Days mileage: 90 miles
Stephen and I got scolded like little children who were not allowed to sleep on the sacred yard of the Forest Ranger station in Grangeville, which is rather funny to me seeing various folks nodded their heads in agreement that we, certainly, were allowed to sleep on such a plot of land.
We only got scolded once...some top dog ranger dude saying asking if we were part of the forest service..."Uh...no sir....but we were told we, and others, were allowed to camp here if our weary hearts so desired..." "Well, you're not. So pack up and head out ok?"
We rode off towards the rising sun of the east and enjoyed a very steep downhill descent towards more and more one-horse-towns.
Already the heat was chasing us as we traveled along the Clearwater river (what's with following all these amazing rivers and not being able to fly-fish! I haven't had one chance to fly-fish yet and am trying to figure out if I should just mail those items back home).
The day continued in a downward fashion for quite a while, winding through Idaho country land that consisted of evergreen trees of somewhat tall proportions and enough bends in the river for all fishermen to cast a line into.
The biggest task of the day was stocking up and heading into the infamous "66 mile stretch without any form/shape of service." We planned on plowing through as many of the 66 miles as possible and had the game plan of biking until the sunlight expired or our legs fell off from exhaustion....or both.
We accomplished both.
We got 45 of the 66 miles down with and pitched a tent along the Locsha River for the night near the Eagle Mtn. Pack Bridge. It had been a long, twisting, slight head wind, gradual uphill battle since we had passed the warning sign 45 miles back.
The stars were bright, Venus hanging just above the timberline, and a cool mtn breeze rolling gentle through the gorge. It was another long day in the saddle with Montana being our motivation to get rolling early the next day.
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