Council to Riggins, ID

Via Hwy 95. 62 miles.

We finally got a little break from the searing heat today, at least up until 12:30 pm or so. Prior to that the sun was shielded behind lightly overcast skies and it was pleasantly cool. We rode out of Council along the Weiser River valley, then up over another unnamed pass and down into the Little Salmon River valley to the town of New Meadows. After a stop there to pig out at breakfast.*

After a little stretch of gently rolling terrain we began what turned into a 25 mile descent along the river canyon into Riggins, dropping 2,000 feet in elevation in the process.** As we came down the canyon the climate changed dramatically from green grassy fields and tall pine trees to the starkly beautiful desert climate that we had become accustomed to in eastern Oregon. We rolled into Riggins about 1:15, by which time the temperature had climbed up to 93 degrees. Needless to say, we were happy that we were finished riding for the day as riding in that kind of heat isn't a lot of fun.

Those of you who are plotting our progress on a map (this means you, Francie) may wonder why we are now traveling north in Idaho when our destination
(Colorado) is south and east of here. That is just the way it goes sometimes on a bicycle trip. Unlike the route one would usually take on a car trip (shortest, most direct), bicycle
routes wander around all over the place. Bicycle routes are designed to avoid traffic, and expose the rider to scenic areas and historic sites. The shortest distance is not a consideration because the means of travel (slow and casual) are entirely different.

*In order to get an early start we had bagels, yogurt and a banana for breakfast in our Council motel room. I have found that I need a big bulk breakfast on these trips to keep me going until at least noon. So this light fare didn't last too long. Before we finished climbing the pass I was hungry again and wolfed down an energy gel and another banana. This was still not satisfactory but certainly better than nothing.

**Such long descents are fun, but in the back of your mind you start to dread them because you know that, at least in the case of this portion of our trip (west coast to Colorado), "what goes down must go up". Today's ride is a perfect example - the 2,000 foot descent we enjoyed will be more than made up tomorrow in one climb (a 2,500 foot ascent out of the town of White Bird). In this respect we are in kind of a 'no win' situation at the moment, since we are currently at an elevation of 1,800 feet and will eventually wind up at our home in Colorado (elevation 6,500 feet) with the 12,000 foot summit of Hoosier Pass along the way.
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Riggins, I'd pic #2

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Riggins, ID

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Little Salmon River valley pic #2

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Little Salmon River valley pic #1

Between New Meadows and Pollock.
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In the middle of nowhere

Literally!
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On the way out of Hells Canyon

Oy vey that sucker was steep.
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Size matters

Pic of the Canadian couple on their three-wheeled recumbent tandem. Penny and I grudgingly had to admit that they won the "biggest rig" match up.
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Idaho scenery

Between Cambridge and Council, ID
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Brownlee Reservoir to Council, ID

(Ridden July 31). Via Hwys 71 and 95. 49 miles. When planning this part of the trip, today was one of the days I was most concerned about. The Adventure Cycling map indicated that Hells Canyon was extremely hot this time of year. It is the deepest canyon in the U.S. and was given the name "Hells Canyon" for a reason. The map also said that the climb out was very steep and long. I therefore expected us to find ourselves on the side of the road begging a passing pickup truck for a ride to the top, or to at least carry our trailer and pannier bags to the top for us.

We successfully got over the first hurdle (the heat) by leaving our camp site early in the morning. We were up before dawn, packed up our stuff and ate a quick breakfast (sandwiches made with canned deviled ham and pineapple - not bad...really!) We were able to get on the road by 7:15, which is lightening speed for us.*

The climb out of the canyon proved to be as steep as advertised. We were in our lowest gear for virtually the entire 9 mile stretch from our camp site to the top of the unnamed pass between the canyon and the town of Cambridge. (Prior to this point on this part of our trip we had not needed to go into our lowest gear for extended period of time.**) But we were pleasantly surprised to find that we were able to ride the entire way without stalling out/being forced to push the tandem up the switchbacks. The road out was built along a side canyon that, due to the sun's low angle in the morning sky, remained almost entirely in the shade the entire time. That made a huge difference. We were thus relatively cool all the way out, despite working very hard for the 2+ hour duration of the climb.

As we were coming down off the top of the pass we met the couple on the 3-wheeled recumbent tandem going the other direction. They were from Canada but, like most of the cyclists going west, had started in Yorktown, Virginia (i.e., they were riding the TransAmerica route
across the U.S.) They were the only other people we've seen on a tandem, but told us there is a family of 3 behind them (mom, dad and a 10 year old boy) on a 3-person tandem. Since the family is also pulling a trailer we all agreed the family wins the contest for riding the biggest rig.

We ran into Devon again in Cambridge and she announced that she planned to stay there tonight rather than go on to Council like us (it was only 11 am at this point). It seems that she met a forest ranger who invited her to the town fair and rodeo tonight. We felt like surrogate parents warning her to watch out for herself, especially around cowboys, but she really didn't need our advice as she obviously knows how to handle herself.

We stopped to eat at the local cafe (I had not yet had my coffee this morning and was looking for my customary caffeine boost). By the time we got going again it was noon time. The 22-mile stretch from Cambridge to Council proved to be more challenging than we had expected. There were a number of short hills and the temperature had gone from warm to hot. We've learned to watch for even little bits of shade along the roadside and take advantage of them at breaks. In this manner we got to Council without a real problem, but were certainly tired, hot and ready to call it a day.

Tomorrow will be a rest day, when we'll do laundry, check out the town and enjoy the air conditioner in our motel room.

*However, we could not get ourselves moving faster than Devon, who camped with us at the same site along Brownlee Reservoir on the Snake River. She beat us out of camp by a good 30 minutes.

**Those of you who don't ride bicycles may wonder why we wouldn't ALWAYS ride uphill in our lowest gear. It's a good question. The answer is that as you lower the gearing, you obviously spin the cranks faster which makes pedaling easier. But it also makes steering harder because there is less resistance on the pedals, and part of what keeps the bike balanced is adequate pedaling pressure. This is particularly true when the bike is loaded down with stuff.*** When there isn't much traffic you can take up more of the roadway weaving from side to side in an effort to stay upright. But when traffic forces you to stay on the edge of the pavement or the shoulder you have to sacrifice pedaling ease in favor of better steering control. It's a balancing act - like most things, they are more complicated than you might think upon closer examination.
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Old Adams County courthouse pic #1

The building is awaiting restoration. The portraits, which were painted by local high school students, are of people who worked at the court house in the past. They were painted on the lower windows to preserve the windows.
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Old Adams County courthouse pic #2

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Downtown Council, ID

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Rest day in Council, ID

(August 1). Council is a town of about 850 people in west central Idaho. It sits below a ring of 9,000+ foot mountains known as the 7 Devils Range. It was named by Merriwether Lewis because when he and Clark arrived here they saw hundreds of indian encampments. Lewis mistakenly thought the tribes were gathered at a council, when actually they were just living in the valley at the time.

Council has fallen on hard times economically ever since a nearby sawmill shut down a few years ago. There are quite a few empty storefronts and 3 thrift shops/junk stores. However we found the people to be uniformly nice and, like many small towns we have visited, happy to be living here despite the hardships.

We enjoyed visiting the thrift shops and picked up some great bargains, including a book for me (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee for 50 cents); a new church key bottle opener for beer and other bottles (10 cents, an incredible deal for an absolute essential tool); and a small, heavy duty styrofoam cooler that we will use to haul perishable food for camping (99 cents).*

We also visited the local museum (Adams County history museum) which, although small, was very interesting. At one time there was a huge fruit orchard just south of here (at Mesa) that was one of the largest in the country. They built an elaborate irrigation system from the Weiser River to the orchard, using wooden water pipes. There was also a colorful female dentist who practiced here until she was in her 90s (when the state first took away her license, then confiscated her equipment. She refused to use Novacain for fillings and when pulling teeth used to tell her patients to dig onto the chair handles as hard as they wanted to ("they're solid oak, you can't hurt them"). The museum also had a section on the Native Americans who once inhabited the area (the Shoshonies and Nez Pierce tribes) but it said absolutely nothing about what happened to them or how the white settlers came to occupy the land.** It is very true that history is written by the winning side.

*We suspect that the cooler may have been intended for fish bait, but it looks clean and doesn't smell so we purchased it.

**Reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown's classic work on the settling of the country from the indian
perspective, has sensitized me to this subject.
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