Day 10, June 6

Day 10 was Pollock, ID to Stites, ID. 81 miles.

The first town I hit after leaving Pollock was Riggins. It was along the "Little Salmon River" and was teaming with more fishermen than I have ever seen in one place, especially out in the middle of nowhere.  There was a stretch of road there between 1/4 and 1/2 mile long that had hundreds of RVs and pickups parked along it.  Unfortunately I did not think to get a picture of it. While eating in the cafe there I learned that they were all there hoping to catch Coho salmon. This was a huge river and was 200 to 300 feet wide in places.,

During this stretch I was passed by another touring cyclist headed the same way. I recognized him as the one guy I didn't get to talk with back in Cambride.  We rode together briefly before he took off ahead and I found out that his name was Mitch and that he came from Scotland to ride across the U.S..

About an hour later I was looking to get lunch in White Bird but was in for a bit of a disappointment.  My map showed it as having "all services" and in a sense it did. It had a general store which was closed, two or three cafes which were closed and several other closed businesses.  The only thing open was a dive bar. To top it off, the water fountain in the park didn't work.  With the temperature just over 100 and a huge climb coming up I decided to brave the dive bar.

The place had about a dozen people inside, every one of whom had a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other.  They were mostly glued to the Nascar Pocono race. It was a very old wood building and almost everything inside looked to be about 50 years old. The ceiling was one of those false ceilings made of suspended white foam rectangles but they were all yellow from years of smoke.

After ordering a pitcher of ice water and a  $5 pizza (a reheated frozen pizza from a local store) I sat down with a plan to drink all the ice water I could before starting the 2500 ft climb up Old Hwy 95 / Old White Bird Hill.

A couple minutes later I saw Mitch, the cyclist from Scotland, tentatively peering inside from the parking lot.  After inviting him to come in and join me for some pizza I learned that he had started up the hill but found the heat to be too much.

One of the group of four drunk middle age local women at the next table noticed his accent and asked where he was from. After he told her "Scotland" she said, "oh cool, like that old song..so you come from the land down under" and started asking him something about vegemite. I was momentarily embarrassed to be an American.

Despite that awkward conversation the wonan turned out to be incredibly welcoming and arranged with a neighbor of hers just across the street from the bar for him to get a shower and some real food before he camped in the park for the night. She also gave us her wifi password so that we could get some messages out.

About 15 minutes later I headed up the hill, against the recommendations of pretty much everyone in the bar.  It was 103 according to the thermometer.  The first 5 miles of climbing were hot but I was still feeling good from the break. By the time I started to wear down a bit I was up to an elevation where there was actually an occasional breeze to cool me off.

I don't know if you can see the details in these pictures but the first shows the endless swicthbacks of this climb and the second shows the parallel running new hwy 95 and the third shows the view from the top, with the little dots at the lowest point in the valley being the buildings of White Bird.

After that I enjoyed about 15 miles of downhill to Grangeland, where I did some food shopping before heading off toward Stites. The miles between the two towns were wonderful back roads with almost no cars and endless fields.

In the last few miles before Stites I enjoyed the steepest downhill of the trip so far. Lamb Grade road appeared to be an over 15 percent grade and I kept finding myself going stupidly fast if I removed my hands from the brakes for even a few seconds.

I pulled into an empty RV park with very limited services (some grass, a picnic table and a porta potty) just before Stites as it was getting dark. Despite the limited amenities it was a great place to camp since it was right on the river and completely empty.