Day 18, Cambridge to New Meadows, ID

Miles – 49

Ave Riding Speed – 3-20 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 6.0

Weather – Mostly Sunny 75

We woke up at 7:30am after a good night’s sleep, camping out behind the Motel, and a few light rain showers during the early morning hours. It was really a great setup for camping. Our bikes were under the backdoor lean too and the sun was shining to dry out the tent. We aren’t the quickest at breaking camp, but we’ve already found our routine. After packing up and stopping at Loveland’s General Store for some yogurt and a banana, we rolled over to the coffee shop for a morning brew.

As we were enjoying our coffee, by our bikes on the gravel parking lot, a guy rolls up on his bicycle and asks where we’re heading. He was out scouting a ride for next weekend for him and a buddy. We introduced ourselves. Scott was from Boise and likes to ride and has a garage of bikes to prove it. I was previously looking at our maps for the day and asked Scott what he knew about the Weiser Trail, an old railroad trail heading out of Cambridge, that was about an estimated 40 miles of the route we were taking on the way to New Meadows. Scott looked at our setup and said, ”I think you guys can ride it and, as a matter of facts, I’m scouting it today, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to ride it with you for about 20 miles to Council”. That was all we needed and the three of us rode off to the trail. The idea of the railroad grade trail was that we could forego the ultimate, and sometimes the grueling, climb of roughly 1,400 feet today and slip into a gradual climb that was more manageable.  Added bonus of not riding Hwy 95 with no shoulder.

About three miles out of Cambridge we came across our first bear siting. A black bear was on the trail up ahead of us about 40 yards. It wasn’t interested in us and scooted farther down the trail about 20 yards and cut into the brush. Pretty exciting to get that first one under our belt, and for some reason we were comfortable because we had a guy from the home state with us.

The Weiser Trail was made up of a variety of gravel and rocks, bumpy, but a nice change of pace from the highway. Scott was very gracious and opened and closed every cattle gate for the 20 miles we were with him. When we pulled into Council, Scott said he was heading back and wished us well. We shook hands and said it was our pleasure to know him. He was a good guy and we were very grateful he made the effort to get to know us.

Right where Scott turned around on the trail there was a sign, Trailside Bicycle Park. Kim said, “maybe they have a bike tire pump.” We rode across the short bridge over the water filled ditch, and at the end of the bridge we met Ein, who was heading to the path with his two dogs for a short run. I asked Ein if someone might have a bike tire pump in camp. He said I’m sure the park owner has one, but then said, “I have one. Come over to my RV.” We followed him through the park and he handed me his tire pump. I was pretty amazed that our tires were still hanging between 60-65lbs of pressure after 3-4 days. As I was pumping up our tires, Ean asked if he could lift one of our bikes up. He did, smiled and said, “yep, you’re carrying a load.” After thanking Ein for his generosity, we headed back across the bridge and got back on the Weiser Trail.

About a mile farther down from the Park we pulled into downtown Council, for a snack. Kim walked across the street to the grocery store for some blackberry’s and a Kombucha, to go with our PBnJ, Fritos and jerky. After using the community bathroom facilty, we got back on the trail.

Something about stopping for too long is making me rethink them. Our legs were not feeling it. Maybe it was the previous 20 miles of bouncing off the rocks, but our legs were gone. We had roughly 30 miles to go and already felt spent. The saving grace was that we were on a steady and gradual climb.

We continued on the trail into Fruitvale, a one horse town, were the trail stopped and moved us over to a back country tared road. It felt good to be on a smooth road again, but that soon turned to gravel again.  We climbed from corner to corner through the wooded, no traffic road and would, from time to time, catch a glimpse of the railroad bed following the Weiser River, assuring us we going the right way. Eventually we met back up with the Hwy 95, the river and the trail.

We thought we’d give the Hwy a go at this point. That was a mistake. No shoulder, traffic doing 65, and we didn’t have the legs today to deal with it. At our earliest convenience, after a couple miles on the Hwy, we swung back over to the railroad bed trail. Bumpy as it was, we were willing to deal with that and the steady grade up. The trail went dry about 43 miles into our day. Thankfully we were up the 1,400 feet we needed for the day and we coasted, mostly, into our destination, New Meadows, ID. Once we pulled into town we swung to the curb and looked up our motel for the night. Being it is a weekend, and with the help of our daughter Amanda whom we asked to call ahead, we landed indoors tonight. After checking with Rory, the Motel owner, at the main house, and quickly dropped off our gear and walked across the street to Front Porch Pizza. We’re thinking of a rest day tomorrow, so we had a couple cold ones. Refreshing!