Day 71: 69 Miles

Cambridge, ID to Richland, OR

Today was another day that started off immediately with climbing. That’s three days in a row where the climbing has started within the first 5 miles of the day. Luckily, today’s climb was the easiest of the past 3 days. It was 16 miles to the top of the climb and then there was a nice 6 mile descent down to the Snake River and into Hells Canyon. I was surprised to see some snow covered peaks off in the distance, but I know there is a lot of climbing left to do before I get to the Pacific Ocean.

Hells Canyon is known to get very hot, so I was happy to be making decent time this morning. At the bottom of the descent I stopped into a small cafe and grabbed a breakfast sandwich. There weren’t many places to stop for food today, so a second breakfast was a necessity. I grabbed a few snack items from the store on my way out and then continued into the Canyon.

Upon entering the canyon, I saw the large reservoir that has been created by the Brownlee Dam on the Snake River. It was great scenery and I knew just on the other side of the water was Oregon, the 15^th and final state of this trip. After a few miles on the Idaho side of the water I crossed over and into Oregon. There are still around 500 miles of cycling remaining, but it felt great to finally get to Oregon.

The ride continued north where Stephen and I made a quick stop at a campground along the water. There didn’t seem to be anywhere else to refill our water bottles along the route today. I finished off a Powerade and some M&M’s and rested my legs for a bit, but then we were back to riding. A few miles later we came across a store that wasn’t supposed to exist anymore. Not wanting to turn down a cold drink and a few minutes of AC, we stopped in for another quick break. While we were standing outside a couple of motorcyclists started up a conversation with us. It was a good thing they did, because once we got back on the road one of them road up alongside with Stephen’s wallet. He had left it at the store and one of the motorcyclists was nice enough to catch up to us and return it.

The final 28 miles of the day were mostly uphill. Nothing too bad, but the temperature got very hot. We got to one very long and steep climb with the temperature hovering above 95 degrees. It was only a 7 mile climb, but the heat made it very hard. All my water felt hot enough to make tea with, but my mouth was so dry I had to keep drinking it. I took several breaks to the top of the climb, but once I was there it is was a nice downhill all the way into the town of Richland, where we stopped for the day.

When I got to Richland, I headed straight to the grocery store to grab some liquids to rehydrate. Within minutes I had finished a 32 oz. Powerade and a 20 oz. soda. While Stephen and I were sitting outside of the store a man came outside with a 6 pack of beer he had just purchased and offered us each once. I figured I’d take it while I was rehydrating and polished the beer off quickly as well.

Once we were hydrated and rested we headed over to the town park where we are staying tonight. I was hoping there would be a hose, so I could at least cool off and get clean. When we got there, we found a sprinkler in the field. It wasn’t quite the splash pad we showered in a couple of days ago, but it did the trick. I think I’ve reached a new level of hobo when any public source of water that can spray me is good enough for a shower.

After cleaning off and changing I took a nap in the shade and waited for it to be late enough to grab dinner. Dinner was a huge piece of chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes, carrots and a salad. After that meal, I was ready to get back to the park and relax until it got cool enough and dark enough to go to sleep. Tomorrow I will celebrate my birthday with a short 41 mile day to Baker City.