I had yet to climb twenty-something SPS peaks, mostly in the western and southern Sierra. Many of the peaks were not particularly interesting as climbs, and involved long drives to remote trailheads. To make them more interesting, save miles on my car, and gain some experience, I decided to bag some as part of a bike tour. After briefly considering a crazy 500+-mile loop over Tioga Pass and back through Kennedy Meadows, I settled on this shorter 9-day route from Bass Lake. The experience taught me that I can handle around 75 miles per day towing a trailer through the mountains, and that I really enjoy bike touring when mixed with peak-bagging. I was also reminded that the west side, with its face-files, dry trailheads, and dusty woods-trails, is inferior to the east side.
Cycling stats
| Day |
Mi |
Elev |
| 1 |
47.9 |
+7600/-5100 |
| 2 |
24.1 |
+3600/-3200 |
| 4 |
78 |
+9200/-9000 |
| 5 |
3.3 |
+100 /-1000 |
| 6 |
16 |
+3000/-1700 |
| 8 |
45.7 |
+3400/-7600 |
| 9 |
36 |
+4700/-4200 |
| Total |
251 |
31,600 |
Hiking stats
| Day |
Mi |
Elev |
| 2 |
3.5 |
1400 |
| 3 |
29.2 |
8100 |
| 5 |
28 |
5600 |
| 6 |
14.6 |
4300 |
| 7 |
40.5 |
11,900 |
| 8 |
13 |
2900 |
| Total |
128.8 |
34,200 |
Kinda crazy when your mileage on feet is half the mileage on bike in a roughly equal number of days! I guess a couple of 30-40 mile days on foot separated by not much distance by bike will do that, but still, that’s a lot of time on feet relative to cycle time!
I’m a lot more used to spending long days on my feet than in the saddle. Also, it was too cold to ride at night or early in the morning, and the trailer slowed me down more than my daypack.