Day 12: Friday, July 3, 1981
Oxbow Dam to Evergreen, Idaho: 75 miles
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| Identify these flowers! |
We put in another longer-than-average day today. And it was hot, too - I must have drunk a gallon of water and other fluids. We seem to be doing the first 60 miles or so okay, but the last 15 just wear us down. It's probably psychological - counting the miles until we can relax.
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| Jack got to carry our 6-quart water-jug/shower today. |
Guy, Jack, and I left Oxbow Dam and immediately met part of the Bikecentennial group who had left Halfway at 7:00 am. One of the girls is very sensitive to sun, so the group had to arrive at its daily destination by noon. They were going to Cambridge today and Council tomorrow, a total of 50 miles, to catch the fireworks. They expect to reach Yorktown by September 11, so they have some high-mileage days ahead.
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| The Snake River south of Oxbow Dam |
We met Rick at Brownlee campground, and the four of us cycled along to Cambridge, where we lunched, and to a campground 13 miles past Council. At Cambridge, while we were eating under the water tower, a very confused-looking sheep came trotting down the highway, crossed Main Street, and disappeared in a cloud of dust.
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| Lunch somewhere - but this doesn't look like the water tower |
Today's route took us up the Snake River valley for 20 miles before turning in to Idaho. The river is backed up all the way from Oxbow Dam to Brownlee Dam, and the fishing must be great: it was early in the morning when we passed through, and the fish were jumping at all the low-flying bugs.
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| Great cycling along the Snake River |
The seven-mile climb out of the Snake River valley was wearing, but tolerable in the cool of the morning. At least, it wasn't as bad as the 7% grade out of Richland. The long up-and-down grades between Cambridge and Council, however, were tiring, and by the time we got to the 2.3-mile steep grade out of Council, we were beat. But the downhill into cool pine forests and the final gradual climb along the Weiser River refreshed us. I took a quick dip in the river - invigorating. Using supplies we had picked up in Council, we had hamburgers with all the trimmings for dinner. And if you have trouble reading this page, it's because it's too dark for me to see what I'm writing.
It's so cool to see these photos of myself and the guys after all these years! Believe it or not, I stll have the little pans that I'm using to heat my dinner on my little Coleman stove. They are in with our camping gear.
ReplyDelete-Guy
Yeah, I still have my pots and pans, too. In fact, they're on the trip with me. The Coleman Peak 1 stove that I had, though, wore out. I suppose I could have reconditioned it, but I bought an MSR DragonFly. Works fine.
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