John Wayne Trail 2014: Day 3

Heading toward Rock Lake

I woke to a beautiful morning and got started! I was excited to make up for my first two days, which were very disappointing with reference to the distance I covered. This day, I covered a solid 70 miles and enjoyed them all!

Beautiful sunrise

The trail from Malden to Rock Lake was amazing! I rode through small herds of cattle as the trail became more and more rocky.

Cattle gates that were luckily unlocked

A view from a bridge over the creek flowing into Rock Lake

 

An old derailed train car on the side of a bridge

I passed over a few old bridges and a tunnel as I approached the lake. Because I was in a canyon of sorts, it was a comfortable and cool morning.

My first tunnel... they are DARK!

I was told by my friends in Malden that many ranchers dislike the trial. It has not been used or developed in a long time and cuts through their lands. Apparently, they even tried to bury it at one point. The picture below shows where they used dynamite to blast down a rock wall across the trail. I carried my bike across and continued.

Climbing over these rocks with a bike was kind of fun

After the tunnel and rock slide, I got a chance to herd deer! The trail ran along the south side of the lake between water and canyon wall. I came upon a few deer and they ran ahead of me for about 5 minutes. It was a strange experience to herd deer like cattle along the trail!

There were old half-rotted bridges with decent falls below them

My new setup!

Trying to take a selfie in front of Rock Lake... too bright!

When I got to the south side of Rock lake, I started a tradition that I observe to this day on all trips. I filled my hat with cool water and dumped it onto my head. I strongly suggest that you try this on any hot day, It is a great way to cool off. I got 2 more flats not long after that.

Happy to be here!

 

A nice shady resting spot

Around noon, I arrived at a kiosk near a grain elevator. Tried to take a nap in the shade of the kiosk but I soon found that it was infested with yellow-jackets. When they started to land on me, I got up and continued to the grain elevator. I was invited in to chat, offered lunch, and had a great time! We talked for a few hours before I continued on my way!

Darn Yellow-jackets! At least it isn't far to the grain elevator.

Lunch of champions!

This is some of my favorite scenery of the trip

The rest of my day was just amazing! I made great mileage because the trail used to be a railroad so it is very flat! It cut through gorgeous plains as far as the eye could see. I saw plenty of hawks and eagles, a couple coyotes, and tons of deer.

As evening approached, I heard packs of dogs or wolves howling all over the place. I found that disconcerting and made tracks for the next man-made location on my map. That turned out to be a grain silo on the side of railroad tracks. There were a doe and fawn wandering around eating grain off the ground. I was sorry to scare them away but I didn't feel like sleeping elsewhere.

Another great sunset

At about 2 in the morning, I was awakened to the sound of hooves charging. I could see absolutely nothing in the dark but I could hear something running toward me. Just as it sounded like the animal was going to hit me, it stopped and made a strange yelling sound. It was the deer trying to scare me away from her and her baby's feeding area. I had no idea how territorial deer can be! I flashed my light at the deer to confuse it and eventually it stopped and I got back to sleep. In the morning, the mother and baby came back as I was leaving... no harm done!