July 6th Cedar Creek to Holland Lake 46 miles

Cedar Creek to Holland Lake

We woke early to try and get an early start and a jump on the heat.  Paul and his friend Russ the "Bemidji Twins" from Bemidji Minnesota, asked if we would like to ride together for the next leg of the trip.  We thought that was a great idea, and headed out for what was supposed to be a 40 mile ride to the very scenic Holland Lake.
More pics here

Paul and Russ thought they would be much slower than us because they were towing trailers.  These guys were tough and we all kept a very even pace throughout.  We really enjoyed riding with these guys.  They had lots of stories to tell.  Russ, a retired teacher, spent most of his life living in the interior of Alaska and had many bear stories.  Paul, a retired dentist from Minnesota, is an avid cyclist and quite the story teller.  Also of note, Paul's Swedish(sporting the Swedish flag on his trailer) and knows a family of Stenbergs(my maiden name) that live in Canada, not far from where he is.
We rode mostly forest service roads through beautiful forests on our way to a more technical route finding segment.  And this is where things got a little interesting.  According to our map, we were supposed  to head down a closed road, past some boulders, cross a stream and ride down some overgrown single track.  We did all of this for about four miles and 2 hours worth of time, but found the trails just seemed to end.  Paul asked if it would be too embarrassing if he just broke down and cried!  We were all glad were were riding with others, because you can only imagine the blame game that might have proceeded such a miscalculation!  After much map and GPS consulting, we decided to back track.  Sure enough we found the right trailhead up the road about .6 miles away.  It looked pretty much the same as the one we took by accident, but with a much happier ending.  The single track was much more lush and all the map coordinates matched up(just like they're supposed to)!
We parted company with Paul and Russ just before dropping down into the Holland Lake campground.
Paul would like to hook up again in Colorado, because at that point Russ will be gone.  Hopefully that will work out.
By the way, since this ride, we have met two different sets of cyclists doing this ride that have come across Paul and Russ.  They get around!