Canyon Cruisin’

STATS: Missoula, Montana to Wilderness Gateway Campground, Nez-Perce Clearwater National Forest, Idaho

Distance: 96 miles

I woke up from a deep slumber to a hot ass cat laying between my legs. In my state of mind, I guess I thought nudging him away would be a good idea, but it only ended with him swapping my legs with his nails. He eventually gave in though, and I was king of the couch once more. Justin, Tim and I packed up our belongings, and rolled to breakfast in town. I had plenty of time to research our best options last night while attack cat wouldn’t leave me alone. We settled on Hob Nob cafe, and upon arriving, were the only ones there. I ordered the sourdough pancakes and a dollar day old scone. Delicious. We enjoyed conversing one last time with Justin, who seemed like a lifelong friend more than just someone we met. We wished safe travels and were off for the races.

Our bike out of town was peaceful because of the beautiful bike path. As soon as we left though, the ascent basically began. The climbing was gradual, but the shoulder we had was thin. We had about 45 miles of this, but fortunately as we pedaled further, we entered some gorgeous national forests. We also knew that once we hit the pass, we had a loooong stretch of downhill.

Several hours of climbing and I was still feeling good. We stopped at a hot springs resort for a short snack break, and I polished off the rest of my rye triskets. We continued on, having only 8 miles left, and with about 3 miles to go, the ascent became steeper. At the top, I knew of two things that were worth getting to: 1) Free hot chocolate/coffee at the visitor center, 2) IDAHO border. I felt great as the miles counted down, and before we knew it the Idaho state line was here!

We captured our routine state border moments, and moved inside for a tasty mocha (I combined the coffee and hot chocolate).

After two cups, I was ready for the downhill. We gently rolled up to the tip of the hill, and ZOOM. I was flying down the hill averaging 35 miles per hour absolutely having a blast. The hours of climbing was so worth this thrill. For probably 30 minutes I didn’t pedal one time, which when you think about it is crazy.

Eventually, we rolled into a resort, ate some lunch, and decided to push on at least 40 more miles because of the steady downhill. We also gained an hour with moving into the pacific time zone, so time was on our side today.

The ride through the national forest was stunning. Another beautiful river ride through a massive canyon. The water was as clear blue as can be, and the foliage was in full bloom. With 20 miles left, we ran into a biker named Biff, who I’ve been legit following a day or two behind since Virginia. We ended up camping together, and Tim went on for more mileage. Biff and I found an awesome hidden campground and spent the evening sharing stories and getting to know each other. He’s one special dude, and he’s freakin’ hilarious. I legit walked away for 2 minutes and came back to a full blown fire. I was so excited!! We talked and talked until the stars came out. I’m happy as hell to be with a new biker, friend, and fellow Virginia resident (he’s from Lynchburg!) I set up camp, making sure to leave one part of the rain fly open for star gazing, and drifted to sleep before I could even say the word pancakes.

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