6/16 Cooper's Pass

We woke up and cooked pancakes over an open flame and discovered that a raccoon had torn a hole in our boxed wine.  We used the restrooms at the park facilities,  and spotted a very attractive grandma jogger, and made our way back onto the trail of the Coeur d'Alene and burned some sweet grass.  We crossed Chatcolet bike bridge and road along the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene.

"We took the advice of a friendly Ranger on the Trail and stoped in the Snake Pit in Enaville. In the Old Brothel we warmed up on Hot Buttered Rum and filled our stomaches. As we met a friendly dog, we name Aslan, who followed us for a few miles down the path. I don't think I have ever seen a happier dog as he trotted beside us." 

Our original plan was to take the Couer d'Alene river Road up to Thompson Pass from Enanville but Will looked on his Iphone and found a "shorter" route that had us staying on the bike path for longer.  I was cautious and voted against the new route and Pete agreed with me.  Will and Goody wanted to take the new route so we tossed a coin to see which way we would take.  Fate lead us down the new route so we got back on the bike path which now followed I-90 and was less scenic than before.  We took Idaho 4 from Wallace, ID (the Center of the Universe) over the Couer D'Alene Mountains, the northernmost part of the Bitterroot range.   We travelled up Burke Canyon, home of silver mine wars back in the late 19th century.  We went past old ghost towns of Woodland Park, Webb, Gem, Frisco,Black Bear, Burke, and Mace, which featured a few old homes and barking dogs.  Burke Canyon is very narrow and the Tiger Hotel in Burke has a stream, a road and a railroad that runs through it.  We found a sign that warned that the road was closed for bridge repair.  We decided to go on ahead and see if the road was still passable and were happy to discover that the closed bridge was in fact a very passable two foot wide wooden bridge over a bubbling mountain creek.  The road soon sloped up to over 10% grade with many large rocks jutting out of the dirt.  Finding a passable  route through the rocky maze was an all consuming mental task.   It was the most challenging riding I have done.  It was an extreme effort to maintain in my lowest gear riding out of the saddle.  The bumpy ride ripped one of my panniers and caused Pete to snap a chain.  Soon the road leveled out and we checked our physical map and discovered we were headed up Cooper's Pass 5802 ft.  At the snake pit earlier we had failed to recognize that the "shorter" route included this pass instead of Thompsons Pass 4852 ft.  We had no option but to press forward as night approached.  The road remained passable until the very top where we hiked through the snow.  We geared up and descended in the night on roads with over a 17% decline.  We had to stop to give our hands a rest from braking so much and let our rims cool down.  We made it back to Thompson Pass Road with 15 miles to ride to the town.  We rode silently for 7 miles without seeing a car until we saw the neon lights of a bar, the Wild Coyote, where we stopped for some comfort.  We walked and in and were delightedly greeted by the proprietor Wayne and a business man from Texas with his wife.  We drank merrily and impressed the locals and visitors alike with our insane biking feats. The businessman assured us that cap and trade works but what Obama wants to do isn't cap and trade.  He was very adamant about this.  He promised us a Power Point if we were interested.  We talked with Wayne the proprietor and local sage, his wife(whose name escapes me), and the bartender on many topics including American history, the meaning of life, and using everyday herbs to increase vitality and treat diseases including cancer.  Wayne owned a trailer park across the street and allowed us to stay the night. It was one of the craziest days off my life. 

Aliens are here

Will reads, Dan is confused, Pete smiles.

I retrieve the sweet grass from my bike.  We had received the sweet grass as a gift the previous day and were told by a Couer D'Alene tribesman to burn it each day for good luck.  It seemed to work. 

Riding over Lake Chatcolet

This is not the best way to waterproof a pannier.  n00b.  

We ate at the Snake Pit in Enaville

We met a dog and named him Aslan outside the Snake Pit.  He ran with us for a long while until we had to leave him behind.  It seemed like he wanted to follow us the rest of the way.   

We sometimes would smoke Sage, Tobacco and other herbs to help us ride

Wallace, Idaho the Center of the Universe 

We rode through old abandoned Silver Mines in Burke Canyon

We found this sign but decided to go on.  

This is a rather mellow section of the Burke Canyon Road

We chill by the stream that ran under the small wooden bridge that we had been warned was closed

We had to walk a bit in the snow

What is a Map?

Cooper's Pass 5802 ft!

Gearing up

We found this sign on the other side

Chilling at the Wild Coyote with our gracious bartender

Wayne hooked us up with a Trailer for the night

My resting place for the night-The Tiger Hotel casts its shadow through time

6/15 Idaho

Idaho! It's a State.  We woke up and headed down to the local food co-op which was absolutely heavenly.  We fed pretty hard there and stocked up on harder to find luxuries such as curry powder and hemp seeds and sampled some of the best cinnamon rolls of the trip.  Goody and I found a music store where we decided to each by a ukulele.  We rode north most of the day on US 95 which was a bit busy north of Moscow but chilled out considerably during the day and featured some nice rolling hills and scenery through the Saint Joe National Forest.  We stopped somewhere along the way for a drink and got what I think was the only bad eye of the trip from some convenience store clerk.  Whatever.  We consumed our frozen sugar and caffeine concoctions and kept riding to Plummer, where we stocked up on food at the local grocery.  In the parking lot of the grocery store we met a member of the Couer D'Alene tribe.  We talked about our journey and he gave us his some braided sweet grass to burn for good luck on our ride.  We thanked him for the gift and found our way to the Trail de Couer D'Alene rail to trail path.  We were overjoyed on the freshly paved path that wound through the forest.  As it got dark we found our camping spot at Heyburn State Park, made a fire and cooked some food and passed out.

Idaho.  It's a State!

The food co-op in Moscow

Pete rides safely on the shoulder and spots a large farm vehicle(combine?)  We had heard tale that it was possible to draft off these vehicles but the opportunity never arose. 

In Plummer we stocked up on food at the grocery and met a Couer D'Alene Tribesman who gave us braided sweet grass to burn for good luck

The Trail de Couer D'Alenes is amazing

View from our Camping spot on Chatcolet Lake

6/14 Go Cougars!

We started off early that morning riding through an area of  preserved desert scrubland.  While much of this part of the country was agricultural there was a small area surrounding the falls which was natural desert area.  I admired the beauty of this rare landscape with hints of purple, yellow and blue wild flowers.   I didn't listen to music much on the trip but on this morning Will lent me my Ipod and I listened to Wilco's Sky Blue Sky as we rode out.  We rode into the very small town of Washtucna, where we happily restocked on food.  We rode fast and furious on the 26, which soon ran along the Palouse River.  I was a bit dismayed to see the amount of agricultural runoff that flowed into the waters that cascaded over the falls.  We reconnected with Carrie and Ashley, who had left much earlier than us, somewhere on the 26 and rode with them into the small town of Colfax.  Where we feasted on pizza and used the public library.  While we ate Will reconnected with with home and found a friend of friend who lived in Moscow Idaho.  We were planning on going northeast with Carrie and Ashley but the prospect of a friendly home was too promising.  So we headed southeast down the 195 through Pullman, the home of Washington State University.  I had heard quite a bit about the exploits of the Washington States student bodies ability to party, and was feeling rather revelrous on the day so as we rode near campus we started shouting "Go Cougs!" to every pedestrian and biker we saw.  The primal scream was infectious and we got lots of opportunities to yell as we left town.  We soon discovered a bikepath that ran all the way to Moscow. Sweet!  And plenty more people to yell at.   As we entered Idaho we briefly yelled Go Vandals but it didn't have the same appeal.  We found our hosts Mary Jo and Randy, had a lovely meeting and then got picked up by our hosts daughter who took us to the local brewery where we put back some good chow and beers.  We ended up going to a nice young ladies house where we talked about music and the importance of safety on the road.  We headed back late to a great nights sleep in Mary Jo's backyard.  Clint Didier 

Pete riding out of the park with the desert scrubland in the background.

Central Washington is all right 

Ice Cream is addictive.  I ate almost the whole box and put the rest in a water bottle. 

Rolling hills of the Palouse

Za in Colfax!

6/13 Rest Day at Palouse Falls

Palouse Falls

We had a much deserved rest day at Palouse Falls. Palouse falls is a 189 foot waterfall on the Palouse River.  I had learned about the Falls when while researching our route and I was very excited to visit.  It is the sight Tyler Bradt's worlds highest waterfall drop in a Kayak We slept early that morning and I read the The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Hemingway as the rest of the crew went and explored the canyon and took some wonderful photos.  The crew came back and recalled their journey down to the  falls, through a somewhat treacherous path down the canyon. After the scramble, there is uninterrupted access to swim in the waterfall below.  I was excited to explore and Will decided to accompany on me on my journey. We ate what we needed to,  grabbed a frisbee and some books and made our way down.  There we were greeted with our own private swimming pool in front of the majestic cascade.  We took the opportunity to explore the flora of microclimates that the spray from the falls created.  We found some interesting fungus and vegetation and discovered that as we approached the cascade on the surrounding rocks we saw many flowing rainbow spectrums in the water vapor spraying off from the falls.   We relaxed and read by the shores and soon met two met canoers who had travelled up from Lyons State Park downriver.  We found a cool spot down the canyon a bit and threw the disc.  I threw one too long and we lost it down the river.  Luckily I had an identical orange disc in my pannier that stayed with us all the way to Brooklyn.   We hiked back up the Canyon around the edge of the waterfall and observed that the angle of the main rainbow produced by the falls was changing as the sun went down.   At the end of the day the bow begins to run parallel to the falls.  It was spectacular.  When we got back to the campsite Goody, Pete, Carrie, and Ashley were chilling and we cooked up the last of our food, rice and corn tortillas.  At some point in the day Goody had found a Washington State Students ID card.   The happy student told us that he would drive from Pullman to come get it.  We told him to bring ice cream sandwiches and beer.  We camped out under the open sky and awaited the arrival of the food.  I had fallen asleep by the time the exchange happened, but Goody woke me with the plunder.  The ice cream sandwich was one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted.  

You can walk around the spires right next to the falls

6/12 Through the Desert

We left our campsite on the Columbia and headed east on Ward St/26 twoards Othello.  The ride started out with a 600ft climb.  I felt great on the climb and charging up the hill fast.  There was a trooper near the top of the hill who had his speed gun out let us know our speed as we rode by.  I was happy that our rest day had left my legs feeling fresh because we had a long day ahead of us.  Knowing this we decided to ride team time trial style with each of us taking pulls on the front to get to Othello.  Another factor pulling us forward was the United State's first World Cup game against Mexico.  We rode the 40 miles to Othello pretty quickly in ~2 hours.  On the way I remember we started to play the game of guessing how far a point in the distance was.  As we entered Othello we saw a KFC on the side of town.  We had all been infiltrated by the marketing of the double down and some of us decided to get one.  We took advantage of the KFC soda fountain ordered our overpriced doubledowns and rode on through the town of Othello looking for a place to watch the game.  We had talked about watching it at Walmart but Carrie and Ashley were ahead of us and informed us that Wal-Marts TVs only played the special Wal-Mart channel and was not showing the game.  Luckily we had found a taqueria in town which was playing the game.  Score!  Furthermore the food at the Taqueria was cheap and delicious. Double score!  We eagerly watched the game in the cool Taqueria while the sun blazed outside.  After the game we stopped at a grocery to get supplies.  We headed out of Othello half knowing that we would be away from civilization for a while. We used the Iphone to steer us to our destination, Pallouse Falls State Park.  Along the way we rode on a gravel called Suko.  It was an engaging and slightly dangerous experience blasting downhill on unstable gravel.  We didn't pedal much but concentrated on steering the bike through the soft material. Fun stuff.  We rode over the hilly 261 and entered the beautiful Palouse Falls State park as night was falling.   Carrie and Ashley arrived soon after and we all enjoyed a wonderful deserved meal.

On the way to Othello

Out in the Plains on the 26

Our Campsite at Palouse Falls