There is something comforting about waking up in your own bed with the cat purring in your ear.
We came home a week early. This is not the first time we’ve done this while on vacation. We hit a point where we are just done. Done with riding, done with camping, done with eating out, done with dealing with the elements. We would have stayed in Glacier a few more days if there was a flight available over the weekend but Friday was the only day available.
I definitely have learned that we are not good adventurers! It was very hard to stop and smell the roses. Once we started riding in the morning, we did not stop except to eat, until we reached our destination. There was a little anxiety about having a place to stay that drove me to keep riding. Sometimes, the heat of the day dictated getting out early but we ran into riders who would relax during the middle of the day, then finish their day’s ride in the evening when it was cooler. Interesting concept!
My one regret is that I never did find a huckleberry. Still not exactly sure what the plant looks like. There were many amazing views and people that made up for the lack of huckleberry experience.
So now I am enjoying eating my steel cut oats and whole grain breads as well as all the fresh fruit I can stuff in my mouth. I’ve also had my fill of mexican food. There’s nothing like the food choices in California.
This concludes my blog. Today we ride!
Yesterday we took the final ride of our trip. We decided to leave Glacier a little early because the weather is supposed to be bad all weekend. Lows in the 30s, rain, etc. Not the place to be when you’re in a small tent with sleeping bags rated to 40 degrees.
The ride down the mountain wasn’t too bad. Stopped for huckleberry pie at a placed ranked third in the states. Wasn’t impressed. Had better pie other places. It’s just personal preference. Once we turned south towards Kalispell we faced 15-20 mph headwinds. What should have taken an hour took 2 hours. We had a laugh about Mareika’s “sh.. the wind”. She said the advantage of riding alone was the opportunity to cuss at the wind.
Although we had no problem completing the ride, we didn’t enjoy it. Unfortunately,that was not uncommon on this trip. I am very aware of how age played a part in the difficulty of this trip. I certainly want to take more bike trips but I can forego the multiple mountains and probably the camping!
I am so looking forward to my own bed!
What a beautiful park. We took the tram up to Logan Pass yesterday. Gorgeous vistas, nasty road getting there. They are doing lots of construction on it. We had thoughts of trying to ride it but would have to be on the road by about 6:30am. It’s really cold at that hour.
I have had just about all the fresh air I can handle. My bed and my animals are calling me. The weather is supposed to turn nasty tomorrow afternoon so we will head back to Kalispell in the morning.
If my sister gets the pictures posted they may not be in order. I will try to post them to facebook when we get home. Have a great one of a deer that was grazing about 20 feet from us.
The huckleberryice cream has negated all the calories I burned while riding but it was worth it!
I’m pleasantly surprised that we have phone service in the park. After 2 days of not riding, the first part of our trip was pretty good. As we did more climbing into Glacier, I decided I probably wasn’t ready to ride again. It felt very hard. Of course, we are at a higher altitude and we’re carrying about 8 more pounds on our bikes but hey, it should still be easy.
Glacier Park is very pretty. One of the first things we did was buy sweatshirts since we didn’t carry warm clothes on our trip. We picked up our jeans and tennis shoes in Kalispell so we should be set.
The park has a free tram system that we’ll take advantage of tomorrow. There is a lot of road work going on over the summit so we may not be able to ride our bikes. Today that sounds fine to me. Maybe I’ll change my mind in a few days.
After driving to Kalispell, we are really glad we did not ride up here. Way too much traffic. We stopped at the Smokejumpers Facility just outside of Missoula. Pretty interesting, especially because one of the books we read was set around a forest fire.
The clouds are starting to disappear tonight. Hopefully the sky will be clear tomorrow when we head into Glacier. Our friend Susan, who we’re staying with tonight, wants to drive us. We had to pass since we’ve been off our bikes for 2 days. Don’t want to get too rusty.
We did tell her that we might call her to bring pizza for dinner one night! She said she would!
I don’t think there will be phone access in gthe park so you’ll have to wait a while to hear more from me. A short summary of our trip to date. 775 miles, 30,000 feet of climbing, 43 miles a day average, longest day 80 miles, shortest day 20 miles,
What a treat to sleep in this morning. I’m looking forward to sleeping in again tomorrow morning as well. We decided to rent a car to drive to Kalispell. We didn”t really want to take 3 more days to get there since we want to spend time in Glacier and Kalispell. It’s very hard being in a city even if it is a relatively small city. We did some shopping for our stay in Glacier. Too many choices here!
This morning we walked downtown to the craft fair and farmers’ market. Nancy bought a small huckleberry pie and I bought some strawberries. I have been missing my daily fruit and yogurt. We probably walked 3+ miles. Then we rode our bikes to the airport to pick up the car. (Only 4 1/2 miles.) Way too many cars on the road even though we had a 10 foot bike lane.
It was nice to get all our laundry done and it was a real treat to take 2 showers in one day! We are both tired and cranky. Hoping another day off the bikes will help.
775 miles later we are finally in Missoula. The ride today started out with a 12 mile climb to Lolo Pass. It’s the last major climb so we were quite excited to reach the top. It wasn’t even that hard. We celebrated by stopping ay Lolo Hot Springs for a soak. We didn’t stay too long since we had another 40 miles to Missoula.
Theoretically, it was all downhill to the town of Lolo but we had to peddle against a headwind most of the way. The last 12 miles into Missoula was on a 4 lane highway. Not fun and a little bit of culture shock since we’ve been in the outback for almost 3 weeks.
We are taking a rest day tomorrow. It will be good to walk instead of ride. Next stop, Kalispell.
Today we rode 40 miles in under 4 hours. We climbed about 1200 ft during the ride. Again it was so gradual we hardly noticed. Part of me really wanted to keep going because the summit of Lolo Pass was only 12 miles more. I came to my senses when I could barely get out of my chair after lunch!
We camped again but were able to have dessert at Lochsa Lodge which wa just up the hill from our camp site.
The Lochsa river is very beautiful. The water is very clear and looks inviting. The name means “many rapids”.
I was off the grid for a few days so I’ll tryto catch up. I took notes.
What a gorgeous ride up the Lochsa River. Rode 26 miles to a nice camp sitr on the river. Along the way we were joined by Paul from Ottawa. He had been riding alone for 2 weeks so tagged with us for a while. We pushed a little harder since we knew it would be a short day. It was an interesting ride because we climbed the whole time but it was so gradual we barely noticed. It helped that the road was smooth.
We actually went for a hike since we got to camp so early. What’s a few miles? We were scrounging for firewood and this man down the way from us loaded up his ATV and brought us a bundle. It was nice to have a fire but everything stank of smoke.
We are heading up the mountain to Lolo pass. We don’t have phone or internet access and won’t for the next few days. I am using the office computer at the Three Rivers Resort where we stayed last night.
Yesterday was a beautiful day for riding. Probably one of the prettiest days we’ve had. We had a great down hill ride out of Grangeville, very steep for 8 miles of it and then gradual for the next 16. We were planning on staying in Syringa but the camping was far away from the bathrooms and the cabins were $180 per night. So we rode the next 7 miles to Lowell. Great little resort with a swimming pool and hot tub.
This morning we woke to clouds and rain. We think it will pass us by. (We hope). We are staying in a campground about 26 miles up the mountain tonight. The next day will be 44 miles to Powell. Hopefully, Friday we’ll be up over Lolo pass and down to Lolo Hotsprings for 2 days. I’ll be back with more once we get over the mountain. This is supposed to be the most beautiful part of the ride. Hopefully it will make up for the climbing we have to do.
After dinner we were walking down towards the main part of Grangeville when I heard someone call out “Hey Ladies”. A car pulls into the parking lot and out pops our friend Rori who lives in Boise. She was heading home from Northern Idaho, passing through Grangeville, so thought she’d try to find us! We had a great visit over ice cream. She really lifted our spirits.
Today was an interesting day. It started early because we knew there was a big climb up White Bird 30 miles into the day. This climb was 7 miles of 6-7% grade with no shade. We were both dreading it, which decreased the enjoyment of riding along the Salmon River. It was a very pleasant gradual downhill. Once we got to the town of White Bird, the hill loomed before us. It was 9:30 am. And already 82 degrees. After the first mile we flagged down a pickup truck for a ride to the top. It took about 10 minutes rather than 3 hours. We rode down into Grangeville to complete our 39 mile ride. My legs are a little sore tonight.
We took the time to plan out our next few days of riding since we’ll start the long assent of Lolo Pass after tomorrow. We’re shooting for 30-40 mile days. We should be in Missoula no later than next Monday. We should be heading back into the trees after tomorrow. Looking forward to the change in scenery.
What a great ride we had today! Although I didn’t really want to be o the road by 7am, it was worth it. The air was cool and the traffic was light as we made our way up to New Meadows. We stopped for pancakes at the local diner then it was all down hill to Riggins. It took us 2 1/2 hours to go the 26 miles to New Meadows and 2 hours to go the 33 miles to Riggins. It would have been faster but we had a pretty steady headwind the last 10 miles.
We’re camping at a small RV place on the Salmon River. It’s quite lovely.
The day off yesterday served us well. There was no whining the whole day!
For those of you who don’t have the map of our route, we are heading north on Idaho Route 95. We will head over to Missoula on SR 12 in a few days.
When we left Cambridge yesterday morning, we were both dragging a little bit. I voted for riding to Council, stopping for the day and taking the next day off as well. I realized I was feeling like I wanted to go back to sleep for a couple of hours when I woke up in the morning. A sure sign of over-training. We don’t really think of this ride as training but daily, hard physical activity is, in fact, training.
I realized something important when I was talking to Chris, a young man from Hamilton MT who was riding back home from Eugene. I am at the stage in my life where I don’t have to test myself to see what I am made of. I have done many things in my life to test myself physically and mentally and I know what I am capable of accomplishing. Hence the hitched ride up the last mountain. I know that I could make it up that hill but the physical cost would be high. We still have a long way to go with lots more climbing ahead of us.
Council is a cute little town with a coffee house with internet access. It seems we are in one of the few places that Verizon doesn’t have coverage. Not very convenient for our day off but that’s what pay phones are for. There won’t be pictures for a few days until we are out of this valley. Today we are going to the Museum and cleaning our bikes. Fortunately for me there is a used bookstore since I’m sure I’ll finish at least one more book today.
Surprisingly, he didn’t even complain when he got a hernia helping us put our bikes in his truck! He took us to the summit in about 10 minutes, which was much better than sweating and puffing for more than an hour. The ride down into Cambridge was fun.
Tonight, no camping. We’re staying in a nice little motel that even has a hot tub! Tomorrow we are going to New Meadow, about 50 miles but no serious climbs.
After a good night’s sleep, we were off again to ride out of Hell’s Canyon. The beginning of the ride is very pretty along the Snake River. After crossing into Idaho, the climbing started. I had already made up my mind that I wasn’t riding the 7 mile, 2000 ft elevation gain part of the route. There was a little Cafe, Grocery store at the foot of the climb. I figured we could get a ride from someone there. Nancy pointed out the flaw in my plan. Only about 5 cars had pasted us in the 18 miles we’d already ridden.
So after stuffing my face, we started the climb. Every time a truck would pass, I’d stick out my thumb, hoping someone would take pity on us. After 3 miles of climbing and 5 vehicles ignoring us, a very nice gentleman in a pickup stopped for us.
We had no cell phone coverage yesterday so this will catch up yesterday. It did rain and hail on the tin roof we slept under but at least we were dry. We got up early, had breakfast and hit the 3 mile climb out of town. It took almost 1 1/2 hrs to go 7 miles. It was the first day my legs didn’t hurt while riding. The ride down into Hell’s Canyon was good even though we had some head wind. It was cloudy so it was cooler than expected. We pulled into the campground started having lunch and it started to rain. We stashed everything under the table and headed to the showers. Then we hung out in the shower stall and watched the rain for the next 2 hours. It finally stopped about 4 pm. The big challenge for me was not having an extra book to read. I only had about an hour’s worth of reading but many hours to fill. We spent some time putting liners in our tires since I’ve had 6 flats.
We actually had a good night’s sleep
I can’t say that we’ve had a lot of fun on this trip. It is very hard work and we don’t recover as fast as we used to. Today we had a relatively easy 42 mile day. Except it didn’t feel easy. It felt like work. The Powder River canyon that we rode through was quite stunning in places. I would have enjoyed it more if we didn’t have a head wind. It’s a little challenging mentally to be going 12 miles an hour down hill.
The air was heavy with the feel of rain but we managed to make it the Richland before the sky let loose. According to some folks at dinner they hit heavy hail driving over the same route we rode. Tonight we are sleeping in the community park. It has a large covered area where we’ve set up camp. If it rains we’ll be dry. I’m not sure we’ll sleep through rain on a tin roof!
Tomorrow is a shorter day with one 3 mile climb. We are committed to riding fewer miles so we can stop and smell the roses…or pick huckleberries!
The trick to riding mountain passes is to find a balance between how fast you peddle, your heart rate and your breathing rate. This is very challenging when we’re at 5000 feet elevation. Nancy just told me that we’ve climbed more than 16000 feet since we started. Today we climbed over three passes. The landscape was spectacular with high mountain meadows peeking out of the forests. We saw another family of deer crossing the road up ahead of us. All I all the passes were managable.
The trouble came when we were traveling along the Powder River into Baker City. It was 35 miles from the top of the last pass to get to Baker City. About 20 miles out, the sky gets very dark. The thunder starts rumbling and I think we’re going to get drenched any second. We are peddling just as fast as we can to stay ahead of the rain. We were finally getting wet enough that we stopped to put the rain gear on our packs. About 5 minutes later we go through this little canyon and there’s blue sky on the other side. As we turn north to go the last 10 miles into town, we hit a head wind. Bad bummer. Nothing to do but put my head down and peddle. We make it into town without getting drench. I already told Nancy that I’m not camping with thunderstorms in the forecast. We’ve watched the rain come down in buckets while safely indoors.
Our goal is to stop doing more than 60 miles a day especially when there’s climbing involved.
Talk about resting! All we did today was go for a short walk after breakfas. The rest of the day was spent reading oe eating. There wasn’t anything else to do since everything in the town is closed except for 2 restaurants. I can’t remember the last time I did so little during a day unless I was sick. At least my legs don’t hurt with every step I take.
Grant County is full of small towns and ranches. There is one stoplight in the whole county. We not only had to stop at it. Nancy sat through 2 changes before she realized it!
I had fried chicken for lunch today and actually ate the coating and skin. No wonder I don’t feel like I’m losing weight. The ice cream probably doesn’t help.
By the way I slept great last night. Looking forward to another good night’s sleep before climbing 3 passes and riding 60+ miles tomorrow.
Today was our 7th day of riding. We have covered 297 miles. My legs are very tired. We rode from Dayville to Prairie City, about 45 miles. I really wanted to stop in John Day but that would make the next day’s riding way too long. Tomorrow is a rest day.
On the leg from John Day to Prairie City, I really had to work at staying in the moment. It’s much easier to ride when enjoying the scenery instead of whining about being tired. There were many great barns out in this ranching country. I saw a coyote out in a field today. We saw a family of deer 2 days ago. No other wild life yet!
Hoping for a good night’s sleep.
Last night we ended up sharing our campsite with Mareika, a 28 year old German woman who is traveling by herself across the US. She started out with a friend, who headed home after two weeks. It was a pleasure to chat with her about her journey.
Today was a long day. We rode 78 miles across 2 passes. The first one wasn’t too bad. The climb was gradual, the scenary was gorgeous and the air was cool. The second pass was 7 miles straight up. It was also hot since we hit it after lunch. The reward was 35 miles of mostly down. We left at 7 am and finished riding at 4. Needless to say we are pretty tired. The first thing we did was hit the store for cold drinks and ice cream. That helped a lot.
We had dinner with two women from Holland who are riding acros the US. They, like most the people we meet, are going from east to west. Tonight we are sharing a church with 2 young men, one who just graduated from high school, and the other is between jobs.
Tomorrow will be a shorter day with no mountains to climb. We’ll pray for a tail wind.
Since I was whining earlier about only having water to drink because there is no store, I have to tell you about Wally. Wally is the camp host here at Lake Ochoco. He is a generous soul, stooped with a bad back but always willing to help. He’s letting us use 2 camp chairs. Our butts are so happy not to be sitting on a hard bench!
He just now brought us 2 cups of ice water. Tastes like nectar! There’s nothing like a little ice to cool the throat.
Tomorrow we are debating about how far we’ll go. It will either be about 35 miles, with 10+ miles of down or 75 miles with 35 miles of down. Guess we’ll know when we know.
This morning we left Redmond with the intent of riding about 50 miles. 27 miles later we are camped by Lake Ochoco. It’s gotten much hotter in the last two days. The next 22 miles are climbing. We decided we’d rather leave early in the morning before it’s too hot.
The problem with sleeping in the park last night was the main highway wa two blocks away. It was very noisy. The swimmers started arriving at 5 am. I think today would have been better with more sleep. It should be much quieter tonight.
We are hoping our camp neighbors have cookies to share. The store here is closed. I’ll be very tired of water by tomorrow afternoon.
