Kooskia, ID to Riggins, ID
When I set up my tent under the pavilion in the park last night, I was excited to be under a shelter. It makes it much easier to setup and take down my tent without having to stake it down or put a rain fly on. While I was completely fine, Stephen probably could have used his rain fly. Around 3:00 AM the sprinklers turned on and he was in range of them, even though he was under the pavilion. I heard the commotion and was very confused until I realized what was going on. With the sprinklers going off and the lights in the park being very bright, it wasn’t a great night of sleep.
We got on the road early and had a tough climb almost immediately. We had been riding through a valley for a couple days and to get out of it we had to go up and over an area that hit points of 15% grade for long stretches. We rode a long day the previous day to set ourselves up to be right at the base of the climb this morning. That plan worked out perfectly. The temperature was still cool during the climbing and my legs were fresh. This was the toughest climb I can remember since Pennsylvania, where I was walking my bike up some of the hills. The first 10 miles went by slowly, but there were some great views along the way. Once at the top I was surprised to find a plateau with farms everywhere. From the valley, there was no way to tell anything was going on above us.
We continued to climb until we got to the town of Grangeville around mile 24. Stephen and I were both getting hungry at that point, so we stopped for second breakfast. I ordered a giant breakfast burrito with a side of French toast. It was really good, but I couldn’t manage to finish the entire burrito. I think I still did pretty good work though. After breakfast, we had 17 miles to White Bird, ID. The first 8 miles involved more climbing, but the next 9 miles were all downhill. We got onto old route 95 and found a descent that dropped us a couple thousand feet through a series of what seemed like 100 switchbacks. It was a lot of fun going down that road, but it also really tested my disc brakes.
At the bottom of the hill we stopped for more food. It was too early for lunch, so I settled for a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie with vanilla ice cream. After a quick rest at the cafe in White Bird we headed out again and had 28 miles to our end point in Riggins, ID. The rest of the day was not very difficult, but it got really hot out. Luckily, we were riding alongside the Salmon River which had recreation areas every few miles. About 5 miles after we left White Bird, Stephen spotted a sand beach along the river where people where swimming. We headed down and went for a quick swim. The water temperature was great and did a good job of cooling me off. After the swim, I felt good enough to get back on the bike. 15 miles later we stopped again at another spot along the river where we could swim. I honestly don’t know how I would have gotten through the end of the day without these breaks. There was no shade or cover from the sun, so without swim breaks I easily could have overheated.
When we arrived in Riggins, I texted Charlie to see where he was staying. I hadn’t seen Charlie since Illinois, so it was great to run into him again. Charlie was camping at an RV park with Mike, who he has been riding with for a few weeks. The third member of their group, Patrick, was staying at a motel in town. Stephen and I decided to join Charlie and Mike and set up our tents in the RV park. After a quick shower, we went into town to grab some pizza for dinner.
Tomorrow will hopefully be a shorter day, around 60 miles. I’m hoping to get it done with early, so I can have some time to rest in the afternoon. We have another day with a lot of climbing, so we’ll see how it goes. We’re back in mountain time for a few days, so I’m hoping that doesn’t mess with my sleeping time too much. We lost an hour today as soon as we arrived in Riggins due to the time zone change.
Ramblin' Dan: Bike Touring Adventures 