Day 13. Yreka to McCloud. 52.8 miles, 2586' climbing.

This was a very nice ride.  We took it easy, leaving early to avoid the heat and stopping as needed to get our seats off our seats.

This is our friend, John McManus, from Dallas.  He has done 90 cycling tours and ranks this one as among the top 2 for difficulty.  We are doing a lot of climbing.  Although today "featured" a couple of challenging ascents, it had only 2586' of climbing -- less than any day since our ride from Sunriver to Lake Odell.

We've ridden through lots of country like this, usually on the flatter parts of the day. Flat, even terrain is good for taking pictures.  Since Kris is on the back of the bike and has no steering or braking to do, she can pull out her iPhone and snap some shots. You notice there are fewer photos of climbing terrain.  That's because it's hard to hold the phone steady when you're gasping and once we start a hill, we don't want to stop until the top.

A view down one of the streets in McCloud.  That's Mt Shasta.  McCloud is pretty teeny but is still a big tourist destination.  A nice old hotel and many B&Bs

This is a shady picture of the McCloud Hotel.  We are not staying there but did have dinner there and it was very nice.  McCloud is an old lumber/railroad town and the buildings are from that era.  The B&B we're in was once an office building for the McCloud River Lumber Company, which owned the town.

Leftovers from the McCloud heyday -- leaning but still standing.