Lochsa National Forest Service Park June 23

Lochsa National Forest Service Park, US Hwy 12, I'd. Wednesday, June 23

If yesterday's ride was hell, today and today's ride was absolute paradise.If yesterday's ride was one of the toughest that I've ever done, today'swas one of the most beautiful. It would be hard to write a movie scriptbetter than what we had today. Everything about today was great.Today we purposely planned a late start (although noon was later than wehad planned). It was special for Andrea and Alex as they both made phonecontacts with their prospective (hopefully in Andrea's case) with theirlate summer engagements, potential employment for Andrea and graduateproject work for Alex. As a double bonus, our overnighting in a motelallowed Alex to watch the US play in the World Cup and advance to the nextround.As for me, I was delegated to laundry duty - a trailer full of dirtylaundry. Even that turned into a pleasurable experience as no sooner thanI had started separating the clothes into the washer, I was invited to washour clothes at the home of Jeffrey Engle, a former cross country rider inthe 80's. It was neat to learn about his experiences and his journey.As for the ride, we pedaled 56 miles today (we considered this a short day)following US Hwy 12 and either the Clearwater River or the Lochsa Riverthe entire today. Both are spectacular, clear rapidly moving rivers withmultiple rapids feed by many mountain creeks. Every turn, every straightaway provided fantastic views. We loved the river so much, that we arecamped not more than 20' from it tonight. Alex and I also used it to bath(the water was ice cold). This was the first time that I've bathed from ariver. It was clean, clear and refreshing. Andrea used our portablekitchen sink and the water from a nearby hydrant to do the same.Although we pedaled on a US Hwy total, the traffic volume was extremely andprimarily void of large trucks. To make things sweeter, the majority ofour ride was on a nearly paved surface as such, it was glass smooth. Andalthough we climbed today, it was a climb which matched the fall of theriver which allowed us to cruise between 12-14 mph. Oh what a day.Lastly today's ride has set up us nicely for crossing Lolo Pass tomorrow at5500'. It will be a challenging day, but nothing like Tuesday, at leastthat is our hope.