Climbing Mountains

On Sunday we did the biggest climb of the trip: up and over Sherman Pass in the Monashee mountain range. We started from an elevation of 1600 feet in Kettle Falls, with almost 4000 feet of climbing ahead of us. The climb was gently sloped at the beginning, so gently sloped that the climb took place over a distance of more than 25 miles. On the way up we stopped at an old log flume that was used in the early 1900s to transport logs down to the Columbia River. A massive fire in 1929 destroyed over 140,000 acres and the timber industry in that area came to an abrupt halt.

The last 8 miles of the climb were steeper, though nothing like some of the smaller hills we saw on the East coast. I found the last four miles particularly challenging. Mike followed me up the mountain, gamely pretending that 4 mph was also his preferred rate of motion. What a gentleman.

We stopped at the Sherman Pass overlook for the view and were disappointed to discover that the overlook was not actually at the top of the mountain. There was another 300 feet of climbing to do. The air was crisp and cool at the top so we geared up with rain jackets for the descent. Not pedaling is good but lack of movement plus cold air rushing past you can lead to chilly conditions. The downhill was great and we shot into the outskirts of Republic where the local fairgrounds had a campsite. Neither of us wanted to cycle another 5 miles to and from the grocery store and back so we cobbled together a dinner with beans from a nearby gas station and some leftovers we had tumbling around a pannier. We ate with another touring cyclist, David, who had caught up after weeks of hearing east-bound cyclists mention us.

Monday morning began with a sprinkle of rain but the weather soon cleared up and we headed into Republic to stock up. The day's climb over Wauconda Pass had no services for the first 40 miles, and the miles were likely to be slow. We plodded up the hill, somewhat faster than the day before, and reached the top more quickly than we expected to. We took an obligatory selfie with the sign and, once again, geared up for a cold descent of 25 miles. Unfortunately, we hit headwinds on the way down and they sucked the joy out of the less-steep parts of the downhill. Mike said he would give it a thumbs-down on Trip Advisor. Still, we had a great 6 miles stretch of 5-6 % grades that led us into Tonasket.

We had a late lunch of veggie burritos at a food truck, we must be getting closer to California now. A Warm Showers host at the food truck offered us a place to stay in Omak (our destination for the day) but we had already booked a motel so we thanked her and declined. The final 23 miles flew by and we did them without stopping, helped by more downhill and a tailwind. The landscape in this part of Washington is very different to what we've seen so far. It's arid with few trees, beyond the commercial orchards that operate around here. The brown, barren hills were an interesting change to the pine-laden slopes of the past couple of days. The area is in a rain shadow between two mountain ranges, we expect the scenery to change again after we climb the next mountain. But we'll get to that all in good time. For now, we're having a rest day in Omak, and now we must venture out to find pizza.

Sunday's miles: 41
Monday's miles: 68

King and Queen of the mountain

Just barely made it in frame for the self-timer

From whence we came 

The bikes are resting