Day 82, Riggins to Council, Idaho.

Once over the climb, we were greeted with this kind of scenery. How the land scape changes with the elevation.

On one of our breaks going up, I took this shot of the river with this large pine tree next to the road.

We stopped here for a cold drink while taking a break from all the climbing. The gentleman coming out of the truck is a wood carver. I could kick myself for not getting his name and picture, but he showed us a magnificent piece of art he created out of ceder.

At the base of the climb, we pulled over onto this chain up area to refuel. There were kids riding motor cycles just to the left of the river. I waited till they were gone before taking this shot.

This is one of the very few water falls we came across on our entire trip, but I understand that in Oregon, we will have our hands full.

Idaho has some really nice parks. They are clean, well maintained, and the restrooms are second to none.

Some of these streams pop out of no where. I had to lock my brakes when I caught sight of this one out of the corner of my eye.

How's this for an antique? We got a couple like this one back home on Molokai, don't we?

This was weird. Read that sign. This cult had the area covered. They even had an adopt a highway section.

The walls of the canyon keep getting taller and taller. It is the deepest canyon in North America.

Riggins I'm guessing is the beginning of it.


Day 82, Riggins to Council, Idaho. “The 25 Mile Climb”.62.25 miles.

Saturday, August 1, 2009. Riggins was a delightful place. Even though situated in a narrow canyon, the river made it the center of attraction for miles around. We left Riggins at our usual time. We knew we had a long climb ahead of us, and wanted to make sure that we had a good meal to keep us going. Although 25 miles of climbing may seem like a lot, the grade was so slight, that we were able to maintain a good ride of speed for most of the way. We gained approximately 100 feet per mile in elevation.

We went from dry shrub laden terrain top the higher pine tree covered mountains. It was a nice change,, and the temperature did lighten up a bit. There was nothing special about our ride today, at least nothing to really get excited about. We have not seen very many wild life here in Idaho. We could not figure our why that would be.

About an hour into our climb, we came across a little store and cafe. I was in need of a cold drink, and stopped to see what I could get. While we were there, an older gentleman pulled up in a pick up truck, and asked where we were headed. He then reached into the cab of his truck, and pulled out an arm full of picture frames that he had mad to be sold in the sore. He later came back and showed us this really neat wooden center piece he had created. I don’t know why, but it never dawned on me that I should take a picture of him and his beautiful creations..

At the town of New Meadow, we stopped and had lunch at Subway. We got there just in time because there would soon be a packed house, not ten minutes after we got there. Of course my eye was bigger than my stomach, and I wasn’t able to finish my meal. I really tried though.

The rest of the ride took us over partially forested high meadows with wide open ranch land. It was so different from that day before. Lisa commented that it kind of looked like Colorado. I agreed. We pulled into Council at about 4:30 in the afternoon and made our way to the Hodges RV camp ground where the Adventure Cycling group were already set up. Well, gotta go. Aloha and thank you for your time. Ted.