Steve's TransAm Adventure

56 miles, 3954 ascent / 3169 descent, 5:35 saddle time, elevations:  start 2645, min 2164, max 3925, finish 3437.   Pine Valley heading south from Halfway Today we ate breakfast at the Pine Valley Lodge before heading south on our way to Richland.  Every ridge or mountain range we ride over opens onto a large valley with another mountain range in the distance (that we will also cross over).  The route started with a climb of 1066 ft in 4.5 miles, followed by a descent that went on for miles :) into a lush valley and the town of Richland (appropriately named). Two pretty big creeks ran through the valley and fed into the Brownlee reservoir.  It is interesting that although much of the surrounding area is classified high desert, there were no obvious signs of water shortages.  I haven’t seen significant signs of water shortage since leaving Colorado.  In fact, many of the valleys in Wyoming, Montana and Oregon have large rolling or circle irrigation syst...

58 miles, 3386 ft ascent, 4:43 saddle time, elevations: start 2660, min 1744, max 4131, finish 2652. 10th and last state in TransAm journey Today I made pancakes, fried eggs and we had leftover steak for breakfast.  I also made steak and egg muffins for lunch.  We are eating well!  The day started with a climb of about 1500 ft up over a pass.  Pass is over the range in the distance   On the other side I descended into Hells Canyon.  The canyon was formed by the Snake River and gets its name from the surrounding mountain peaks, the Seven Devils.  The latter comes from an Indian legend.   Road down into the canyon I descended about 2000 ft in 7 miles!  It seemed like I would never stop going down, deeper and deeper into the canyon.  At the bottom the landscape was similar to what I had seen coming down from White Bird summit a few days back.  The canyon walls were smooth and covered with brown grass and very few shrubs or trees. ...

47 miles, 1532 ft ascent / 2734 ft descent, 3:43 saddle time, elevations:  start 3851, min 2645, max 4172 and final 2650 ft Another rainy day We started the day with the temperature in the mid 40’s and a light rain.  The rain continued until early afternoon, hence I did not take many photos.  There weren’t any good breakfast options in New meadows, so we decided to stop somewhere down the road.  Around noon we stopped at the Crimson Cafe in Council ID.  I was very glad to get out of the rain and warm up.  Idaho continues to surprise me as the terrain keeps changing.  We rode from grassy meadows to rolling prairie and mesas. Rolling prairie around Mesa ID A light rain continued throughout the day, so i was glad when I reached the cabin we were staying in.  Brian had rented an Airbnb, and it was fantastic. God’s Little Acre on Camp Creek It looked like it was brand new.  The attention to design and detail was apparent.   We went to a local...

35.5 miles, 2346 ft ascent, 3:32 saddle time, elevations:  min 1726, max 383 ft Ascending the Little Salmon River canyon in the rain   Today we planned a short day, which was fortuitous because it rained all day and it was cold (50 F).  You can see me in the photo above wearing my high visibility rain gear.  I don’t have a lot of photos because it is difficult to motivate myself to stop, remove my gloves, move the handlebar bag cover to get to my camera, and take a picture.  About the first 25 miles were a gentle uphill grade of 1 to 4%, and then it leveled out.  The terrain gradually changed from the unique smooth slopes, to rocky forested slopes, to meadows beyond the top of the canyon.    The following sequence of photos shows the transition. Numerous creeks feed into the river, some with cascades like this one. Cascading creek feeding into the Little Salmon River Bicycle touring is a great experience, but there are some downsides.  One is...

50.4 miles, 1971 ascent / 3632 descent, 7% max grade,  4:21 saddle time, elevations:  min 1476, max 4430 ft. View of valley fro White Bird summit Today we got a late start (0830) because we wanted the rain to pass over before we started.  As we were leaving the hotel we were astounded by the view of the plateau that we could not see the day before.  Note how you can see different weather brewing in the distance. View of the plateau as we started out The ride started with an uphill climb of 839 ft in 4.6 miles to White Bird Summit, with a maximum grade 7% grade, so not a bad climb.  We were on the old Rt 95, and all the traffic was on the new Rt 95, so we had no traffic.  Once we crested the summit and crossed over to the other side, I was astounded by the landscape that unfolded before me.  (First photo).  It was so unlike what we had seen in Colorado and Montana, or unlike anything I had ever seen before.  I had no idea that northern Idaho w...

47 miles, 3172 ft ascent, 4:32 saddle time, Elevations:  max 3406, min 1254 ft. Heading out of Lowell in the rain We started the day riding in a light rain, and it rained all day long.  The first 25 miles we followed Hwy 12 along the Middle Fork Clearwater River downstream to Kooskia, and then turned and started following the South Fork Clearwater  river upstream.  As we approached Kooskia the scenery changed from tree covered to bare fingers of mountains coming down to the river.   Fingers of mountains near Kooskia We had been on Hwy 12 since Missoula.  After about 5 miles we came to the town of Stites, at which point we left Hwy 12 and started uphill to a plateau.  I approached this climb with trepidation because eastbound TransAm cyclists had told us it was STEEP,  and they were not kidding.  I climbed 1492 ft in 3.8 miles with a maximum grade of 12%. Looking back down one of the 12% sections The steep sections were long, so I had to stop ...