Day 9 - August 8: Clarkston WA - Grangeville ID

87 miles.  6563 feet up, 3053 feet down.

Yes, indeedy, it sure was a big day today.  Breakfast at 6:30 because the Holiday Inn was preparing a special breakfast for us in our own dining room.  Not sure what was so special about it other than no juice or toast, and really hard "scrambled" eggs.  Oh well - good thing I wasn't very hungry.  Snack table at 7 and then we were off.  We were staying in Clarkston, WA last night which is right across the Snake River from Lewiston, ID.  So - first up was a crossing of the Snake River Bridge into another state.  



It was a pretty busy bridge and corner coming into Idaho, so limited opportunities for photos.  We headed south along the Snake River on a bike path.  Beautiful morning light, and views back to the bridge that we just came over.




Passed a few historical plaques along the bike path.





And looking forward on the bike path before we turned east at about 4 miles.




I think we all found the first section to be a bit of a struggle this morning.  Probably a combination of low-grade climbing and the fact that the tailwind wasn't as evident today.  Some pics along those early climbing miles.







And then our one and only significant downhill at about 17 miles.


We were on a combination of road types today.  We probably did close to 25 miles on US 95; not a fun time.  The shoulder often wasn't great and there were a lot of big trucks that didn't believe in moving over much if at all.  Thankfully we also had some lovely quiet roads.  The picture below is from where we first got onto US 95 at about 22 miles.  







At about 28 miles we turned off US 95 onto Winchester Grade Road to begin a 22.8 km climb; yikes!  The SAG was parked there handing out nourishment and encouragement, but also offering a ride to those who weren't feeling up to climbing that much today.  Well - I must say that it was an absolutely beautiful climb.  And not gnarly at all; mostly 4-6% grade.  For the most part I still had 2 gears in reserve.  And - not even 22.8 km; it flattened out after maybe about 16 km.  








A few riders were behind me and two of them (Kim and Cheryl) had the good fortune to see this little guy on the road.  Thanks, Kim, for the picture.


And all I saw was this metal cut-out of a horse jumping a fence.  BTW - we did see lots of real horses today, but I didn't stop to get any pictures.



We had a much-appreciated SAG at the top of the climb (about mile 45) and then we were back on US 95 for about 11 miles before we headed off onto Old Highway 95.  





We soon entered Idaho County - the largest county in the state of Idaho, and the 18th largest in the US.  



Once we were up on the Camas Prairie, and as the day wore on, I took very few pictures.  Things started to look much the same, I was ready to be done, and it was difficult to capture the sheer vastness of the landscape.  Below are some pics from the last couple of hours of the ride.  


Church in Greencreek




Finally.............. into the hotel in Grangeville at about 4:30.  I'm pooped, and still thirsty despite taking in a heck of a lot of fluids of various types today.  While I was picking up my luggage from the trailer, I met two gentlemen who were working with a roadcrew chip-sealing and paving the highway between here and Riggins.  Cy and Katie went out to scout it after dinner and I suspect our plans will be altered a bit tomorrow.  It was a lovely day today, but I'm glad it's over.  I think it was our biggest climbing day of the tour.

The Ride:

Garmin:  139.1 km.  6571 feet up, 3953 feet down.

RWGPS:  139.7 km.  2171 m up, 1374 m down.

Temperature range:  18C - 36.8C


The Route:

We

Grangeville ID.  Population 3,141

Grangeville is the largest city in Idaho County, Idaho.  As I recall from the last time we passed through here, Idaho county is bigger than Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island combined.  And - Grangeville has the only traffic light in the entire county!  We were told then that the only reason that light is there at all is that when folks in this county take their driver test they all come to Grangeville and they need a light for testing purposes.  In 2000, 14% of population lived under the poverty line.  Grangeville's "Border Days" is a large public celebration on July 4th weekend, and it features the state's oldest rodeo as well as parades, art shows, and the world's largest egg toss.  Woohoo!

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