Houston’s Odometer 2566
Hell’s Gate State Park, near Lewiston, Idaho
A long and hilly ride today across the Camas Prairie. Two big climbs, the first out of Kamiah that went on and on. The Lewis and Clark fun fact of the day: on their return trip west, they got back to Kamiah and said, “Hmmm, no more salmon.” They sent a sergeant and another man BACK to the Snake River (a cool 80 miles plus) to get some. You may recall that salmon made them sick on the way west as it was so oily compared to the stringy prong horn meat they had been eating. Now the “Captains” couldn’t wait to get more. The Sergeant was quoted as saying something like, ” The worst hills we ever saw a road made down.” (He probbaly had some choice words for the Captians who sent them back almost 100 miles to get more fish. “Oh Merriwether? Are we out of dill sauce?” ) The Lewis and Clark bicycle trail guide described the downhill from Winchester towards the Snake River valley as “It serves up one of the wildest and most unforgettable descents you’ll ever experience as the road dips and dives hundreds of feet into the river basin below.” Our report: Yes it does. They really need a chair lift here, although I don’t think the average fore arms could do more than 2 of the runs in a day.
After this fun downhill, a surprisingly painful climb over another ridge carried us to within 15 miles of the campsite. We finally rolled in around 4:30 beat meat.