Day 45 – 77 miles? Really?

Despite spending the night in Missoula, we needed to get on a road in Lolo, MT so instead of riding down the same road we took Monday, the wonderful girls dropped us off there. It saved us 13 miles that by the end of the day we would be thankful we did. Remember we were combining two days into one so that we didn’t get another day behind? 55 + 58 = 113. This would be a long day so it was nice to save those few miles.

This day would consist of following two rivers. We followed the Bitterroot River on the way up the Lolo Pass and the Lochsa River on the way down. The top of Lolo Pass was about 30 miles into the. We passed through te city of Lolo Hot Springs where we had a very enjoyable dish of huckleberry ice cream. As we came into town (and I use that term loosely), this rock was sitting in the middle of the river. It appeared to be levitating.

I looked all around or Yoda but he was no where to be seen. I guessed some scientist would try to give me a load of malarkey by telling me that the rock has been slowly eroding away for almost 5 million years but I know how it really happened. I believe God wants to do three things. 1. He wants to show us that He does things that are nearly humanly impossible to explain, 2. He gives us all things to enjoy and this was another one and 3. He want to cause all men to worship the Creator and not the creation! God is good!

Off we pedaled to the top of Lolo Pass and with it came the ID border and along with it the last time change (we are now 3 hours behind MI)! The 11th state of the trip! The mandatory picture was taken and then began the descent!

This was no ordinary descent though, it was a descent that went on for 77 miles!?!

When I first passed the sign I thought it too good to be true so I didn’t take a picture (besides by that point I was going about 35 mph and couldn’t stop without squeezing the brakes so hard I become like Jack and break my crown). Later the sign said 65 miles and then 45 and so on until we got to the bottom. So this picture was at the bottom and yes when it says 77 miles it means just that. We went DOWNHILL for 77 miles!! Incredible! Believe it or not.
A few miles from the summit of Lolo Pass we came upon the girls. They had stopped for lunch because there was nothing in those aforementioned 77 miles for bikers to hardly get water let alone lunch. They stopped in a perfect place where the children and Abby were able to enjoy the enormous cedar trees, which were estimated to be about 3,000 years old at the oldest, and dip their feet in the river.


When I arrived Joshua and Annamarie were so excited to take me on the trail and show me all the wonderful things. Even Mom got her feet wet as she bravely made her way out to sit on this rock!

As we pulled away I saw this tree with a bird’s nest at the top. Now that is a house with a view. Bummer of a driveway but a nice view!

The remainder of the afternoon was filled with sounds of rippling rapids, screeching birds, and the ripple of side streams going under the road feeding the Lochsa River with water.

Speaking of water, we had covered about half of the distance down the hill when I totally ran out of water. With the temperature reaching for and grabbing triple digits, I was in big trouble. Shortly down the road the LORD sent a campground with a RV dump station. There are two hoses. One to clean out the soiled pipes that drain the black water tanks and another to add fresh water to the holding tanks in the RVs.

It was like finding gold in the river! I turned it on and used it like a shower. The water was fresh, cold and clean! It was a perfect gift from the LORD.
We traveled down the hill about 15 more miles and made our final stop. As Dad made his way to the river to take a picture, our beautiful trail angels showed up again in the Yukon. They came bearing gifts of Gatorade and ice. This made the final 10 miles so much more enjoyable.

We stayed at a beautiful campground in Lowel, ID where two rivers meet and form the Clearwater River. Tomorrow we will follow this all the way to our destination.

I know I don’t often share what we ate for supper but tonight I will. One of the Hyink favorites is spaghetti pie. It sounds interesting to those who have never tried it and children think they are eating dessert for the meal, but it is my favorite. I had 4 helpings! This will also come in handy tomorrow. The sky was clear and did not take long for the temperature to drop enough for us to open up the windows and sleep in nice cool weather!