Monarch Crest Trail on the eve of the Solstice

The other day I got a call from an old friend named Tony Munoz. He was wondering if I would like to join him and his buddy Adam on a Mountain Bike ride on the Crest Trail from the top of Monarch Pass.  It just so happened that I was looking for an adventure and a reason to play hooky from work so I said OK!

We opted to take the shuttle and save an hour and a half of climbing Monarch Pass with cars whizzing by. On the way up, Tony noticed that my bike was a bit crooked and told the driver...seconds later it fell over. I had visions of my beloved bike falling off the trailer and getting munched by a truck, but it stayed put. We put it in the van with us for the duration of the drive up.

Here are some of the pictures I took on the ride (I just got a new Panasonic Lumix  digital camera with a ridiculously cool panorama feature and this was it's maiden voyage):

After the ride we drove over to Buena Vista for a stop at Poncho's. I always get the Mondo Combo burrito. Fills you up!

Here is one more pic from high in the alpine tundra...wait, what's that thing on my head? It's a GoPro helmet-cam. Are you suprised?

Of course you're not.