Sunday, April 23, 2006

Day 19: Sunday, April 23

We left Riggins this morning and continued along the Salmon River. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Unfortunately, it was also windy, and this is now our third day in a row with prevailing head winds.



























We rode over several smaller hills before we got to White Bird Hill. The route took us through the Nez Perce National Historic Park. Old White Bird Hill Road involved about 8 miles of steep switchbacks. This is certainly the toughest pass that we have crossed so far. (In the picture below on the left you can see the grade of the new bypass carved into the mountain.)

















We camped tonight in the city of Grangeville at the Lion's Club Park. On the way into Grangeville, Shayne found a wallet with about $25 in cash without any identification. So, we gorged ourselves at a nice, little Mexican restaurant. Looking at my odometer, we are close to 1,000 miles from Portland tonight. The strong head winds are really starting to take its toll, so we are considering taking a zero day when we get to Missoula.