Climbs

Going east to west gave us plenty of time to get ready for the mountains. Aside from some hills, the first interesting climbs were in the Texas Hill Country. These weren't especially long, but on secondary roads they could be quite steep.

In west Texas we crossed the Davis Mountains past McDonald Observatory.

We climbed from the Rio Grande over the Rockies at Emory Pass NM (8200 feet), and left our names on the tablecloth at the restaurant in San Lorenzo. Jim and I split up at Emory Pass so I could visit the Glia cliff-dwellings and cruise the Continental Divide.

The hardest climb was a side trip to the Gila cliff-dwellings. This would have been easy if I had simply left the baggage at the campground. Or if I had stayed at the hot springs.

In California there was one last big 4000 foot climb from below sea-level in the Imperial Valley through In-Ko-Pah Pass on I-8/US-80.