Day 16 Cedar City, UT to Panguitch Lake, UT

I've been warned that this day would come sooner or later. Today's the day everyone has been talking about. A 4,500' elevation gain over the next 21 miles that would bring me to Cedar Breaks National Monument, which stands at 10,300'. That will be the highest I have every been on a bicycle or anything thing for that matter other than a plane. What an insane day, it took me 5 hours to climb that 21 miles, straight uphill. I didn't know what to expect at Cedar Breaks, and couldn't believe my eyes once I got there. It was incredible, a 180 degree view of this deep red canyon with hoodoos popping up from everywhere. Just as I arrived at the visitors center it began to rain. I took some shelter and a minutes later it turned to hail, very large hail and a lot of it. I was very lucky to have found shelter because that hail would have hurt quiet bad. With the hail, came the cold temperatures but that is normal for this high elevation. After the rain and hail stopped, I was able to walk about the National Monument and enjoy the views below and around me. As I pedalled on, I stopped at more overlooks beside the road. Finally, my first downhill for the day, but it's now late afternoon. I found a place to camp, at Lake Panguitch, as the rain started up again. I even had to cook my dinner in the men's bathroom, so I could at least eat my dinner in a dry spot. Very few campers were in this campground so it was not a problem to do that. I would never have done that if a lot of people were around. Time to sleep.