See the 3 wolves? At sherman pass
another hill, conquered
remnants of the White Mountain fire, 1988
I WISH!!!
Day 7 - June 26th - Colville, WA
56 miles, 4000 feet cumulative elevation gain
75 and sunshine - perfect biking weather!
We started out downhill in the 7am morning chill, but not to worry, within 3 miles we started up, up, up again, a good 15 mile climb to Sherman Pass. 4 hours up, and about 30 minutes to get down the other side. This is Washington’s highest pass that’s open year round.
Forests of lodge pole pine and larch, a good bit of which burnt in the big White Mountain fire of 1988; the burn area still has black sticks of the old pines towering over everything else, but a good growth of new ones coming. Lodgepoles are one of those pines which need fire to crack the seeds out of the cones.
Just after we started up the hill, we passed this incredible deep, steep, rocky gorge, with a stream rushing through it, the kind of thing that in a less lavishly appointed area would at least have it’s own state park attached. But here, they don’t even bother to name it.
The guy carrying the 80 pound load passed me again today.
The ride to the top wasn’t bad, and the ride down was magnificent. A sign at the top says “it’s all downhill from here”, and it is, all the way down to the Columbia, close to 20 miles of coasting as fast as any sane person would want to coast. (And maybe a bit faster).
Well, it’s not really the Columbia any more, but Lake Roosevelt instead. We crossed at the town of Kettle Falls; the falls itself was drowned when they filled the lake. This is a sad story. Here’s what Wikipedia says:
“Kettle Falls was flooded in 1940, when the Grand Coulee Dam impounded the Columbia River to create Lake Roosevelt. The waters behind the dam rose 380 feet, flooding more than 21,000 acres (85 km2) of prime bottomland along the river where native peoples lived, as well as the original town of Kettle Falls.[3][5] In June 1940, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people mourned the falls at a "Ceremony of Tears" organized by the Colvilles and attended by representatives of the Yakama, Spokane, Nez Perce, Flathead, Blackfeet, Coeur d'Alene, Tulalip, and Pend d'Oreille tribes.[1]
Native burial grounds on Indian Island were moved, and the town of Kettle Falls was relocated to the present site of Kettle Falls, Washington. In addition to submerging the falls, Grand Coulee permanently blocked anadromous fish from traveling upriver, ending salmon and steelhead migration in the upper Columbia River Basin.[6] As with the flooding of Priest Rapids, Celilo Falls, and Cascades Rapids downriver, the loss of Kettle Falls ended the traditional way of life for the native cultures that revolved around salmon fishing. Many native people moved out of the area, but others live today on the nearby Spokane and Colville Indian Reservations. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation filed a lawsuit against the United States government, which was settled in the 1990s for approximately $52 million.”
I had counted on stopping for lunch in Kettle Falls, but our route skirted the actual town, and I was too lazy to ask for directions. So I was running on empty by the time I got to Colville 10 miles later, and very, very glad to join several other bikers in a nice little sandwich and latte shop.
Our hotel tonight, Benny’s Colville Inn, has lobby walls covered with taxidermied fish. Benny Buchanan, the grandfather of the current owner, caught them all. They are each labelled with date and place, and are from all over the world, every type of fish you can imagine and many I’d never heard of. It’s worth a stop here just to see that.
Linda, our wonderful chef, outdid herself tonight with a choice of chicken or tofu in peanut sauce, asian slaw, rice, and fresh fruit. We are well fed.
We were all pretty beat-up feeling at the end of today… possibly related to climbing 3 mountain passes in three days….? One would think that tomorrow would be a rest day, but no, we have another 80 hilly miles tomorrow. Hopefully I will feel better about this in the morning….
Day 8 - June 27th - Bear Paw Camp, middle-of-nowhere, WA
79 miles, 3244 feet cumulative elevation gain
80 and sunshine - perfect biking weather!
I am actually writing this a day later, as I was so tired as to be barely functional when I got I last night.
The first half of the day was a long climb up over the (I think) Selkirk range. No pass was identified as such, but it was definitely yet another mountain range, so make that FOUR days in a row of passes. We were warned by the guide that the start of the day would be “shockingly hilly”, and I’d have to agree that’s an apt description. But how beautiful! Lush, evergreen-covered hills; clear, quiet, golden-brown streams; piney air; the occasional incredibly fragrant field of alfalfa. Wildlife sightings included a baby and momma moose, and a black bear…unfortunately not by me, but I did see several deer. This is an area I would like to return to.
After another thrilling descent from the mountains, we were at the Pend Oreille river. Pronounced “ponderay”, and there’s actually a town near here that spells it tht way. Those silly French with all their extra decorative letters! So, I was thinking, if you were Canadian, you could say “The pronunciation of this place is really something to ponder, eh?”
The second half of the day was on a nice, relatively flat road following the east bank of the Pend Oreille. They’ve had a lot of rain here recently (so, so happy that’s in the past!!!!!!) and the river is very high. Intellectually I know this was a beautiful ride, but I was worn out and really should have sagged about the last 30.
Our last half mile was down a rough gravel road to Bear Paw Camp. Complete with bunkhouse cabins, make-your-own-bed, shared showers and toilets. I stumbled to the first little cabin I came to and collapsed for an hour before dinner, seriously considered just skipping dinner and sleeping till morning But did manage to stay awake long enough for a traditional camp dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, and mac and cheese.
Day 9 - June 28th - Sand Point, Idaho
46 miles, 1500 feet cumulative elevation gain
85 and sunshine - perfect biking weather!
SUCH a relief to ride “only” 46 miles today! And in only Whidbey-esque hills, no actual mountains. It really was a lovely ride, still right along the Pend Oreille. It’s a big river! Day-glo green floodplains, pretty marshes, rocky hills, and lots of vacation homes. We were in Sand Point by lunch time, and had our laundry done before dinner.
I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy a new camera and now I have it: I dropped my camera 2 days ago and it hasn’t spoken to me since. Will go shopping for a new one tomorrow, a REST DAY!!!!
56 miles, 4000 feet cumulative elevation gain
75 and sunshine - perfect biking weather!
We started out downhill in the 7am morning chill, but not to worry, within 3 miles we started up, up, up again, a good 15 mile climb to Sherman Pass. 4 hours up, and about 30 minutes to get down the other side. This is Washington’s highest pass that’s open year round.
Forests of lodge pole pine and larch, a good bit of which burnt in the big White Mountain fire of 1988; the burn area still has black sticks of the old pines towering over everything else, but a good growth of new ones coming. Lodgepoles are one of those pines which need fire to crack the seeds out of the cones.
Just after we started up the hill, we passed this incredible deep, steep, rocky gorge, with a stream rushing through it, the kind of thing that in a less lavishly appointed area would at least have it’s own state park attached. But here, they don’t even bother to name it.
The guy carrying the 80 pound load passed me again today.
The ride to the top wasn’t bad, and the ride down was magnificent. A sign at the top says “it’s all downhill from here”, and it is, all the way down to the Columbia, close to 20 miles of coasting as fast as any sane person would want to coast. (And maybe a bit faster).
Well, it’s not really the Columbia any more, but Lake Roosevelt instead. We crossed at the town of Kettle Falls; the falls itself was drowned when they filled the lake. This is a sad story. Here’s what Wikipedia says:
“Kettle Falls was flooded in 1940, when the Grand Coulee Dam impounded the Columbia River to create Lake Roosevelt. The waters behind the dam rose 380 feet, flooding more than 21,000 acres (85 km2) of prime bottomland along the river where native peoples lived, as well as the original town of Kettle Falls.[3][5] In June 1940, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people mourned the falls at a "Ceremony of Tears" organized by the Colvilles and attended by representatives of the Yakama, Spokane, Nez Perce, Flathead, Blackfeet, Coeur d'Alene, Tulalip, and Pend d'Oreille tribes.[1]
Native burial grounds on Indian Island were moved, and the town of Kettle Falls was relocated to the present site of Kettle Falls, Washington. In addition to submerging the falls, Grand Coulee permanently blocked anadromous fish from traveling upriver, ending salmon and steelhead migration in the upper Columbia River Basin.[6] As with the flooding of Priest Rapids, Celilo Falls, and Cascades Rapids downriver, the loss of Kettle Falls ended the traditional way of life for the native cultures that revolved around salmon fishing. Many native people moved out of the area, but others live today on the nearby Spokane and Colville Indian Reservations. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation filed a lawsuit against the United States government, which was settled in the 1990s for approximately $52 million.”
I had counted on stopping for lunch in Kettle Falls, but our route skirted the actual town, and I was too lazy to ask for directions. So I was running on empty by the time I got to Colville 10 miles later, and very, very glad to join several other bikers in a nice little sandwich and latte shop.
Our hotel tonight, Benny’s Colville Inn, has lobby walls covered with taxidermied fish. Benny Buchanan, the grandfather of the current owner, caught them all. They are each labelled with date and place, and are from all over the world, every type of fish you can imagine and many I’d never heard of. It’s worth a stop here just to see that.
Linda, our wonderful chef, outdid herself tonight with a choice of chicken or tofu in peanut sauce, asian slaw, rice, and fresh fruit. We are well fed.
We were all pretty beat-up feeling at the end of today… possibly related to climbing 3 mountain passes in three days….? One would think that tomorrow would be a rest day, but no, we have another 80 hilly miles tomorrow. Hopefully I will feel better about this in the morning….
Day 8 - June 27th - Bear Paw Camp, middle-of-nowhere, WA
79 miles, 3244 feet cumulative elevation gain
80 and sunshine - perfect biking weather!
I am actually writing this a day later, as I was so tired as to be barely functional when I got I last night.
The first half of the day was a long climb up over the (I think) Selkirk range. No pass was identified as such, but it was definitely yet another mountain range, so make that FOUR days in a row of passes. We were warned by the guide that the start of the day would be “shockingly hilly”, and I’d have to agree that’s an apt description. But how beautiful! Lush, evergreen-covered hills; clear, quiet, golden-brown streams; piney air; the occasional incredibly fragrant field of alfalfa. Wildlife sightings included a baby and momma moose, and a black bear…unfortunately not by me, but I did see several deer. This is an area I would like to return to.
After another thrilling descent from the mountains, we were at the Pend Oreille river. Pronounced “ponderay”, and there’s actually a town near here that spells it tht way. Those silly French with all their extra decorative letters! So, I was thinking, if you were Canadian, you could say “The pronunciation of this place is really something to ponder, eh?”
The second half of the day was on a nice, relatively flat road following the east bank of the Pend Oreille. They’ve had a lot of rain here recently (so, so happy that’s in the past!!!!!!) and the river is very high. Intellectually I know this was a beautiful ride, but I was worn out and really should have sagged about the last 30.
Our last half mile was down a rough gravel road to Bear Paw Camp. Complete with bunkhouse cabins, make-your-own-bed, shared showers and toilets. I stumbled to the first little cabin I came to and collapsed for an hour before dinner, seriously considered just skipping dinner and sleeping till morning But did manage to stay awake long enough for a traditional camp dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, and mac and cheese.
Day 9 - June 28th - Sand Point, Idaho
46 miles, 1500 feet cumulative elevation gain
85 and sunshine - perfect biking weather!
SUCH a relief to ride “only” 46 miles today! And in only Whidbey-esque hills, no actual mountains. It really was a lovely ride, still right along the Pend Oreille. It’s a big river! Day-glo green floodplains, pretty marshes, rocky hills, and lots of vacation homes. We were in Sand Point by lunch time, and had our laundry done before dinner.
I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy a new camera and now I have it: I dropped my camera 2 days ago and it hasn’t spoken to me since. Will go shopping for a new one tomorrow, a REST DAY!!!!
$1000 worth of sand dollars!