 mile pass still took us a good 3 hours.
What is really intesting about this part of the state, besides it's beauty, is this is where all the apples are grown. But apples need a lot of water and this is a desert...so this means TONS of irrigation. Every yard and field in the valley has sprinklers running, so they are lush and green. Everywhere else is brown. As I lay in our tent I can hear the gentle clicking of the sprinkler in the field next to us. In the evening we passes an organic apple farm, which was cool to see, but I couldn't help but think that the entire process was entirely unsustainable. The heat is good for growing apples, but there is a lot of water being diverted to keep those trees alive.
Tomorrow we have a lighter day planned before we tackle the next too passes.
2 comments:
beautiful pictures!! glad you stinkers finally got a shower (wink) dad says with the low humidity of the desert there aren't as many bugs to attack the apples..maybe that is why they are there instead of the rainy region. Jamie, your freckles are so cute!
I wait every day for the update! You guys are amazing. Keep safe..
Love, Aunt Robyn
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