8-13-19 - (Day 20 - Hagerman Pass/Mt. Massive Golf Course)

We took a ride to Hagerman Pass this morning.  The dirt road started out ok, then it turned into a true rocky mountain road.  We crawled up the the treacherous road over the big rocks and pot holes. Lauren was bouncing around to the ceiling of the truck at times.  I was holding onto the door with one hand while having the other hand on the camera to keep it from bouncing around.

We got to a place where we could pull over, high enough that we were even with the snow and the trees were below us.  We talked with 2 motorcyclist, a family in a jeep, and a couple in an ATV.  None of us knew how much further it was.  The motorcyclist, the ATV, and the Jeep decided to continue on.

One of the motorcyclist almost wrecked, the ATV and the jeep made it.   We decided that we had had enough, (especially me).  We later found out we were less than a mile to the pass.  It took us 40 minutes to ease back down to better roads.  40 minutes up and 40 minutes down to go 6 miles each way is a long time bouncing around.

The scenery was gorgeous, a lot of the pictures I took were blurry, either from bouncing or from my hands shaking.  Lauren thought this was fun for the most part.

We stopped and talked with Bill and Mary Ann, a couple we met at the dispersed camping area where we are camped.  They were riding up to the pass on their ATV.  They clapped when they realized it was us and offered to give us a ride back up on a 2 seater ATV with 2 people already seated, not going to happen.

When we got here last week, we saw that Mt. Massive Golf Course at 10,152 feet in elevation, is the highest elevation golf course in North America.  We have played the lowest elevation at Furnace Creek Golf Course in Death Valley, which is 214 feet below sea level.  We now have a claim to fame of playing the highest and lowest elevation golf courses in North America.

We have been getting short winded just turning over in bed in this high altitude.  We were glutton for punishment. We decided to walk the 9 hole course.   It was a very beautiful course that we finished in less than 2 hours.  We had no one ahead of us or behind us until the 5th hole when we caught up with a 5 some.  After we caught up with them, we slowed our pace,  which allowed us to catch our breaths between shots, making for a more enjoyable round.

We went back to camp, built a big fire under the bright full moon until time for bed.

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