In the Shadow of Lance – Day 10

Date: Monday 16th August 

Route: Riggins, Idaho – Lowell, Idaho

Distance: 98 miles

Total climb: 4527 ft

Net climb: -228ft

Having opted to make use of our motel room in Riggins for our second night there we woke up in rather more prosaic surroundings.  For once we also woke up early.  So early, in fact, that we were the first customers in the diner, next door to our motel.  We were greeted by Pam, our enthusiastic (if somewhat eccentric) waitress from the night before.  “I bet you boys didn’t expect to see me here again” exclaimed Pam.  We hadn’t, but then in truth we hadn’t really given a great deal of thought to the matter in advance.

We were out on the bikes by 8am and got an hour back as we crossed back into Pacific time as we rolled out of Riggins.  Just as we were setting off we had a brief conversation with a fellow guest at the motel – he was interested in our exploits but informed us that we did not have a chance of completing the ride unless we were Lance Armstrong.  With this ringing endorsement in our ears we stopped to take a few photos of the town and then we were off again.  Our mood was mixed: excited to be back out on the road, but rather sad at leaving the first town for which we had developed a genuine sense of affection.

We followed the road down the Salmon River on our rafting route for the first hour or so before turning off at the town of White Bird in order to climb the infamous White Bird Hill.  We had been warned by the locals that this was a horrendous climb of epic proportions – one had even offered us a lift to the top.  Somewhat perturbed by these sentiments we stopped at a cafe in the town to fortify ourselves with some cookies and tea/coffee (and to take photos of Fred wrestling the wooden bear outside).  Procrastination would only get us so far though, and all too soon we had to take on the challenge.    

The climb itself proved to be fairly straightforward, although the searing heat made what would otherwise have been a straightforward ascent rather more difficult.  We were so hot that we stopped at a lodge at what we thought was half way up the hill to try to buy water.  We were told to head up to the house where we were informed that we were in fact at the summit of White Bird Hill (in truth the name of the lodge “White Bird Summit Lodge” should have been a clue).   After hearing this news the water from the lodge tasted particularly refreshing.

From the summit we had a long and winding downhill into Grangeville where we stopped for lunch.  We ate at a “bistro” which ranks as one of the oddest places we have been.  Despite purporting to be an Italian restaurant it offered no Italian food whatsoever on its menu.  It also seemed as if it was run by a group of people all under the age of 14 and most of the conversation concerned people from the town with an addiction to crystal meth.  The food was a good standard of diner fare though and so we had no grounds for complaint.

After Grangeville we had a fast, winding and, to Fred’s mind, incredible downhill (I prefer rather more sedate downhills) to the Clearwater River.   The road then followed the river along the Clearwater and into the Nez Prece Indian Reservation.  We raced through the towns of Stites and Harpster and into Kooskia, where we stopped for a drink and, in my case, some apple pie and ice cream.  Although it was 6pm by this time the temperature was still 35 degrees outside and so we were glad just to get into an air-conditioned room.

The rest of our day was spent meandering along the Clearwater and finally arriving at the town of Lowell, where we secured a log cabin at the Three Rivers Resort.  After the usual routine of stretching, showering and dinner (in an empty restaurant) it was time for bed.

Other points of note:

–          The first instance of dropping “Greta the Garmin” GPS system, just outside White Bird.  She survived intact, if slightly shaken by the experience.

–          Our waitress in Kooskia who, although friendly, appeared to have possibly had one cooking sherry too many and proceeded to make a very strange rasping noise with her throat with great regularity.

–          Lowell is notable for its welcome sign which includes reference to the population of the town.  It currently has “24” crossed out and replaced by “23”. 

JBS