Day 12: Baker City, ID

Start: Austin Junction

End: Baker City

Distance: 53.2 miles

Elevation: 2448 ft

Today was a great day for riding a bicycle. Weather was sunny warm and no wind. First mile was a down hill roll then the work for the day started. A good 5 mile uphill, 7 mile down then up again. The two climbs were over at mile 23 then generally a decline for the next 30 miles. 

I had a riding buddy for most of the day. His name is Randy, and he is from Wisconsin. He is a stout rider. He has twice as much gear as I do so climbs are hard for him. Randy will be taking a rest day tomorrow. 

The typography is more of the same, green treed forests with water every where, threatening to flood low lying areas. WIth all of the water around, there have not been mosquitoes yet. I hate mosquitoes. They eat me up. My eyes are drawn to the snow capped mountains in the distance. I try to take pictures of them, but pictures don’t capture the pop of the colors. The snow is brilliant white, set against the blue distance. 

The ride passes through an old narrow gauge train of Sumpter OR. It would be fun to ride it in season. The Durango Silverton train in Colorado is one of my favorite activities.Old trains are way cool.

The ride today ended up in Baker City which is rimmed by huge mountains to the west, east and north. I do believe there will be some serious climbing in the next few days!

As a final update I am less than 100 miles from the OR-ID Border.