To Salmon Meadows: Welcome to Idaho

September 28, 2007

"I was wondering who would shine their headlights into the campground." Patrick says. It's the moon, still visible as we start the final 7 miles climb to the summit of Lost Trail Pass.

The wind is strong and the going slow the first 2-3 miles. Then we get some relief from the wind, protected by the hills. The grade doesn't seem bad, the wind makes it so that we stop every mile post for a rest.

Finally, we reach the summit and take pictures of us and the bikes at the "Welcome to Idaho" sign. (6995 feet elevation) It's cold we both have our warm gloves on, and we start the 5 mile 5% grade descent. Patrick is almost hypothermic and we stop to put on another layer, rain jackets over the fleece.

We reach North Fork about 1130am just missing breakfast at the cafe, we have Raspberry/Bosenberry pie and coffee instead. The road flattens, we still go up river of the North Fork of the Salmon. The fall colors are beautiful, the road doesn't have much of a shoulder, the wind dies down a bit. We reach Salmon about 3pm and stop at the visitors center for information. We go to Meadows Campground, just 1/2 mile from downtown.

First we fix soup, and coffee, a sandwich and finish the apple turnovers. As we start to pitch the tent, another camper comes over to tell us of a storm coming in--strong winds, snow/rain. So we pitch the tent in the shelter. After cleaning up we walk to town to shop for supplies then go to Berthram's Brewery for dinner and a Borah Peak Brown Ale. The sky is threatening and the wind continues, so we go back to camp to pack up the food, write in the journal, read and settle in before the storm hits.

In a week, we will be in Idaho City looking to ride our last day into Boise next Saturday.