April 5, 2011 Spending the night up GMR

  Clouds coming up on us Wednesday morning.   Chuck in deep thought about something really sick   Looking West from where we spent the night

  Looking East towards Baldy Village

Seeing how the Tour Of California race is coming up in about 6 weeks or so, I have been trying to get Shuck up GMR to spend the night at what would be a great vantage point for watching the race from. I really want to drive the entire route and check out other spots, but from the top of this water tower, located about a mile and a half out GRR, this seems like as good a spot as any I can think of off the top of my head. Looking East to wards Badly Village, you have a view of the road for at least a couple miles. This stretch would be where the riders will be coming down the road from the Village, heading to the drop down the back side of GMR to the East Fork. Looking West from this tower, we would be seeing the riders as they head back up GRR to Baldy Village and the ride up to the ski lifts. I think this is as good of a spot as any out there . Anyway, as far as this short overnighter went, I dropped Chuck off at the bottom of Monroe Canyon so he could do the 8 mile hike up to the top of GMR. Got rid of his butt around 3 PM, and I went back to the house. I have a bum foot, so I was not willing, or able, to do the hike with him. I drove up to the top o GMR around 6:30 pm, waiting till he showed up about an hour later, just as it was getting dark for real. We drove the couple miles out GRR and carted our stuff up to the top of the tower and settled in. Cocktails were served, conversation started, and views enjoyed. Around 3:30 AM I noticed the fog from below us was starting to get a lot closer real fast, but wasn't worrying about it. When I woke up next time, we were in the middle of cloud, with soaking wet sleeping bags. Seeing how it was not cold out, the wetness was not a problem. Once the wind picked up, which it did with some intensity, things dried out quite nicely. Once the sun came up, we hung out till about 10 before heading back down the road. A nice, quick overnighter that got us an idea of where to watch the race from.