Time for a bicycle ride. It’s just about 10 miles to the visitor center, so we hop on the bikes after breakfast and head that way. There we stop to drink our water and refill our bottles before heading back out.

It’s starting to warm up for the day when we return so, to try and beat the heat, we trade cycle types and motorcycle out, back the way that we drove in, to the town of Julian. Cute little tourist stop that is apparently famous for apple stuffs – pies and ciders. Lots of the little shops smell delicious as we walk by. Bakeries and such. We check out the tea shop, peruse a couple of stores, and then head to the coffee shop for a drink and some reading.

I finish Born For This and start copying over some notes while Ashley reads more of the Cyclist’s Training Bible. We were going to do online tasks but don’t bother getting the wifi password.

Finishing our drinks and reading, we head back down. You can really tell as the elevation drops and the environment changes – the temperature warms up and the mountains switch from green with patches of brown to brown with patches of green. It happens quickly. We stop for a snack at a pull-off and explore a short distance down a side-road that parallels a creek bed – find some potential camping spots for later in the week.

We continue on past home to see what the rest of the road offers. The edge of the park is badlands – it contains some fascinating, entirely different, types of landscapes. From badlands to flat desert, to desert mountains, to canyons, and on to green mountains. Not too far past the park, however, the road condition turms norrible. I’ve been on dirt and gravel roads that were in better shape.

On both sides of the road are RV’s and ATV’s of different sorts. It’s definitely a 4×4 paradise. Sand and hills and trails going far past what we can see and plenty of places to just pull off the side of the road and camp as long as you have supplies to do so.

We head back for the night. Chicken and veggie stir fry for supper. We read before bed.