Oregon...east

[pdedse]

Day 2: I was finally going to ride hiway 12, Lolo Pass.  I had heard a lot about it over the years, but never made the time to explore the area.  I'm going to sound spoiled, but I knew it was a curvy, forested area and I ride so much of that in Oregon and Washington that sometimes I look for areas where there are wide open, see-forever, straight sections.  Having grown up in the midwest, that open space makes me feel at home.

The plan was to ride the 4 plus hours from Lewiston to Missoula, have lunch and then find another campsite at Butte.



I thought that hiway 12 hugged the Snake River, but it's actually the Clearwater River


Still in the lower, drier area


I'd say motorcyclists made up 1/4 of the "traffic" along the way.  Mostly ADV bikes geared up to explore more than the pavement and the HD riders.  But the joy of a midweek, early morning ride is that in fact there was very little traffic.  

As you gain in elevation, the river narrows with lots of fun-looking rapids for rafting


Every turn seemingly produces post-card capable material


About an hour before Missoula, crossed ID and entered Montana, and I felt like I was on my way!  Yet at the same time, this is about when I noticed the pain settling in.  After lunch, I began riding east on interstate 92 towards Butte.  Fairly strong headwinds and I wonder if that made things worse.  Camping a second night didn't feel attractive, so I headed back to Missoula and got a hotel.  

A lot of things going through my mind.  Would I ever get the chance to do this trip again if I gave up now?  And yet I told myself before the trip that the first few days were to discover what I could do physically...I just didn't like what I was discovering.