Out of the north Idaho woods

I beat wheels back to Liberty Lake on Fri for a chiro adjustment as my left hip caused much pain. Dan moved things just a bit, it’s really soft tissue issue requiring stretching. Felt better. Said Good bye to Jeff, dinner next year perhaps?

As I was driving east on I-90 in C d’A I sensed this rig pacing me on my left. I looked over and saw a ridgid digit and a face behind it was Pete whom I used to work with back when we were Boeing. We pulled off @ Sherman which was my planned stop for diesel. Smiles around. I was taken aback by his visit. I lost track of my tasks and misplaced my debit card.

Next stop was Kingston and the north fork of the Coeur d’ Alene river road heading up stream. Tonight stop is on Lost Creek road for tomorrow’s Lost Creek ride. Noticed many campers tucked back into the woods.. turns out it is archery season, the casual clothes are all camo pattern.

Sat AM after quiet night and bfast squared away I pedaled up mountain. Motorcycles are kicked off the trail which might be good or bad depending upon how many trees were across the trail as the dirt bikes sometimes carry chainsaws to clear the trail. Took 1 hr 50 mins to pedal up to top of Lost Creek trail. All by myself. The trail was sweet from lack of dirtbikes chewing it up. And all the trees were cut out.

I noticed an absence of purple scat that gave indication that berries didn’t make it this year. When I hit the patch in an old burn the bushes were bare. Bummer. Took an hr to get down just enjoying my ride.

High water damaged the bridge over Lost Creek down just b4 lower TH so much that the government removed it. Flowing too deep covering dry feet stones. I studied the bottom and the exit to determine if I could ride across w/ dry feet. Decision was “yes”. I entered the flowing creek and after a few pedal strokes my wheels washed out underneath me from the tire buoyancy, slippery rocks, and current. I used both feet to recover and walked across. I prolly would have gotten my feet wet anyway on the down pedal stroke.

I decided to stay a second night where I was and then drive up river to the north fork on Sunday. Rain fell during the night and the morning was fogged in. I decided to drive the 25 miles upriver to the TH . As I drove the fog clouds lifted and the pavement was drying out. It was a go. Plan was to ride to Jordan camp and return just in case the rain fell. As it was I was pretty wet from wet plants leaning into trail. No rain fell. Interesting: River trail @ Jordan camp heading upstream is not marked open for bikes.

North Idaho gets more rain than Spokane which makes for lots of dense trees and cedars that need the h2o. The woods can be pretty dark. No P-pine trees.

Next move is to McCall down in the belly of ID, in Mtn time zone. I stopped @ an rv park down river for a shower. I studied the map to find a route that had more public land for camping. I drove rt 6, white pine scenic highway, and happened upon the Palouse divide area where I used to ride years ago. I drove in a ways and found a turn off for a flat space for the night. I put the cover over the bikes just in case the forecast dumped rain. Crawled into bed to the sound of pouring rain on the roof. My skylight still leaks.

Weather cleared overnight. Today was the last bit of a drive to Moscow Mtn ride. Saw just 3 hikers. Nicely made single track, trails are great spinners for aerobic effort, the trail tread was smooth. I found 2 trees that my 28″ bars wouldn’t fit thru. Trails were developed by Jim LaFortune in cooperation w/ a private timber company. Trails are for mtn bikers first. tried to follow the previous GPS route of the ride Rick lead me on 2 years ago. data was good I think but I miss figured it. The previous route stayed high and close on the ridge, somehow i zigged when the gps said zag. Ride still was a hump.

Next stop is McCall tomorrow. Right now I am parked in a Grangeville, ID grocery store lot w/ excellent internet connections. This missive is hurried as I have more miles to drive and find a camp spot before too dark. Just to let y’all know I am out of the woods. Update: bought a sandwich @ Subway then drove out to the municipal airport right beside the USFS forest headquarters and behind the Sheriff’s posse club house. Hunkered down being small.

All in all from all I have seen I am still partial to the Inland Northwest. The weather is never too much of anything bad, Spokane offers big city stuff.