2 Lefts

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 t...

We departed the dirt road from Albeni Cove, spent a few final miles in Idaho, and entered Washington. This is the final state of this leg of the journey. Third-to-last for the entire trip. The ride was largely flat, with some occasional brief rolling climbs. We spent almost the entire day on LeClerc Road, following the Pend Oreille River. About midway through the day we entered Kalispel Indian Reservation and took a stop at the Manressa Grotto. According to our map, this is a cave that Native Americans practiced Christian ceremonies until around the early 20th century. We clambered up a short path and enjoyed poking around inside. Carving your name into the rock looked to be a very popular activity for visitors. After riding on one side of the river all day long our final stretch took us over a red steel bridge spanning a thousand feet or so. The surface was a metal grid of small, open squares so you could see directly through to the structure below you, and then the water farthe...

We waved goodbye to the town of Libby, Montana, yesterday morning and set off. In the morning we rode alongside the Kootenai River which flows west out of Libby. We stopped at Kootenai Falls and went on a longer-than-expected hike to reach them. As we crossed a railway bridge we saw a couple carrying white-water kayaks to the river and hoped that we would see them in action at the falls. First we went to walk across the Swinging Bridge, which lived up to its name, then onto the waterfalls. Sure enough a flash of yellow came hurtling down the rapids, followed by a flash of orange. The kayakers made it through the whitewater then paddled upstream along the river bank to have another go. The excursion added some fun variety to the day's biking. Later in the day we had great views of Bull Lake followed by Bull River as we wound south around some mountains. As we turned west onto a highway we saw a general store and bakery. The proprietor made turnovers while we chatted about her move...

Yesterday it was Labor Day. We celebrated in our usual manner: bike riding. We left a beautiful campsite near the Tobacco River and headed toward Lake Koocanusa. The lake was formed by damming the Kootenay River in 1972 and it wiggles and wanders for fifty miles of our Northern Tier route. We spent just about the entire today riding along its eastern shores and it was gorgeous. Sheer rock faces rose above us on our left hand side and the lake came in and out of view to our right. When we looked at the elevation profile for this stretch, it seemed fairly flat. Detail and scale are important. Zoom in and the route looks more like saw teeth. The climbing made the distance a little more challenging but traffic was light and the views more than made up for it. The weather has been great recently - summer is holding on just a little longer. In the early evening we arrived in Libby and sized up the town. We'd done five days of riding since our last break. It seemed like a nice place s...

Yesterday we continued to descend through the mountains and covered the first 20 miles to West Glacier fairly easily. It was chilly and the descent made the temperature seem even lower. Since West Glacier is at the western entrance to Glacier National Park I had hoped that it would be very touristy and might offer a fudge shop. We did not find a fudge shop but there was a coffee shop and we indulged in large portions of French toast (Mike) and pancakes (me). For the first time in many days we left Highway 2. Mike was amazed that there were turns to make, we haven't been off the highway in a while. The route took us onto some quiet backroads with spectacular scenery. We've really been enjoying seeing mountains after the plains of North Dakota and eastern Montana. At a break in Columbia Falls we found a large train in a park and climbed around on that for a while. Finally we continued on to Whitefish, which was our final stop for the day. The mom of one of Mike's high schoo...

I wrote a long and excellent blog post. I hadn't saved it and then the laptop suddenly restarted, losing everything. It's late and I have no patience to write it again. Here's a short summary: - Yesterday's riding was miserable with headwinds all day. It took 11 hours out on the road. - We met an Irish cyclist named Jamie from West Galway. He told us if we're in his village of Clifton we have a place to stay. - Someone dropped condiment packets on the road. I intentionally rode over a mustard. It went SPLAT and was fun. - We rode 60 miles to a town called Browning. - Today had beautiful scenery. We climbed to the top of Marias Pass, over 5,000 feet at the Continental Divide. - We bypassed most of Glacier National Park due to fire road closures. Riding to the closure and then doubling back would have added 2 days to the ride. - There are stunning streams and forest here. - The owner of the campground we are at is a Grade A shishkebob and was nasty for no re...