Day 48: Sities to Riggins, camped by the Snake River

It was nice to sleep inside since the dew fell pretty heavily. Michelle was headed in the opposite direction so we got our hear back. It was nice to find out that one of Brent’s relatives or friends offered to carry our fear to the top of the next hill. Brent was familiar with the area and said the road to the next town was probably the steepest climb yet. He proved to be right. I think if I had my bags with me I would have walked part of the climb. It was very pretty though. I enjoyed the rolling hills filled with hay bales and what not. It reminded me of Kansas only a lot hillier. Near the top it flatten out and I ran into some of the ACA tour. Unlike the people I was talking to the days before, she didn’t seem all that happy how the tour was going. It was somewhat discouraging to talk to her as it seemed she hated everything I liked about bicycle touring. There were a few more rolling hills before arriving in Grangeville. I arrived slightly behind my group because I was talking with the ACA tour. Unfortunately I missed Brent’s relative/friend dropping off our stuff so I didn’t get to thank him. I made a mental note to send their family a thank you postcard. I still can’t believe how friendly they were, inviting us to stay and letting us play the corn-hole but not actually corn-hole game. I was pretty tired after that climb despite not having my gear. Everyone else was sitting around so I bought some food and hung around a bit. Ellen was nowhere to be found but I knew she had to be close to the ACA tour. Leaving Grangeville there was another climb but it looked a lot more gradual compared to Lamb’s Pass (that’s what the climb we just did was called). I headed out and soon noticed an increase in grade. It wasn’t so bad and I was able to stay in my middle ring for most of it. I lost cell service pretty quickly. It amazed me that the landscape was still Idaho.

When I got to the top I decided to wait a little bit. I couldn’t remember if the rest of the group was ahead or behind me. The view was incredible and I was dimly aware that there were only so many climbs left on my map. Getting off the climb was kinda awful. It was steep 7% grade and the traffic had way too many semi-trucks for my taste. I had to keep pulling off the road to shake feeling back into my hands because they kept going numb from squeezing my breaks. After making it into White Bird I stopped at a fabulous store(?) where I ran into Ellen and some more ACA members. They recommended I get a huckleberry milkshake and you didn’t need to tell me twice to get ice cream. After drinking the best milkshake and listening to the owner tell me the story of how she came to own the store (which I regret not writing down cuz now I don’t remember it) I headed into the Salmon River Canyon.

A brief history of the Salmon River Canyon:

Some 15 million years ago, Salmon River ran across great Miocene lava flows above here and started to carve the deep canyon. Then the earth’s surface gradually rose. As the mountains were rising, the river cut down into the older rock below. Many other north western rivers cut similar gorges. I was ecstatic to find out that the Snake River flows through Hell’s Canyon – which I would get to ride through once we crossed into Oregon!

Unfortunately the sun chose to come out and it got hot. Although it was really cool to ride through the canyon I couldn’t help but feel like I was winding through a giant oven. My water wasn’t low but I figured if I saw someplace I should get more. I spotted a sign for a Ranger station coming up. I forgot that it was a weekend and was dismayed when they were closed. After walking around the building a few times I settled for running through the sprinklers fully clothed to cool off. I attempted to refill one of my water bottles in the sprinkler but I only got a face full of water.

Further down the road I came across an oasis that was the legendary fruit stand. I had heard about this fruit stand several times from Mark, and other bikers. It was true. The stand rose out of nowhere and advertised every type of fruit you could want. The owner was a grandfatherly type who insisted I try his peaches and plums. I don’t know about them being locally grown but they were delicious. Despite knowing they were going to be crushed I bought too many peaches. It had been a while since I got the chance to snack on something healthy.

It was only a short time later that I made it into Riggins – our ending point for the night. I said goodbye to the ACA members as they were staying in the RV part. Brent knew a place we could camp along the river for free. We all regrouped at (what I think was the only restaurant in town) and I drank probably a gallon of water. When we were about to leave we got a pleasant surprise and Michelle, Ryen and her baby Luke showed up! The followed us to the spot along the river. Monica, Ellen and a couple other bikers were there too but I was suddenly hit with an extreme case of sleepiness. I declined to go swimming and fell straight asleep. There wasn’t any water or electric that night but the stars were worth the lack of amenities.