Today is the day we reach the highest elevation of the entire trip-8220 feet at Emory Pass. It is still chilly in Kingston, and promises to be chillier as we climb to the top. Sherry, who we met yesterday, called and said she was actually going to Silver City and offered to take our gear to our hotel...an offer we couldn’t refuse! So after breakfast, we loaded our gear into the back of her car and set off up the mountain on our unladen bikes.What a difference it made! Although steeper than yesterday, it was still a fairly gradual climb to the top, with lots of switchbacks and great vistas. About an hour or so into our ride, Sherry passed us with our gear. She stopped and chatted for a bit before heading on. We continued climbing, actually into the fog. Bruce’s glasses were fogged up which made visibility a challenge. Bruce saw several turkeys run up the hill as he climbed- they were long gone by the time Kelley got there. Finally we reached Emory Pass. At 8220 feet it isn’t even the highest peak around- there is one that tops out over 10,000 feet close to this one. We stopped for a snack and worried about the descent in the thick fog. We had not seen many cars and hoped this would continue to be the case. Down the mountain we went. The first few switchbacks were scary as it was steep and visibility was poor. We were lucky that only two cars came up behind us, and they apparently easily saw us, as they were slow and careful around us. As we continued down the mountain, the fog cleared and the scenery became other-worldly. We were treated to rock canyons, needles, obelisks, and spectacular panoramic scenes. We stopped countless times to gawk and take pictures! We had never seen anything like this before and we kept saying that pictures do not do justice to the West. As we neared the end of the descent, we met Behrooz heading east. He is an Iranian born American from Napa who was very jovial and fun to chat with! His wife was following him in the car. Now well past the descent from Emory Pass, we expected the rest of the ride into Silver City to be less hilly. Once again, we were fooled. Hill after relentless hill. None so steep or long as the ones we just finished, but when you’re tired and expecting relief, they were brutal. We passed Sherry returning to Kingston. She seemed surprised that we weren’t further along. I don’t think she had any idea we’d gawk as much as we did, or how challenging the day really was, even without gear. We passed a copper strip mine which was really pretty unsettling. After seeing so many beautiful mountains, to see one terraced and totally denuded was jarring. Once in Silver City, we went to a nice dinner and then to the Toad Creek Brewery where a band was playing old favorites. We asked them to play La Grange by ZZ Top since we had cycled through there. They did a fine job! It was a great end to a hard day! Total cycling mileage: 49 Total hiking mileage: 5