Valdez to Sand Pit on Rt. 4 – Day 19

07.19.12 Day 19 Valdez to Sand Pit on Rt. 4 79.45 miles, 1049.99 trip miles 11.1 avg mph, 40.2 max 7:06:25 ride time All pavement Sunny. 80′s Days of rain: 7 Another horrible night of sleep and more stomach issues. The stomach was an issue throughout the day until about 6 pm. It seems okay now but I haven’t had dinner yet. No idea if I have an appetite. We’ll see in a little bit. Despite my personal issues today was probably the prettiest day of the trip. Valdez itself was uneventful but the drive out and over Thompson Pass was out of this world. It started with a descent through a canyon with probably over a dozen waterfalls. These things were probably 500′ tall and some were gushing. We stopped to admire this one that was just breath taking. The valley opened up and we had mountains on both sides and it was just majestic. The south side had tons of snow since those slopes were north facing.(See pictures below). The climb to the pass was not overly hard but it was long. I’m guessing about 13 miles or so. It was tough on me as my stomach wasn’t doing great and my energy. I trudged through the miles with a few stops to rest and one to douse my head since I was so hot. The sun was out and it was hot. I could have used more sun screen but I was sweating so bad it was hard to keep it on. My right side is feeling a bit warm right now. I didn’t have a huge appetite at dinner but the stomach appears to be feeling some what better. Hopefully in the morning it’s a lot better. We had lunch at the top after chatting with some vacationers. They gave us some smoked salmon and Mike Yogied some a beer. We should have stayed longer at lunch to wait out the heat. The descent wasn’t as steep as I would have liked and had a fair bit of rolling small rises. The heat pounded us the whole way, though the views continued. As we got further and further from the pass the views and hills got less and less. We stopped at mile post 60, our 65th mile on the day as I needed a break before going any further. It was at this point where I think my stomach might have made the turn for he better. We’ll see tomorrow. I ended up leaning on my trailer while sitting on my Thermarest sit pad. It looked like I was hugging my trailer. The guys got a kick out of it. The nap treated me good and was longer than expected. We did another 10+ miles, found water, then found camp. Once to camp I was beat. I got the get up with Mike then took another nap while he talked to his girlfriend Holly. That nap gave me the energy to help with dinner. Dinner was cooked and consumed, then pots were cleaned. Mike is fixing Josh’s gears as he was having trouble getting the all. The crazy hot sunset behind the mountains and it’s much cooler now. The “sunset” was quite nice. It’s the first one I’ve seen in a while. Since its only 10:51 I’m going to take advantage of today’s early camp to rest. Until tomorrow take care. Glove count: 38 Tie Down Count: 107 Scatman