Day 50 - Panguitch

Sorry for not writing recently. I'm  just to worn out at the end of the day. The pictures should give you an idea of how mind-blowing southern Utah is. The variety and the sudden transitions in landscape are amazing. Sometimes I start between massive red rock formations and just miles up a pass I'm in dense forest. Minutes later I drop down to even more rugged cliffs. Beyond all description!

Capitol Reef NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Grand Staircase - Escalante NM, Cedar breaks NM... Music to my ears!

Met three Germans the last days. Andreas from Berlin. He had contacted me weeks ago when he was days behind me and I never expected him to catch up with me. We rode the 210km day together but he's already ahead of me now.

then I met two students from southern Germany, they started in Canada and go down to Vegas. It's like four German cyclists within a hundred miles :D

Generally Germans are abundant out here. It's a phenomenon. This time of year, whatever touristy destination you are at, you find Germans. Lots of em. Today, no exaggeration, in every store or gas station I came there where other Germans. Sometimes several groups. I've become very good at guessing the accent. Usually few words are enough and I know they're Germans, many times I even guess by their general appearance.

Fun to see the cultural difference. Americans randomly say hi and ask me lots of questions about my trip, many offer help and of course they're all exited about what I'm doing. Germans are just peeking at my bike trying me not to notice it. Of course I do but they are not used to talk to strangers, so they decide to stay curious and don't ask.

My fellow Germans probably don't like to hear that, but just this example tells a lot about the culture I'm coming from.

When I wrote Lizard Head Pass was my last five digits climb I was wrong, tomorrow is the last one. And the biggest single climb by elevation gain, about 1229m! Famous Tourmalet (Tour due France) is just 200m more. Gonna be a tough day...

It's raining all the time, not what I expected from Utah! But the locals like it, they've had enough droughts.