Day 4: Thompson Falls, MT to Kellogg, ID

Morning. Some of the pictures in this blog post are flipped right to left. I have no idea why but maybe someone who’s dyslexic will appreciate them.

We were off early again today leaving Thompson Falls, MT at 7:30. We were excited to get the first 20 miles, uphill, out of the way before the heat struck. Then we envisioned a comfortable 35 miles of downhill riding to our destination of Kellogg, ID. Our plans were dashed by Hannah from Troy, MT – curse her!

We stayed the night in a cabin. Even at a motel the rooms are cabins in Montana. Everything’s a cabin. Everything is made of wood in Montana. As you pedal around through the woods in Montana it makes sense.

There is a cycling law similar to the physics law of conservation of matter. It basically says that anytime you ride downhill you will have to pay it back by riding uphill. Yesterday we started the Day riding about 19 miles downhill. Today we paid it back and then some.

At Mile 14 we tried to turn off and travel up a dirt road that was unimproved unmaintained. This was to be our single pass for the day. A mile up the dirt road we met Hannah from Troy, Montana. She was a flag girl. Literally in the middle of nowhere. If she saw five cars the entire day it would have been extremely busy. She would not let us pass as they were doing power pole placements up the road. Even Gloria’s befriending her wouldn’t change her mind. We turned back and headed a different direction than planned.

Despite Hannah, we eventually made it to the top of the mountain which was the Border between Idaho and Montana. That was exciting because now we got to go downhill. What wasn’t exciting is that we were going downhill basically in the wrong direction. The road Hannah forced us to take wasn’t exactly going where we wanted to go.

At Mile 40 in the little known town of Payton Idaho, we found confusing directions. Our new-found friend at the food trailer said do not go over Dobson pass to get to Wallace. Meanwhile the girl at the bar we had stopped at – not to drink but to get a soda – said do go over Dobson pass. She said it was mostly flat . Of course there was no cell phone coverage so no idea where any of the roads really went. When you’re talking to “civilians” that don’t ride bicycles 10 miles is just a little ways and a mountain pass is just a small hill. We were soon pedaling up towards Dobson pass.

Did I mention that it was 95 degrees in the shade by this time. We were supposed to be at our motel by now but we were climbing the second pass of the day thanks to Hannah from Montana and our friend at the bar in Peyton. If Hannah had let us go the original direction we would already be coasting down the trail of the Coeur d’Alene. Instead we were huffing and puffing our way to the top of another pass. The mostly flat Road did appear flat as you stood vertically because the pavement was just inches from your face it was so steep. We did make it and it was beautiful looking down towards Wallace Idaho a lovely eight-mile ride down hill.

In Wallace we arrived at the trail of the Coeur d’Alene. Miraculously about four miles back up the hill we ran into a young girl about 6 years old selling Gatorades and water to make money for her tree house. I wish we’d remember to get a picture of her but she saved our lives with the cold fluids after climbing over the pass. We were grateful to be on the trail but still had another 11 miles to Kellogg. Fortunately it was all pleasantly down hill. Our single pass, 55 mile day had become a 70 mile day over two passes and who did we have to thank, yes, Hanna from Troy Montana