45 - Early Morning Riding in Idaho, The Sawtooth Mountains & Idaho City
Last night was rough. The view from my tent when I awoke was so dramatic that I momentarily forgot about my burnt and burning face. The picture taken last night before I went to sleep doesn't reflect the severity of sun & wind burn across my cheeks and nose. Last night, I woke up from the pain. Later, intense and lingering pain caused by contact between the sleeping bag zipper and my blistering nose made me sit up abruptly, stick my head outside and pour water on my nose. Thankfully, the water was ambient temperature and cool, at fewer than fifty degrees.
Applying zinc-oxide without fail would seem reasonable. However, without running water, my hands were always filthy and there was no way to de-oil my fingers after applying sunscreen.
As a result, my face was scorched below my glasses line.
It was a beautiful morning to ride, and the cold wind against my face felt especially comforting. It was nice at 40 mph and slower, but burning cold at regular speeds.
When I saw the gravel road, I figured I'd ride for awhile and wait for it to warm up before getting back on the state road.
The hour I spent riding about 30 miles, was positively exhilarating. The scenery stunning, the road conditions varied and technical and the view constantly changing.
The pictures above are among my most favorite.
Immediately below, there is a good depiction of what it's like to ride at elevation on dirt roads.
By the time I reached pavement, the temperature had climbed to the mid fifties. Perfect!
Awhile later, I rolled into Idaho City. A former mining boom town, it had a lot of Western lore to offer. By that time, it was in the 70's and I stuck my jacket under a bungee cord.
Hours later, in Stanley Idaho, I stopped for gas, a t-shirt and a hearty lunch and frothy pint.
I'd just come out of the mountains and had an entirely different kind of scenery from Stanley to Sun Valley.
The restaurant was great. Service was terrible. Thankfully, it didn't affect me at all. I was tired and someone had left a newspaper. I'd brought in my water bottles and one was still half full, so waiting for the waitress was fine with me.
The food was great, and after waiting for nearly 45 minutes, I devoured it. The first meal of the day was at 3:00 and after seven hours of riding.
Back on the Sawtooth Byway. I was going to ride another couple hundred miles.
The guy that helped me replace my tent pole at Beaver Sports in Fairbanks Alaska had told me about these inline skate-like things that hard-core skiers use to train in the off-season. He said that no one used them for fun, because they weren't.
Here in Sun Valley, so far from Alaska, I got to see them in action. This guy was cruising down the road outside near Sun Valley.
Later, I came across a Fire City. Over 1,700 fire fighters had come to fight the Castle Rock fire of 2007. The city was down to about 300 when I arrived and would soon be empty, as the fire was out. The fire had become the number one priority fire in the nation as the 50,000 acre blaze threatened Ketchum & Sun Valley Idaho. It took nearly three weeks to contain the fire at a cost of over $15 million.
A cool reminder of the terrible blaze was all of the "thank-you firefighters" signs scattered along the roadway, posted by grateful residents. The fire was contained when I arrived and little smoke lingered in the air.
Joel, from the Rogue Brewery, had spent his summer doing just that. And, come next spring, he'll spend the next twenty years in places like this. Pretty interesting. Months earlier, I'd rolled through a Montana town that was hosting firefighters working to extinguish the blaze around Glacier National Park. The fire fighter camp was off the road and all I saw were hand-made signs that indicated the way. Here, I rode all around the camp and checked out all the support equipment. Huge portable toilet facilities, several food vendors, t-shirts to commemorate the event, all could be found in the Fire City.
The pictures came from the web (www.inciweb.org)
A couple hours later, I stopped to use wi-fi and make phone calls. Then I rode another two hours before looking for a place to sleep.
Back on the road.
After a couple of hours, I was getting sore. My nose and face had endured about all they could. Zinc-oxide helps, but 11 hours of riding at over 60 mph is pretty rough even without the burning sun.
I just wanted to get off the road, but the scenery was so amazing that I didn't want to stop. I didn't even want to pull over and set up camp before the sun set. It was so pretty that I rode through dusk. Also, there hadn't been anything in site for quite sometime that I could have used to pitch my tent for the night. Then I saw signs for Crater of the Moon. I asked a young guy and his wife who were pushing a stroller down the street in a town of two hundred. He told me of a place to camp 30 miles away. I cracked the throttle to make it there as fast as possible. It was nearly dark when I rode into the Park's Campground.
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