Womble Day 2, Early in the AM

Sam flips on the light and announces that, indeed, his cabinmates have slept long enough.

I’m not exactly sure about that.

The group commences to stirring, stretching and pointless meandering throughout the cabin. Some people are sniffing this and that determining if it’s too rank to wear again. The standard didn’t seem to be exceptionally high.

Squirrel whips up deer sausage and egg burritos for the gang. I get strange looks for downing a Fiber One bar while waiting for my McSquirrel Burrito. The consensus is I will surely soil myself during the day due to my judicious fiber intake. I’m not worried though (okay, maybe a little).

We pack copious amount of dry socks and wrap our shoes in duck tape in an admittedly lame (and largely futile) attempt at waterproofing. Dennis hands out toe warmer packs, just in case. We are clearly traumatized from yesterday’s little piggy freezefest.



We head out going east this time toward the section that is supposed to have a little more elevation and a couple of spots with semi-exposure. We plan to follow the Womble to its eastern terminus and then maybe loop a little of the Oauchita trail before following the Womble back from whence we came. The out-n-back format means every climb is a downhill and vice versa.





The morning is crisp, but holds the promise of a nice warm-up via bluebird clear skies.

Entering the singletrack the group is very mellow, everyone still bringing legs back to life. My ON or OFF brakes are still howling, announcing my every use of them even on the relatively flat, twisty terrain. I’m chastised for over braking and honestly, I deserve it. Warming up everyone is pretty vocal, with several people declaring “I’m F@$#% Craig!” Hubris – it is a good sign.

We get to the top of the first climb and take a proper Iowa 8 picture.



It’s not long before we arrive at the exposed climb. Its not too bad, I’m feeling pretty good and ride the first 1/4th of it, but seeing that it continues up and up and gets a little tricky I dismount and start the hike-a-bike. Matt, one of the stronger riders in the group, has somehow got himself behind me and asks to pass so he can try riding the climb. I say sure and move to the side but quickly realize I’m standing right next to the trickiest spot, a little rock step up. I make the decision to try and get a bit further up the trail to give him a better place to pass but in my effort to bolt up the trail I trip on the rock and head for no man’s land. I quite adeptly flatten myself to Mother Earth and slide down the embankment slightly. I don’t know what it looked like to others, but I didn’t see it as that big of a deal. Nick said if I had somehow freaked out and spun the other way it could’ve gotten ugly. He’s apparently got a picture of it. That should be interesting viewing. Anywho, I jumped back up and continued the hike, stopping to hop back on and peddle the last 1/4th of the climb just for kicks.

I'm not sure if this was the spot, but it did look like this narrow, sidehill bookshelf bit.



Unlike the previous days waterpark ride, the trail was dry with the exception of several smaller creek crossings. I took a moment to pose my new bike in one of them. Hey Dirt Rag, Mountain Bike Action and any other mountain bike magazines – call me.



Nick had his 2nd or 3rd flat of the trip somewhere around mid-day, giving the group a nice excuse to relax creekside and take in the scenery and remember how lucky we all are to be here doing this instead of almost anything else.



more great trail



Hey, somebody get that Squirrel off the fur-nature.



Ooo, ethereal.



Day 2: 32.21 miles, 4,320 feet of climbing, one continuous grin.



Later, by the campfire, Squirrel was messing with me. He kept trying his hand at close range flash photography. It wasn't working well for him, poor guy.



I got him back.



Tomorrow its finish the Womble and tackle the Lake Vista trail; hoots and hollers.