Hells Canyon Smells Schmayon

STATS

Grangeville, Idaho to Canyon Pine RV Resort, Idaho

Distance: 61 miles

I gently woke up to rain drops falling on my tent. I slowly sat up and unraveled the rainfly to protect my bud mesh walls. I laid back down and slept until the sun pierced through my tent. Around 6 AM, Biff and I packed up our wet camp equipment, and ate some homemade breakfast. With some major climbing in our future, I thought having more than just oatmeal would be helpful. We rolled over to the local diner and ordered the pancakes and cinnamon roll to split. Upon its arrival, I quietly murmured “Humana Humana Humana” The pancakes and cinnamon rolls were YUUUUUGE. I savored every moment of the meal, and captured our joy with a nice picture of Biff. After the second cup of joe, we rolled out of town and quickly Biff was up ahead. I realized we missed our turn, and hoped Biff noticed my waving motion to turn around. I back tracked only a bit, and started the winding climb up the old thruway with some pump up music. The climb definitely wasn’t as bad as yesterday, and I pretty easily conquered the switchbacks. What was extraordinary about the climb though was the view it offered at the top. Good lawd was it breathtaking. Rolling hills of plains and foliage intertwined with shades of tan and dark green for miles and miles. The downhill section was even cooler for several reasons, one being that we didn’t have to pedal! The other reasons were because our view the entire time was so peaceful, and you felt like you were in a video game flying down the switchbacks. At one point, we ran into a huge bunch of touring cyclists. One family (Meg, Dean, Dex, and Kylie) were riding two tandems from Boston to San Jose. Out of this world cool people and even cooler journey as a family. With them were four other friends riding from Missoula back home to Eugene who were also delightful, genuine people. We figured we may see each other later in the day, so we split up with them once the downhills were finished. Biff had stopped at a historical site, so I continued on through Hells Canyon State Park, which again was a gorgeous river carving out a canyon. The ride was along the river for miles and miles, and although there was moderate traffic, I still found peace in the scenery. When you’re out on the bike, you have so much time to think. Whether it’s emotional memories, times with family and friends, or about random things, there’s always something I’m thinking about. For example, I went through the steps of changing a flat tire of a car because I thought I forgot. I also think about life with Liz a lot, and it excites me extremely to see her again.

I arrived in Riggins, a rafting and fisherman’s town, and stopped at a local coffee roastery for a cup of joe. I’m trying hard to maintain the journal, so lots of coffee breaks throughout the day help with giving me time to write. I struck up a great conversation with the cafe owner, and he shared his story behind his roasting interests. I prepared a filling lunch, which for those who religiously follow the blog know what it consisted of. I noticed the gang we ran into earlier and we made plans to meet at a campground 10 miles from here to spend the evening together. Boy, am I glad I chose to stay with this crew. They are such incredibly interesting, cool, awesome, fun, hilarious, and down to earth people. They all shared stories from travel to touring to half iron mans, and all else. What an excellent crew to be sharing the evening with in this beautiful canyon.I spent the majority of the night performing and also observing magic tricks with Dex and Kylie. What special kids they are. I’m really so fortunate to have met them, and I hope I remain with them for quite some time to come. By 10:30 PM, even with it still being light out, we all hit the sleeping quarters and passed out quicker than I can say cinnamon roll.

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