The Chocolate Mountains and the Indian Trail

Yep, those are the Chocolate Mountains. It was hot enough they should have melted. The temp was still reasonable while we pedaled through them. One side of the road was a preserve and the other was just sad from the sand buggy riders. It was an interesting contrast to see what mankind can do to a fragile environment.

The stone marker and fence show an ancient pre-Colombian trail through the desert to the Colorado river. We had lunch at the stone marker - just stood in the sun and ate salmon salad and artichoke dip. The temp by this time was 97 degrees and we had 49 miles to go. The recommendation was that we sag in, and about half of us did so. There were about six that finished the ride. Two of those are pretty sore today.