I did several things on my vacation - some riding and some hiking. I did a 7-day tent-camping (but supported) cycling tour of the Death Valley region. On that tour I rode 354 miles and climbed approx 23000 ft. Gradients ranged up to 11% (and that was for a 1-mile stretch followed by 10% for 2 miles). There were long climbs, the longest of which was 18 miles but a few were in the 8 to 13 mile range. All of that is chiefly why I brought a road bike rather than the Bacchetta. Temperatures ranged from 32 to 96 and weather was mostly sunny but the first day had us riding on a day when it never got above 45 and over the top of the Inyo Mountains, rain, sleet, and snow prevailed. Fortunately while the sleet and snow accumulated in the highest elevations, there was no accumulation on the road surface. We had days when we fought through 25 to 30 mph headwind for 27 miles and days when we had similar tailwinds, resulting in one 58 mile day where we averaged over 20 mph. It was a good tour with good support, great scenery, and even wild flowers in an environment where there are seldom any, due to an extreme lack of rainfall in most years. I'm not going to post a day by day as I think it's a bit late for that. I didn't have internet access for most of that trip and could only post to Facebook after I returned to civilization.
 
After the bike tour, Gloria and I stayed in Lone Pine CA to hike in the Alabama Hills and do a hike into the edge of the Eastern Sierra. We hiked a total of 12 miles those 2 days. Besides the Alabama Hills, the mileage includes a short hike at Fossil Falls, near Pearsonville, and Vazquez Rocks, between the San Andreas Fault and the Los Angeles Basin.  
 
Then I visited my 95 year-old Dad for a week, hiked 8 miles in the San Gabriel Mountains, biked 40 miles with 5000 ft of climbing in the San Gabriel Mountains and then left for Arizona. In Arizona, I stayed for a couple days at a friend's 40 acre spread which also happens to be right next door to the Chiricahua National Monument. I did a hike there of 6.5 miles. This was a very challenging hike with a lot of loose rock on the trail and a lot of very steep sections that made the going very slow, both while ascending and descending.  
 
It was an excellent trip but I'm glad to be home and trying to get back to normal. Will see the Clowns soon!