Day-7, Wednesday July 28th
320 Miles
Today would mainly be a "Transfer Day", so I didn't get a lot of pictures.
We would be leaving one Base-Camp, and travelling to the next one.
I woke up fairly early. I knew I had a lot of packing to do, and I still had clothes hanging on the line to fold away. (they were all dry)
Made some coffee, and some breakfast. While that was re-hydrating I packed away most of the items from inside the tent, then pulled the tent down and packed it away.
It went quicker than I was expecting, and by this time Ron was doing the same.
Before long we were both ready to go. We geared-up and set off to the main Highway.
It was sort-of an overcast, hazy day as we made our way past Stanley and headed into the twisty river-road heading east.
We stopped for Fuel at a lonely outpost about halfway between Stanley and Challis on Hwy-75, and then continued north meeting up with US Hwy-93.
As we rode along there were darker sections of sky, and it wasn't as hot as it has been.
There was a great section of sweeping curves north of Challis on our way, and very little traffic at all. We were enjoying the easy ride!
We were getting a little hungry when we reached Salmon, so we got Fuel at the corner, and then stopped at a Subway for a quick lunch.
While we were there, we checked the weather-radar apps and saw we might encounter some rain as we continued north.
At this time Ron was also in contact with a couple of long-distance friends who just happened to be traveling through Idaho, and headed south in our general direction.
We weren't sure if we would run into them or not. They were planning on turning on Hwy-43 at Chief Joseph pass, and we would most likely miss them.
We finished our lunch and headed north.
Just as we were starting up the steep-curvy Pass, we ran into a mild rain shower.
We took it easy as the road was wet and slick. Just after we crested the Pass we spotted the other two riders on their BMWs.
We turned around and all met at the overlook near the top. The rain eased up while we chatted and shared little bits of our adventures with each other.
After a short while, we all continued on our own direction.
Before long as we were nearing Darby MT, I wanted to stop at this Location (made famous from the TV Series) to get a couple pictures.
I have not watched any yet, but my wife says she loved the show.
Just up the road in town we came upon these fantastic Metal-Art statues for sale.
We just had to stop and get some shots of them!
A pack of hungry Velociraptors!
And this strange evil-looking Gargoyle? thing............................
Even this Raging Bull, complete with "Oysters"
I'm sure these were lovingly hand-fabricated with care.............................
After a short break with the Metal-Art, we continued north.
We got Fuel one more time when we reached Lolo MT, and then headed west on US Hwy-12.
It was a bit more smoky in this area, as there was a current fire just up the road near the Pass.
We continued on, and quickly made it up Lolo Pass, and down the other side
What us twisty-road Riders love to see!
It wasn't long before we arrived at our next Base-Camp Destination, at Powell Campground.
We found our Site, and set-up. The Campground is right on the Lochsa River, and right across the street is a River-access foot-path.
We decided to head over to the Lochsa Lodge next door for Dinner instead of fixing a meal at Camp.
I had the "Smoked Trout Dinner Salad" and some Onion-Rings!
It was so tasty!
After Dinner and some use of their wifi and air-conditioning, we headed back to Camp for the evening.
I rode back up to the Lodge and bought a Shower ($10)
It was a bit pricey, but it beat the "Dude-Wipes" tent-showers I've been using, and there was unlimited hot-water.
I felt so refreshed afterwards, and relaxed with some whiskey the rest of the night.
Here's the "Relive" video of our route today.
Stay Tuned!