Day 13: Beaver Dam to Grasshopper Campground

As we packed our camp, Brett began to fill his water when a fellow camper warned us that the water was no good. He proceeded to fill both of our water bladders with fresh water from his supply and then his wife gave us each a stick of homemade elk salami. Needless to say we set off in good spirits, even though the ominous Fleecer Ridge was only a few miles away. We continued the same climb as we started last night and 6 miles later we arrived. Fleecer is a short but incredibly steep section of rough jeep track that averages nearly 20% grade. We made it to the top, legs burning, and navigated atop a ridge to the descent, which was much steeper, a little longer, and for the most part, completely unrideable with our fully loaded bikes. Finally, after a steep hike-a-bike, we made it to the bottom. Back on our bikes, we cruised the rest of the descent and turned onto a highway. After a short stop and some road beers from kind strangers, we continued on pavement into a headwind and up a road that just kept climbing. We had hopes to travel farther, but the light was fading halfway down a pretty glorious descent. We found ourselves a nice place to call it a day at Grasshopper Campground.

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