Day 62 - Paudash to Griffith

101.6 km - Total so far 5,180.09 km - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/5848417

Day 61 - A new video was added.

We left Paudash at around 8:30 on route to our last campground near Griffith. We expected the route to be pretty much the same as the day before with lots of uphill and downhills and once again we were not disappointed. These darn little hills are so close together that there isn't much of a chance to take a break. We were told that Northern Ontario (Hwy 17 North of Lake Superior) was tougher than the Rockies but the folks who told us that might not have had the pleasure of riding Hwy 28 in Haliburton.

We stopped for a drink and a rest at a country store in McArthur's Mills. There were two young travellers from Quebec who upon seeing us said they had done the same thing as us when they cycled on Prince Edward Island last year. When we cycled the Cabot Trail the first time, our guide Jacob Racine told us he was next going to support a ride in PEI and that there is one hill to speak of in PEI. I just couldn't get over what I had just heard and you can see my reaction in the picture below. I think I am becoming a cyclo-touring snob (Hélène uses another word but I can't repeat it here!)

Smiling from the encounter with the two young Quebecois we met in the store

McArthur's Falls rushing water

The view from the top of one of the many hills

Not just about hills but also about farmers working their fields

The flower of the day

After our short break, it was back on the road and more hill climbing. We thought we had already climbed the steepest hill (10%) a few days ago but we had no idea of what was coming our way. With our RideWithGPS we can have a look at all our routes but with limited Internet, we rely on a cell phone and Google map which doesn't always provide you with accurate hill data. We had no idea that we would be going up a 12% incline, complete with two areas for trucks/cars to stop and cool down (starts at km 61.5 in RideWithGPS). This hill was a challenge and the heat and humidity made it even more so. If that was not enough, the clouds of black flies just made it that more fun. Our 56 km detour in Saskatchewan helped us prepare for these kinds of hills and Hélène's reaction at the base of the hill was very much understated: "That's gonna be a 15 minute climb!" She was pretty close in the timing. We include the picture of another small hill because that 12% hill can't be seen in full from the bottom but the picture and the video below gives you an idea. The little black spots in the video are the black flies that insisted on making the climb with us. This 12% hill was by far the steepest hill of the entire trip and reminded us very much of some of the hills we experienced in Gaspesie and in Cape Breton Island.

A nice little climb, short and steep and you can see the top

Nice little farm house

View at the top of the 12% hill, it was well worth the effort

The video below is of Hélène nearing the top of the 12% climb that was accomplished without stopping.

We keep a list (well many lists as Hélène has lists for everything) of the most difficult hills we have climbed since our first cycling trip in Cape Breton in 2012. After cycling almost 5,200 km on this trip and climbing up such memorable features as Allison Pass, 10-Mile Hill out of Golden, the hill in Cochrane Alberta and that little 12% the other day, the most difficult hill we have ever climbed remains the hill at  Ste Madeleine de la Rivière Madeleine , in Gaspésie. This hill remains the only one where we either had to push the bicycle to the top or needed a push to start climbing after a rest stop.

63.13 miles - Total so far 3,271.88 miles