This may have been my best day on the bike. Well except the ride up Going to the Sun. Got on the road this morning at 6:15. Its beautiful at that time of the morning. There are birds everywhere and deer all over on the side of the road. I am along the Salmon River all day. I passed through incredible canyons. Each time the colors in the rocks are different. From red to orange to yellow and green. The lines in the rocks through these canyons designate where the ocean floor was millions of years ago. How do they know this was an ocean floor? Theres fossils of fish, corral, and clams in each layer. As you go down the layers the ocean gets older. They use carbon dating to determine how old each layer is. Im not this smart. Im plagiarizing the signs Im reading. Volcanos, earthquakes and shifting plates all pushed the earth up to form the mountains. Theyre still growing. Idahos tallest peak, Borah peak. rose 7 feet during an earthquake in 1983 that measured 7.4 on the Richter scale, and in the 1800s another earthquake dropped the valley floor 10 feet. Wow! Im not making this up. Its on one of the signs along the road, and I confirmed it with locals in a bar in Challis. They only had three or four beers so its got to be true. I stopped in Salmon, ID for breakfast in this little cafe. All these little cafés Im eating breakfast at are clones of each other. Theres always a group of guys in the corner solving the worlds problems, jobs, housing, social security, and gossip about someone who did them wrong. I like sitting near them. Its fun listening to them. Your full of shit is always part of the conversation. If youve ever been to the hotel in downtown Crandon, youll know exactly what it is like. Here are todays conclusions: 1. Politicians are crooked. (This is always #1) 2. Gordy is thinking about selling half his cattle this fall, the other half in spring, selling all his equipment and putting his land in conservation trust. Its the only way he can retire and keep the ranch 3. The housing market around here wont recover in our lifetime And the best: 4a. Little Eddie Lacys wife is out catting around and he aint married but two years. 4b. Eddie aint man enough for that woman 4c. No ones man enough for that women. Salmon, ID is the birthplace of Sacajawea. Hey, mom, I met these two white guys and Im going with them to the West Coast. Sure honey. They look harmless. Im sure we can trust them. The area Im riding through is rich in history. There are signs commemorating Trading Posts, Fur trappers, settlements and forts, Indian migration ranges, and of course battles, massacres, and ambushes. The battles are equally divided between Indians winning and the white man winning. If you didnt pay attention in History youd think, Huh, seems like they tied. Im slowing down on the bike to read these signs. Im glad I am. This is the beginning of the exploration and settling of the West. Remnants of many of the original buildings are still standing, crooked and leaning, in the middle of fields and on the edges of the Salmon River. Hard to believe a whole family lived in these tiny houses. Theres even a sign recognizing some hermit who lived by himself for over 60 years. Im riding through one canyon after another, huge cliffs, amazing views. Im looking up for mountain goats when you do that on a bike your bike either hits the rumble strips, or goes into the soft gravel. My neck is getting sore and Im thinking this amazing recovery of the goats in Idaho isnt so amazing. Then it happens. I look in this field and theres 40 or more of them. They are feeding on the grass. Ewes, rams and lots of kids, all over the place. A group of motorcycles stop. One of the girls tells me this makes their whole trip. She doesnt even take a picture, but just stands grinning from ear to ear. My last two miles into Challis are uphill and slow. A sign of things to come. My first 28 miles tomorrow are my last big climb. Today was my last ride through canyons.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 23:14:40 +0000
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