The three summit day

7:14am to 4:50pm, 67 miles, 90 degree heat and three summits (5300, 5100, 5000); what I thought was to be a 40 mile day turned into a grueling slog.  I crested Dixie Summit  and descended to Austin Junction. The place was a no show, a building closed for the season and that was it.  The name suggest at least a small town.  I rode a bit in each direction but found zip.  Terrific, I needed a watering hole and place to crash for the night and now I was faced with a sizable ride before I would find any civilization.  So onward, although tired from climbing the first pass, I was looking at having to climb two more.  No towns anywhere accept Sumpter which was 23 miles away with two more mountains in the way.  Not a reassuring feeling. Over the next four hours, I bicycled and walked my way up the two remaining summits.  Two pit stops to eat the provisions I had brought along: cheese, bread, raisins, chocolate and water.  The sun beating down on me caused me to consume water faster than I normally do. At one point a federal park ranger stopped to check if I were OK.  "I saw you pushing your bike out in the middle of knowwhere and wondered if you 

were OK".  He offered to drive me to Sumpter but I said I only needed water.  He came back ten minutes later with several bottles of ice cold spring water.  I throw down one bottle immediately and topped off my four water containers. The name of the park service guy  is Bill Michell.  God will give him a star for helping out a complete stranger. 

    After one final refueling stop, I crested the last summit and flew down to the Sumpter turnoff. During the final three miles over flat terrain, I could barely get any speed up. I rode into not much of a town but I found a decent campsite stockaded as was done in the nineteenth century. Had I been ten minutes earlier, I could have had a roof over my head but the last hostel bed was given to the guy in front if me at the main desk. Yes, I will sleep tonight, even in my minuscule bivy sack. Tomorrow, will be a short day of  thirty miles to Baker City.