Category: Uncategorized

Another cool morning to start off.  I have been using my winter bike clothing much more than I had anticipated for this trip!  Chance of rain throughout the day so packed my rain gear as I have been doing the past couple of days.   Today’s ride began with a pretty significant uphill climb followed by a descent into the Snake River valley and the Brownlee dam.  A beautiful descent along the Brownlee Reservoir to the dam. Crossing the dam we entered Oregon.  A milestone!!!!  One more state to cross!   We also entered the Pacific time zone for good so we are now -3 hours from Eastern time for the rest of the trip.  We followed the Snake River in Hells Canyon until turning at Oxbow for the final 15 miles to Halfway.  There are actually three dams on the Snake River, so after the Brownlee Dam the river is still very wide, forming the Oxbow Reservoir which is dammed by the Oxbow Dam at Oxbow. Much further downstream is the Hells Canyon Dam. The hills on either side of the Snake River where we rode are relatively barren with the occasional tree.  Going from Oxbow to Halfway was more mountainous desert but close to Halfway we ran into a few cattle ranches.   We ran into a bit of rain after we stopped for a lunch break at the dam, but only for about 5 miles or so.   Rain gear came on then off again for the remainder of the ride.  Due to the time change we got into camp at Halfway pretty early, about 1 PM.  

Below are the RidewithGPS stats:

Yah- summer solstice!  It sure doesn’t feel like it here in Idaho.  It’s been cool and rainy.  Woke up this morning and it was in the low 40s.  It rained a lot last night and the floor of my tent was all wet.   Fortunately the rain fly kept me dry inside, but for some reason the floor of the tent is leaking. I even have a ground cloth under it but it didn’t do much good obviously. No worries, all my things are dry.  No rain in the morning which was good, but there was 30% chance of rain along the route so I packed all my rain gear.  That was fortunate because we ran into rain as we were making the climb to xxxxx.  Rumbling of thunder to start things off. Then it started hailing, so I thought I better put my rain gear on!  Through the mountain area part way up the hill climb and a ways during the descent it was raining, fortunately not super hard because there was quite a bit of traffic and no shoulder on the road.  We descended into a spectacular valley and the rain stopped.  It looked like a place where herds of elk should be roaming, and bears and moose playing in the fields alongside the meandering stream. But alas we saw no wildlife.   Where the heck are all the 10,000 moose that are supposed to be in Idaho???  Oh and where are all the potato fields? Presumably they are in southern Idaho- nary a potato where we are riding.

It was a beautiful ride through that valley.  Stopped at New Meadows for a coffee. Chet and Than met up with me there.  The further ride into Cambridge was uneventful, a bit of a headwind but not a hard ride.  We were staying at Mondo Hot Springs.  A very nice RV and camping area where we had access to the Hot Springs pool at 4 PM.  VERY nice and relaxing after a days ride.  The main pool was 102 degrees and the hot tub portion was 104 degrees.  Not nearly as hot as the hot springs in Saratoga, but it was very good for the muscles in any case.  My hamstrings tend to tighten up after a ride and this hot mineral water is just the thing to relax them.  At 5 Timmie and I went shopping as we were cooks for the evening.  Chile cheese hot dogs and macaroni salad on the menu.  Turned out quite tasty!!  We had an afternoon thunder shower as we were preparing the feast, so we erected our portable canopy and it worked out great! The sun came out and no more rain in the evening.  A very nice stay.

Below are the RidewithGPS stats:

Today we rode from Grangeville to Pinehurst RV resort in Idaho.  A nice short uphill to White Bird Hill Summit than I mighty long and steep downhill on 95 South for 10 miles or so into a beautiful valley with the Salmon River running through it.  We then followed the Salmon River through Riggins and then 12 miles further south to the Pinehurst RV Resort.  The downhill was a bit scary as it was LONG and STEEP with several TIGHT turns and it was RAINING.  I kept my speed below 35 mph.  There was not much of a shoulder so I rode in the car lane.  Gorgeous views of the valley as we descended for what seemed like an eternity.  Once at the bottom we started following the twisting and turning Salmon River  South (going upstream).  Stopped at Riggins for another breakfast.  Riggins is a popular place for white water rafting on the Salmon, there were several outfitters there.  The weather today was cool and cloudy.  As we climbed White Bird Hill we ran into a little thunderstorm and it continued to rain off and on until I got to Riggins.  No heavy rain so it was no big deal, except for the scary downhill run I mentioned. Route 95 has a bit of traffic, including many logging trucks, but the shoulder was not too bad so it wasn’t really an issue.  The place we are staying at is right on the river.  I am typing this sitting in an easy chair right on the side of the river.  It is maybe 40 ft wide at this point and maybe 3 ft deep, running fast at 5 mph I would guess.  Nice white noise to lull us to sleep this evening!  We are back in Mountain time after being in Pacific time in Grangeville.  We stay on Mountain time tomorrow and then go permanently to Pacific time once we enter Oregon on Sunday.  I think the Salmon River marks the boundary between time zones at this particular location.     

Below are the RidewithGPS stats:

A good day today riding from Syringa to Grangeville Idaho. Only went 49 miles but had a tough climb about 30 miles in after Stites. 1900 ft over 5 miles with some very steep sections of 10+ degrees in the middle. I think it’s the toughest climb to date. Had to stop twice on this stretch to catch my breath. Should have known, the stretch after Kooskia was rural roads and these tend to have steeper gradients. The benefit however is very little traffic- we basically had the hill climb road to ourselves. At the top of the climb it ended up on a beautiful plateau which took us to Grangeville. It is a land of sweeping hay fields as far as the eye could see. We ended up at the Bear Den RV Resort outside of Grangeville for the night. Really nice showers!!! It was beautiful all day, NO CLOUDS, a gentle breeze. We woke up in the morning and it was not freezing cold and in the afternoon it got up into the 80s. A really good day for riding!

Below are the RidewithGPS stats:

Here is today’s video

From Powell to Syringa Idaho today.  A short ride of 42 miles and only 160 ft of ascent!  Going downhill along the Lochse River, beautiful ride through the valley lined with pine and cedar trees. With not much wind we were able to maintain a nice pace averaging over 16 mph.    We followed a route that Lewis and Clark took, although they travelled by horse along the ridgeline to the right of us as this was following an old Indian trail which was easier to ride on horseback than along the river valley.  We stopped short of Syringa because 6 of us took a white water rafting trip on the Lochsa River (Mel, Chet, Tom, Terence, Theo and I).   It was a beautiful ride for about 10 miles down the river through a bunch of class 1, 2 and 3 rapids in a big rubber rafting dinghy.  All dressed up with wet suits and helmets, we manned the paddles on the left and right while the steersman guided the raft with a set of big oars from the back.  I sat in front along with Mel and we got of course the most soaked, but the weather was gorgeous, bright sunny skies and in the 80s so didn’t mind at all!!  The river is created mostly by snow melt so it is running best in the May/June timeframe.  This past winter there wasn’t as much snow as normal, and it being mid June the river was lower than normal, but still gave a great ride.   It was great getting the perspective of the valley from the river as opposed to the road alongside the river.  Away from traffic with just the noise of the river and looked up at the steep valley walls from the river was breathtaking.   We camped at the Three Rivers RV Resort at Syringa, a nice facility with great showers.  My turn to cook along with Dan although we had help from Timmie, Simona and Than because I was late getting in to camp after the rafting trip.  Spaghetti, salad and cauliflower/broccoli veggies with apple/peach pie for dessert.  Delicious.  What a beautiful day it was.  The rafting guides were saying that we are in a temperate rain forest with normally quite a lot of rain- 60 inches/year, so we definitely lucked out in that regard.  

Below are the RidewithGPS stats:

Today after our off day we rode from Missoula Montana to Powell Idaho.  Another state down AND we enter the Pacific Coast time zone so we gain yet another hour!  It was a beautiful ride through the Lolo Pass where we enter Idaho and change time zone at the same time.  Apparently the Pacific time zone runs along the Idaho/Montana border.  The ride was crossing the Bitterroot Mountains through the Lolo Pass, a beautiful valley lined with pine trees.  There had been several fires some years ago in one area of the valley so we encountered again standing dead and charred trees lining the valley on the left side in particular.  At the Lolo Pass Visitors Center we talked with a ranger who told us that fires are becoming more prevalent and because of the dry climate conditions it is harder for the forest to recover from these fires.  There is a current fire burning along our route tomorrow but is now only 150 acres.  There is a West wind blowing so we will see what its like.  The ranger said there is currently no danger of it jumping the highway, it is likely to burn away from the road.  We stopped short of the big climb to Lolo Pass at the Lolo Hot Springs for breakfast.  Up to then our ride had been a steady climb at a gentle .5 to 1% grade.  After the Hot Springs, for the last 5 miles to the pass we climbed around 1000 ft at a 4-5% average grade.  So a decent climb, but not nearly as bad as some of our previous, in particular the climb to Cameron Pass along the Cache La Poudre river in Colorado. Several moose crossing signs on the road as we climbed, but no moose sightings yet.  I need to see at least ONE moose before we end our trip!    Stopped at the visitors center to wait for others to catch up.   Some friendly ground squirrels were living near the picnic area and very interested in receiving food bits from us.  We didn’t  give them anything (not supposed to feed the wild animals!!) but took some great pics of them.  A nice downhill after the pass through a similar pine tree lined valley. No more sign of fires- an extremely verdant valley, beautiful.   Stopped at the DeVoto Memorial Cedar Grove-  a grove of huge cedar trees by the side of the road.  Reminded me of the Sequoias in California.  Our campsite is right in the pine forest at the Powell US Forest Service campground, nice and peaceful, no trains to bother us at night!  We had access to very nice showers at the lodge adjacent to the campground.  Should get a good nights sleep tonight!

A day off in Missoula Montana! Great weather today. Staying in a Days Inn, not bad comfie bed, hot shower, what more could you want?? After breakfast Mel, Chet and I walked up to the big “M” on the side of Mount Sentinal. It was built of rocks in 1908 representing the University of Montana and later rebuilt in concrete. You get a beautiful view of the town from there and see where we are going tomorrow across Lola Pass and the Bitterroot Mountains. I walked in to town to the Post Office to pick up a package from the Anestas- a package of Pringles and some other goodies for the road and a nice green bicycle piece of art created by my grand-daughter Beatrix with no doubt a little help her artful dad. Cheered me up- starting to look forward to getting back home after 2 months on the road! I got a haircut at Paula’s- much needed after 2 months sprouting of hair- I was starting to look like a grass head! And I did laundry- my one set of street clothes got washed for the first time! I feel like a new man. Had a terrific lunch at a French brasserie, the Porte Rouge, a French Dip sandwich with fries and two glasses of crisp cold Chardonnay. Delicious. After that and wandering around the old town a bit I had to take a nap! Ahhhh it is nice having a day off. We got together for dinner at a pizza place in town and then got ice cream at Big Dipper Ice Cream on the University Side of town. Stuffed!

Today we ride from Darby to Missoula Montana, a distance of 66 miles and only 490 feet of ascent. It was mostly a downhill ride straight North into Missoula, pretty much a straight shot along Rt 93. Easy ride- there is a bike path along much of it but I elected to use the wide shoulder on Rt 93. It was a very busy 4 lane road and very noisy, so not that enjoyable, but the shoulder was wide although with a lot of debris that you had to watch out for. I averaged 14 mph- the first 40 miles or so was quite fast but the last 20 miles there was some headwind that developed which slowed me down quite a bit. No issues with the group except that Tom got a flat after our stop in Hamilton for a breakfast break. I got a nail through my rear tire riding on that junky shoulder, but it missed my tube! Went straight through the outer rubber on my tire. I have a pretty thick Schwalbe Marathon plus on the rear, so that might have saved me.

We all ended up at the Adventure Cycling Association headquarters. I got there about 1:15 and by 3 PM everyone was there. ACA had prepared some taco fixings for a lunch out in their courtyard. The director of tours, Corbett Hall, gave us a tour of the facility and then we had a group photo taken for posterity. They have a nice office there- a former Christian Science church, so a rather unique layout for the office area. A lot of cool bikes hanging on the walls. We are staying at a Days Inn for two nights there in Missoula with a day off tomorrow which will be nice before we hit the final hard two weeks into Idaho and Oregon.

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

It is quite a bit warmer today, starting out in the low 60s and getting into the high 70s, so a welcome change waking up in the morning and not having to put on a ton of clothing for breakfast today in Darby! No rain!

We rode from Wisdom to Darby Montana today. Up over the Chief Joseph pass down into the Bitterroot Valley. Beautiful ride. We went by the site of the Big Hole Massacre, where US troops attacked a Nez Perce Indian tribe and killed some 80-90 men, women and children. The Nez Perce Indians have a reservation somewhere here in Montana. Lewis and Clark came by these parts. They stopped by the town of Shula that we passed through, in the Bitterroot Valley where the Bitterroot River runs. After we crossed Chief Joseph pass we had a marvelous downhill run of 6 miles or so into the Bitterroot’s Valley and then followed the Bitterroot River for quite a ways. It was a beautiful day- we are really lucking out! Over the past couple of days the mornings have been cool, sunny with little breeze. We have had thunderstorms roll in in the late afternoons the past several days, but they last 20 minutes or so and they happen normally after we have all finished our ride for the day. Today in Darby it is considerably warmer, in the high 70s, so we expect this evening it won’t be quite so cool. Last night it got down into the high 30s so I had to sleep with my warm jacket on.

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

Here is the link to today’s video

Dillon to Wisdom Wyoming!  A ride through beautiful cattle country with two mountain passes to climb over.  67 miles and 3200 feet of climbing, mostly over the two passes. The first one was quite easy, a 1500 ft ascent with some easy 2% grades interspersed with the 6-7%. You had a chance to rest a bit between the steep grades. The second climb was also about the same ascent but the last 5 miles or so was a pretty constant 5-6%, pretty tough, had to use my small chain ring for the last bit. At the top however the view was magnificent of the snow covered mountains of the continental divide to the west. Downhill was a hoot, into Jackson, where I had lunch at the Hot Springs restaurant. It would be a nice place to spend a day relaxing there and take advantage of their hot springs pool, but duty called and we had to get to camp in Wisdom! We have all been riding at different paces recently. Timmy shoots off early and likes to get into camp ASAP. Than and I ride a bit faster than others so tend to arrive next. Chet and Mel have been following and Terence and Tom take their time during the day. Terrie rides at a steady pace all day as well as Theo. We all get into camp I would say within an hour and a half interval. Everyone is doing well after nearly 2 months on the road!

We are riding through Montana cattle country. A lot of free range cattle with huge grasslands. Farmers are growing hay for cattle feed during the winter and we see the huge pivot irrigation systems everywhere. Beautiful country in the middle of the Rocky Mountain range. We have been riding in the Big Hole valley where the Big Hole River runs. Apparently excellent fishing and hunting in these parts. Some really huge ranches owned by some very rich people. Larry, the owner of hostel we stayed at last night, was saying that one of the large ranchers nearby lives in Paris France and flies to Dillon every week to check on his ranch. What a life that must be!

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

Here is today’s video