Uranga to Waterfall Way and Back to Uranga

Thank you to our Ride with Us Sponsors!
Water Break: The Westbrooks
Rest Stop: Gene Franklin

Now that was a ride. We rode unweighted which was a blast. We got going early to beat the heat. We rode really well up to Bellinger. We passed a group of men playing with remote control airplanes – they were really serious about their toys… and their little dogs! Very odd. Then we came to people having an archery tournament! Anyway on to the mountain. We stopped in the last little town at the base of the mountain – we could smell the brakes of the vehicles coming down and started to worry a little bit about how steep it would be. We had a popsicle and headed up the mountain. It was a gorgeous ride. Through Bellinger the valley was beautiful – looked like say, a valley in the Smokies. Then up the mountain was gorgeous – two major waterfalls with lots of little ones as well. The day got hot, but there was always water nearby. Up and up and up – but unweighted was really nice! Finally we were at the top. We paused at the rest stop at the top to eat our hard boiled eggs and get our heads wet. Then on to the rainforest. The rainforest was really nice – the skywalk was really cool and you could see down four stories, out to the mountains almost to the ocean. We went to the visitor center and the park ranger came to us and said that we should bring our bikes into their office and then we could go where ever we wanted without worries. So we did! We didn’t ask for that – she just came to us and suggested it -how cool is that!

We went all through the visitor’s center which was excellent. Then we walked the skywalk and down the Lyebird walk into the rainforest listening to the birds and just amazed at the whole atmosphere. There was a ‘discovery channel’ type video on rainforests we watched as well – very interesting. We went outside to eat some crackers and cheese and a turkey walked right up to us – pretty funny.

We rode back the 3k to the mountain from the rainforest and then headed back down the mountain – full brakes most of the way! Then the long ride back through the awesome valley – although a little tired on the way back! I led and tried to ride as well as I could –and I was successful to Bellinger. There we had ice cream at an amazing little shop and then Larry led home. We were very tired when we got back – but it was a great ride!

We arrived back to camp to our neighbor’s greeting – duly impressed that we went all the way to the rainforest and back in one day – and with info that the store closes in ten minutes – so off to shop for dinner.

Tonight we kept it simple – pasta and sauce with a mushroom and a pepper.

We will sleep well tonight!