Idaho will be remembered as the shortest distance covered in a state, more forest fires, truck accident seconds before me, long days with few places to stop, golden mountains, beautiful rivers, bike issues, Hells Canyon, and the river town of Riggins. I entered Idaho after a long climb up Lolo pass with poor air quality and limited views because of the smoke. Every few hours I would pass staging areas for the rural fire teams and be grateful they were there to keep the roads open and me safe. At the top of Lolo pass I entered pacific time and began a 100 mile desolate, winding ride along the Lochsa River through Clearwater National Forest. There wasn’t a single store or stopping point other than beautiful state parks and hiking trails for 100 miles. Halfway along the stretch, a truck failed to negotiate a curve and landed in the river below. It was a horrible scraping sound of metal and thud when the truck hit the river. I am happy to report that the driver came out okay. I stopped in the town of Grangeville to refuel only to realize the screw holding my back rack on for the panniers had broken in half. I was grateful the weld job held, but couldn’t continue without the rack to carry my panniers. Once again, I was lucky to be in a larger town where there were resources available. I went to the local ACE hardware store and purchased metal zip ties to secure the rack to the bike and continued on the next day. I rode through the town of Riggins, the Idaho white water rafter capital, and entered mountain time again. I was so confused what day and time it was! I continued along the Salmon River through Hells Canyon National Recreation Area watching all the rafters and tubers and stopping at roadside waterfalls to try and cool off. As I got closer to Oregon, I had a rapid descent into the breathtaking Hells Canyon with golden mountains surrounding the crystal blue Brownlee Reservoir.
Fire info everywhere 
Fire staging areas everywhere 
Amazing hiking trails along river 
Gondola river crossings for homes 
Broken screw 
And zip tie repair 
Endless miles along golden mountains 
Crossing back into mountain time 
Town of Riggins 
Cooling off in waterfall 
Hells Canyon 
Browlee reservoir
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Diane Haupt
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Virginia Beach, VA 23451
