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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