Day 78, Missoula, Montana to Clearwater National Forest, Idaho.

Welcome to Idaho. Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes. Yippieeee!!!

This trail ended here, at the bank of the Loshca River near our camp site.

This is the Idaho side of Lolo Pass leading down to the Lashca River.

I forget. This is either the Lashca River, or the Clearwater River. They change names once they cross into the next county. Weird.

The gang at the Lolo Hot Springs taking a break.

Meet Sarah, a bike racer from Western Oregon.

A constant reminder of the hazards of the road. Never a day passed when we did not see a few of these.

A low angle shot of the Loshca River from near our camp. The water is so clear and cold.

Louise and Clark along with their Indian guides are on the ledge above the benches.

This must be the Clearwater River. There were so many of them I gave up keeping track.

This Lodge was about a half mile from our camp site. We ate there, and a shower cost $2.50.

The Montana side of Lolo Pass. This is the side we climbed up.

Lolo Peak is the one in the middle with the clouds around it. It's almost 10,000 feet high.

Lolo Hot Springs has a lodge, restaurant, hot springs, and a gift shop. Oh, and also an RV camp ground.


Day 78, Missoula, Montana to Clearwater National Forest, Idaho. “Heavenly Beauty”. 59.61 miles.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009. Missoula was a nice break from our day to day push, trying to make it to the coast by the August 10th target date. Although we didn’t do much, we were able to meet some of the dedicated folks at the Adventure Cycling Headquarters. Being such a big town, we decided to take city transportation instead of trying to navigate this strange place by bicycle.

This morning we set out under over cast skies, and cool riding conditions. The adventure Cycling group we had been riding with for the last few days were on a similar schedule. It was good to be riding with a group again for a change. It made navigation a little easier, and made our presence a little more noticeable to passing vehicles. We had to back track about 12 miles to get back on route, as Missoula is actually off route. Once on track, we made our way on route 12 toward Lolo Pass. This would be our only major climb of the day. The terrain today was really breath taking, as we made our way through mountainous and forested areas. This meant miles and miles of towering pine trees with mountain streams and spectacular scenery. To add to our enjoyment, it was mostly flat with long stretches of slightly down hill grade. We stopped at Lolo Hot Springs at about noon. There was a restaurant there, but we weren’t hungry, so we decided to skip lunch till we reached the summit of Lolo Pass Lolo Pass would be a four miles 6 to 7 % grade climb that was one of the easiest we’ve had in days. With the cloud cover, we were able to sustain our energy out put with out draining ourselves. On top of that, the traffic was very light. We only took one break on our way up.

At the top of the climb, we crossed the Montana-Idaho boarder. We are now in state number 9. Only one more to go. We were feeling pretty good, and still not hungry from our big breakfast, so we decided to keep going. The descent down the other side was a joy. Our senses were bombarded by snow capped mountains, deep river valleys, and pristine forested country side. I looked for wild life, but did not see anything interesting the whole day. We arrived at The Clearwater national forest camp ground shortly after 2 o’clock, and stopped at the Lodge for our lunch. I had the Cowboy burger with fries. We are now set up right next to the Adventure Cycling group for the night. All in all, it was a great day for riding, and are hoping for a good nights rest. Thank you all for staying with us. We miss Molokai, and can’t wait to get back home to our families and friends. Aloha, Ted.