Trans Am: Week 11, ID

Day 77: from Council to Oxbow, Oregon

Sunrise in our creepy campground. I’m not sure why but I just got a bad vibe from this place. Maybe it was the signs saying we were on camera. Maybe it was the 1776 password to get into the showers. Maybe it was the dog poop in the field where we had to put our tents.  

Not far down the road I met Philip. He was English, but had lived in California for 25 years with his family. His two granddaughters wrote a cross country two years ago. When he followed along on a map, he found himself wanting to visit many of the places they passed through. That, gave me the idea that he should do the ride himself. Interestingly, his wife also rode a cross country. She did it when she was 19. So all four of them have gone across, but only two of them together. Strange! He was so happy, but I have to admit. When I meet people now who are heading east, they have so much more of the trip in front of them. I do not envy them. This has been an unparalleled experience, but I’m not yet ready to think about doing it again, so I feel overwhelmed for those who are just starting out.

These crickets for all over the road. Apparently they are called Mormon. Crickets. They are huge and disgusting. Kind of prehistoric looking. Apparently they eat each other I saw a mini eating my carcasses of those peers who had been crushed by cars. It was a gruesome scene.

This cow startled me if I just appearing out of the grass. This whole area is what they call “open range”— so the cattle are free. 

 

After a long, hard climb, I was ready for the reward of my 6 mile descent with a Cafe at the bottom, but as I approach the top of the climb, a huge storm cloud appeared over the mountain. I tried to race it to the bottom, but I lost. About 2 miles from the café, what happened sprinkling and then huge drops of rain turned into a downpour. The lightning and thunder were intense. I had no choice but to get off my bike because I could not write down and that kind of water. The road to had turned into a river. I leaned my bike against the cavern wall, then stood there, my arms crossed, as the rain pooled in my shoes. It was freezing. Eventually I had to move because I was standing in a drainage ditch that was filling with water. When the rain finally began to subside I jumped back on my bike and cruised the final 2 miles to a Cafe. When I arrived, the proprietor was sitting on the front porch. While we chatted, I stripped off as many of my work clothes if I could without becoming indecent., then I went into her bathroom and dried off and put on dry clothes. After an egg and cheese biscuit, a basket of fries and a cappuccino. I finally felt warm. when Deidre arrived we celebrated with milkshakes. Peanut butter for me.

The rain to let up for hours, so we stayed in the café, warm and dry. When we got on the road again, it was nearing evening, but the twilight was beautiful in the canyon. As usual, we had no idea the views we were in for.

I saw a kestrel glide over the canyon, deer leaping up the Rocky embankments, a bunny, and the rising of many fish all as the sunset over the scene. It was spectacular and we wouldn’t have seen it in this light if the storm hadn’t delayed us.

There was a huge dam on the river at the state border. I found that I did not trust it, and would not want to live below the structure. All I could think of was one crack, and the Hole River crashing down on the town.

Oregon!

The campground at Oxbow as a state park and was beautiful. We met a guy named Todd, who has been riding in front of us . Another solo meal cyclist— except he was older, moor our age.

We set our tents up in the dark and crashed.

Day 76: 64 miles from Riggins to council, ID

It was a beautiful morning. Yesterday we rode back into mountain time so we felt like we slept in this morning when we woke up at seven but it was actually six by our time.

We made our oatmeal. Deidre made her coffee, and we packed up. The river was Beautiful on the way out with the morning sun on it.

After the spectacular views of yesterday, today’s ride was fairly unremarkable. 

We had more than a 30 mile climb, so I settled in with my book. I was reading the seven wives of Evelyn Hugo. I actually finished it today. It was pretty good—entertaining for the riding, but nowhere near as good as Trust, which I finished last week.

For lunch I had an egg and bacon biscuit that I microwaved in the gas station after removing the bacon. It was as gross as you are imagining. 

I was looking forward to some downhill after finishing the climb, but the shoulder disappeared and the traffic picked up, making the final miles a little stressful. When I finally arrived in town, I was greeted by a huge block of red wing blackbirds, which was funny because I was just thinking yesterday how I hadn’t seen any in a while. Cedar waxwings roosting along the river side seem to have taken their place. I also saw a bald eagle today.

Anyway, our campground had hot showers and I went out for dinner and got a nice salad (yay!). Also, a storm had followed me into town, but it never came to fruition so all in all, a good end to a wearisome day.

And tomorrow we will enter Oregon—so here is my map with Idaho!

Day 75: 52 miles from Grangeville to Riggins

I woke in our RV park in Grangeville feeling like somebody was watching me 😂.

The day started out with beautiful farm land, but we moved quickly into the woods and started climbing 8 steep miles to the white bird Summit.

I actually stopped in front of this lodge to have a snack, not knowing there was an amazing overlook coming just over the crest of the hill.

Just after this overlook, I would miss my turn and ride a half a mile down a steep hill. I was actually chatting on the phone with my mother when this happened so maybe we should blame her? Just kidding Mom. Thankfully I knew a turn should have been coming, so I stopped before I went the full 7 miles down and was able to turn around. Unfortunately, Deidre also missed the turn and did not realize until she was way too far down turn around. It was OK because she got to the same place in the end. She just missed the more scenic route. 

The ride down the correct hill was 12 miles of winding beautiful desertscape. I stopped constantly just to look around.

In White Bird, we stopped for a quick lunch.

The rest of the ride followed the salmon river, which made the osprey my constant companions.

They are nesting and I passed multiple little families all squawking at me as I rode by. One flew over me with a fish.

The town of Riggins was little and focused on rafting. Despite the tourism there weren’t many restaurants. Maybe two plus a bar. I try to eat in a restaurant only once a day, and I like to save that for the end of the day so I don’t have to bike on a full stomach. But that means I always arrive in town pretty hungry.

I treated myself to a beer on this night because they had a local IPA on tap. 

I also ordered a pizza. It was decent considering it was on Boboli crust. I’ll give them credit because the customers kept rolling in, and there was only one busboy, one server/bartender, and one guy in the kitchen. Like many restaurants we’ve seen they had signs saying the shortage of staff was the new pandemic and to please be kind to the staff. Deidre arrived just in time to order before things got really crazy. We heard the server telling people who came after her that there would be a two hour wait for a pizza.

Full and happy we biked to our campsite almost 2 miles away on the salmon river. It was sparse but beautiful. 

We noticed some elk on the hillside because I had heard them bugling, and thought it was a bird. When they were still there in the morning, I realized they were domestic. It was an elk farm. But still it was cool. I also heard an owl in the night. Not sure what kind, I just know it wasn’t a barred owl. And then I thought I heard dogs and thought maybe coyotes? But it was not the high-pitched yipping of coyotes, and I realized it sounded like wolves. It turns out Idaho does have quite a few wolves. Deidre also heard the howling. We both thought it sounded close, so it was a pretty cool night!

Day 74: 48 miles from wildgoose CG to Grangeville

I was so sad to see this sign. The forest was so beautiful. 

We followed the River a little further, passed many game crossing signs (but no game), then the landscape changed dramatically. No more tall Pines.

After 20 miles we came to the town of Kooskia where we had planned to have breakfast. 

After eating gas station snacks all day the day before I was really hungry. Eggs and this amazing cinnamon roll did the trick.

We actually didn’t want to eat too much because we knew we had a 3 mile climb coming that we had been calling “the wall” because of how it appeared on our elevation map.

But before we could get started on the climb, we had to get out of town, which was a task because everybody here is so so nice. Three different people stopped me on the street to ask where we were going then offer advice and suggestions about the route, and warn us about various hills and recommend the good views. We felt we were back in the Midwest. Montana was beautiful of course, and individually the people we spoke to were very nice, but the culture was very “ Keep to yourself.” Strangers rarely approached us, or even made eye contact. Drivers rarely waved. But in Idaho, everyone wants to chat.

It’s always impossible to capture the difficulty of a hill in pictures, but for some reason I keep trying. This is the view looking down at the road I just came up. This 3 mile hill was a killer.

I had planned to ride the whole thing, but when I got to this straightaway, I realized it would be impossible. I got off to walk the second half of this stretch and had to keep stopping to rest. It was just too steep.

This hill was so hard it inspired two teenage boys in a pick up truck to stop and ask me if I wanted a ride to the top. No I didn’t accept! 

Then I was magically on a plateau in farm land, surrounded by fields of wheat—or hay? Or both.

I couldn’t believe how quickly the landscape had changed from forest to farm.

After the cinnamon roll I had thought I shouldnt eat more, but that was wrong. I think I was starving from eating nothing but snacks the day before.  I ate a banana, a cliff bar, and then a baggie of cashews and M&Ms. I was still hungry when I arrived in Grangeville, so then I ate a whole bag of snap peas while waiting for Deidre, who incidentally had accidentally climbed 3 miles up the wrong hill. Aaargh! So she was late in arriving.

We are in an RV park tonight, which is another culture shock after the Forest Service Parks—although this is more typical for our trip. We got our first shower in three days (not counting the river), overate at a Mexican restaurant, and did laundry. Neither of us have any idea what the next few days will hold, but we expect it might be a little desolate leaving Idaho and entering eastern Oregon. Looks like desert. 

P.S. pretty sure I saw a bullocks oriole today. Another new bird for me! And nesting osprey. They sang to me with their young as I made my way up that hill. The thought I saw redheads (ducks) but can’t be sure. I needed binocs.

Day 73: 65 miles from Whitehouse to Wildgoose campground, still in Clearwater national forest

We woke to more smoke (did I mention the smoke?) and some ash. We had heard there was a fire nearby, but not too near. But the amount of smoke in the morning was concerning.

You can really see the haze here.

We passed some forest service workers so I stopped and asked if we should be concerned. He said no, we had “plenty of time.” I wasn’t sure how that made me feel—as if the fire was bearing down on us. But he was so casual and confident, we decided it must be fine. We found out later that a small fire near where we were camping had “blown up” over night and they ended up closing the campsite about 5 miles west of us. That’s why we rode thru so much smoke on the way out in the morning. I was glad the day wasn’t too strenuous because the smoke made me feel sick after several hours. 

We arrived at the Weir hot springs at mile 17—a little over half a mile hike in from the road.

The place had a very funky vibe apparently due to the name Weir. 

This was graffiti in the pit toilet.

Not too many pics because we got in in our under wear. 

The hike had quite a drop.

More smoky haze.

And then suddenly it was gone.

We arrived in Lowell, a little town with one little camp store where we bought a few snacks.

Then we camped at wildgoose campground—another forest service site with no amenities but water and a pit toilet. It was also beautiful with an actual beach where we swam/bathed/lounged (all the same thing these days). It was perfectly cool water. 

More ramen for dinner. Food back in the bathrooms for the night. Getting a handle on bears in Idaho was tough. They make much less of an issue of them. But when I asked a local if they were a concern she said “yeah we have both black and brown, but mostly black. But I haven’t heard of anything bad happening yet this year.” So vague. But we didnt feel too concerned about bears, but also didnt want the raccoons or chipmunks getting in our food. Chipmunks got in Deidre’s bag at the previous site and tried each one of her cliff bars!

Day 72: 48 miles from Lolo to Whitehouse campground Clearwater National Forest

We have been hearing for a year about how route 12 through Idaho would be narrow, winding and plagued by logging trucks, and this was the day we would ride that road. I had stayed at a really nice campground the night before and Deidre had stayed in a hotel in Lolo because she was still feeling under the weather. She met me at the campground and we set out to face the dreaded route 12.

Immediately it seemed way better than expected. First, there were horses.

And there is the potential for moose.

There was often a shoulder— or part of one. Certainly nothing like the narrow roads of Kentucky, where the white line had a rumble strip. 

And the trees!

We also understood that we would potentially not see a gas station or restaurant for up to three days. I had about 100 pounds of snacks on my bike, so imagine our surprise when we ran into a restaurant serving breakfast at Mile 20! I first noticed it because of these horses, which were saddled up for trail rides for tourists. 

After eating a three egg omelette, and two slices of amazing French toast, made with cloves or allspice or something wonderful, we got back on the road. We still had 7 miles to go before we got to the top of Lo Lo pass. We had already been climbing for over 20 miles.

The top of the pass was also a rest stop, the state line for Idaho, and the beginning of Pacific time. When I got there I was super excited but completely exhausted after climbing for 30 miles. I took a pic of the sign (with sunscreen on my nose) then went to a shaded bench at the rest stop, laid down, and literally fell asleep. I don’t think the French toast helped the situation at all. 

I took this on the opposite side of the road because there was no sign when I entered Montana. 

A measure for snowfall. A local told me it gets to be 15 feet deep.

Deidre arrived and we could not get our selfie right. We took a ton of pics then realized the one we liked (below) had cut off the sign! 

Making fun of our vanity Deidre pretended to take a pic of just herself as I’m doubled over laughing. 

We finally decided on this one.

Then this fun warning! 😂

And we had passed into the wonderland that is Idaho!

We stopped at a cool cedar grove. It smelled amazing.

We thought surely we would see a moose in places like this, but no.

Our campground was remote and beautiful. Whitehouse CG in Clearwater national forest. We had no power, no plumbing (just a water pump and pit toilet), and no bear box. But it was awesome. We made ramen. I bathed in the river after dinner as the sun set, watching over my shoulder for bears. Then we put our food in the bathroom to deter bears. Gross but better than waking to wildlife in our hostess stash! Also, chipmunks got into Deidre’s cliff bars just while we walked around camp after arriving.

It was a great day. That’s always how it is when you’re dreading something. (Well, not quite dreading—just negatively anticipating).

 Day 71: 21 miles (rest day). 

Today was wonky. I started from the KOA north of Missoula, and Deidre started from Lola where she had gotten a hotel so that she could sleep indoors and in a bed in hopes of shaking her cold. As I said, my air mattress has deflated and I wanted to buy a new one. It turned out my campground was literally across the street from an REI. This happened a month ago when Deidre’s air mattress deflated. what are the chances? However, REI only had super expensive mattresses so I’m doing without. Will make the one I have work.

From the REI I headed to Adventure Cycling Association  headquarters in downtown Missoula. Deidre met me there.

And we got our picture taken and put on the wall with the other tourist from this year. We are next to the blank spot because they fill in the pictures from the new year replacing the pictures from the previous year as they go.

I liked this poster in the adventure cycling office. Although bikes have gotten awfully expensive!

The guy who retaped my handlebars a week ago pulled the tape a little too tight and it ended up snapping, so I had to have it replaced again. I loved my purple handlebars and was disappointed with the black that guy had. Today I went to the bike doctor in Missoula. He was great and agreed to retape my handlebars on the same day. Not wanting the black again I got red. I don’t know. It looks kind of terrible. I guess I should take a pic to show you but don’t feel like getting out of my tent. Ha ha. Anyway, shout out to the bike doctor for helping me out today.

Missoula reminded me of Pueblo Colorado: funky, artsy, a little grungy, and fun. 

For the next several days, we will be in the Idaho Wilderness with few resources and staying in US forest service campgrounds. These places will have pit toilets and running water from a spigot, but no showers and no places to get food. So I went to the grocery store and stocked up today. My bike is so loaded! 😂 It’s kind of like panic shopping before a snowstorm. But I was really excited to find snap peas that are actually delicious (not like those horrible fibrous and edible ones I bought before). I also found a four pack of king, sweet rolls. What a great find! Laurie sent me almond butter packets in my care package, so I’m going to use those on the rolls for little mini sandwiches tomorrow and maybe the next day. I know I always talk about food, but those are my primary activities: biking and eating. 

Also, a tough looking motorcycle guy pulled in tonight, all covered in tattoos, and began to set up camp near me. I glanced over and saw he had a full double air mattress and an air compressor to blow it up. I swear it was a foot thick. Then I looked over later and saw he was wearing a full set of flannel pajamas. And it’s not even cold! He had his little shower tote and was headed for the bathrooms. All he needed to complete the outfit was a teddy bear. I guess tatted guys riding motorcycles like to be in their “nests” at night too!

Don’t know if I’ll have service in the next few days, so this may be my last post for a bit. We shall see!