Day 14: Welcome to Idaho

Start: Halfway OR

End: Cambridge ID

Miles: 57

Elevation: 3587

Started the day in Halfway OR with the goal to end in Idaho!! Cambridge Idaho.

There was an unexpected treat this morning for breakfast, a mango smoothie and a muffin. An unexpected pleasure to get fruit! It was nice riding the bike and able to drink an ice drink. So much better than electrolyte replacement 😁. 

Started off riding next to the Powder river again and will follow it until it dumps into the Snake river. It was such a pretty day, no wind, sunny and warm. Scenery was spectacular again. Green treeless mountains with flowers starting to come out. 

At Oxbow the trail turned right at the Brownlee dam and the road went straight up, luckily for only half mile. The water was mirror smooth and gorgeous. 

While riding along road, always far right, a guy hangs out of the window and yells at me. What?! He yells, “cold water 2nd campsite”. Haha, Shawn was his name and he had a cold water waiting for me. Fantastic, for I was going through water on this warm day. Shawn was hunting a bear on the other side of the river and fishing during the warm parts of the day. 

After 3 hours of peddling I decided to take a stop at Woodhead Campground. 2 or 3 days earlier I thought about staying the night at this campground before deciding to make the full trek into Cambridge, ID. But today I stopped in and figured I could eat lunch and to partake of an afternoon nap. Oh a 10 min nap in the sun is magic. 

I take back off knowing at mile 35 (thanks to Rebecca for the accurate info when the hard climb starts). I am now grinding at 3 miles an hour. After 1 hour of grinding it starts to rain and shortly thereafter lightning arrives. I wait under a tree to wait out rain. Did not work so I head out riding again, why not? Then the rain intensified as did the lightning. Uh Oh.. this is going to be miserable, but then Robert and Rebecca, a local rancher couple stopped and asked if I needed a ride. “Yes” says I, huge smile on my face. We loaded my bike and away we went. Rain turned to hail and covered the road. Water was pouring down. I did not care. Haha I was dropped off in Cambridge Idaho. A good day.

It was satisfying to leave Oregon. So much rain in Oregon and was cold for the first week! 

But Oregon was so pretty and the old barns were interesting. Added benefit was vast majority or vehicles gave wide berth to bikers. It was very much appreciated. However I am glad to put Oregon behind. 

Tomorrow is a rest day, Yeah.