Day 21, White Bird to Kooskia (+10 miles)

Miles – 57

Ave Riding Speed – 3-27 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 10.25

Weather – 75 and overcast to partly sunny to rain

It was rise and shine and 6am this morning and we were ready to go at 7am. We opened the door and it started to rain so we held back our enthusiasm about getting out there. By 7:15am the rain had stopped so we rolled our fully loaded bikes out of our White Bird Motel room and rode north through the quiet, not open for coffee yet, small town. Our minds were well rested and we had a positive attitude about today’s adventurous beginning, the White Bird Mountain.

We immediately started a gradual climb for the next 2.5 miles and could finally get an eyeball on some of the zig-zagging of the Old Hwy 95 White Bird Mountain climb ahead of us. We stood tall in the saddle as we pedaled through the first few twists and turn up the increasingly sloping pavement. Then we went to the walk a bit, at 3.2 miles per hour, and ride a bit, at 5.6 miles an hour. This back and forth eventually changed to the walk.

We’ve got the “lean and push: down pretty good now. The lean is one straight-arm across the bike to the far handlebar, the other arm guiding the bike on the other handlebar, lean the bike gently towards you to provide some pressure and push.

I stopped counting the switchbacks at some point. Must be 15 of them. Just when we thought we must be at the top, around the next corner was a new set of switchbacks not visible from below. After 3 hours, 45 minutes and 12.5 miles we reached the crest. It was only 11 o’clock and we still had time for some riding. The downhill on the backside of the mountain swept through pine forest until we could see the view of open prairie below. It was the Camas Prairie to be exact. After reaching a level grade on the prairie we rode a few short miles into Grangeville.   

We weren’t sure how we’d feel after the climb so we hadn’t planned how far we would go today. Upon riding through Main Street, we swung over to a sidewalk memorial and parked ourselves on one of the benches. I pulled out the plastic grocery bag hanging off the side of my bike containing today’s lunch while Kim walked to the drug store across the street to grab some water. I set out our PBnJ bun sandwiches, Fritos and banana, Kim returned with water and we ate while reviewing the map and discussing the next plan. We decided the elevations looked good and we could make the passage to Kooskia about 25 miles down the road.

We set out through town looking for our turn off to a back country road and then had to stop at the edge of town, as we must have missed it.  We did. We rerouted about a half mile and we were back on track. This section was made up of deep and rolling roads through the prairie farm fields for 10 miles then zig-zagged, I take it from land section to section, until we got to the downhill we saw on the map. This was a downhill like we’ve haven’t seen before. The grade was very steep and made up of deep carved turns into the hillside until we reach the bottom at the South Fork Clearwater River and took a left. The road followed the river until we hit a bridge that crossed us over to the other side of the river and we were in Stites.

4 miles farther we hit Kooskia, population around 600. We rode through town to see what they had for accommodations and saw one opportunity. We stopped at the far edge of town and figured we should swing back through and find a place to eat, since it was 3pm, get wi-fi as we had no phone service and find a place for the night. The Kooskia Café was open and they had outdoor seating so we could watch our bikes.

We planted ourselves at an umbrella table, since the sun was shining. We got some water and Kim called the Motel in town. Come to find out they are only doing monthly reservations now. They must have workers in the area so they book them by the month. We started chatting with John and Linda at the next table and the said they were from the area. They asked how far we were going and where we started.  That led us to asking if they knew of any place we could stay for the night. Once we confirmed which way we were going, John got out his phone and started searching. He knew there was a B&B up the road and found it was the Reflections Inn. He called them to ask how far out of Kooskia they were and if they had any vacancy. Sure enough they did and he handed Kim the phone. The B&B held a room for us and we said we’re finishing dinner, on our bicycles and we’ll be there about 5pm. What an awesome guy John was to  go out of his way and show some kindness.  Pretty darn awesome! Kim gave John and Linda our card and said we’d appreciate them looking us up and following along.

John and Linda settled there check and left. Then the clouds set in and it started to rain. I walked to our bikes and put shower caps, I had saved from hotel stays for this very purpose, over our leather bike seats. We moved to a table indoors and ate our grilled cheese & tater tots and cobb salad with waters.

It was raining pretty hard and we figured we were in for a wet ride to our destination. We settled our tab and straddled our bikes anticipating getting soaked. Once we got to the edge of town the rain let up and we followed the river for 10 miles till we saw our place up on the hill.  We crossed the road and walked our bikes into the yard. Jeff, the brand-new owner (and his wife Amanda) came out to greet us and asked if we needed some water. We learned that Jeff and Amanda had just purchased the place a couple weeks ago and have been busy getting it back in shape. Jeff made us feel very welcome and even offered to drive us back to town to get groceries. We said we were good, but really appreciated the offer. Kim and I are excited for their new venture and we can see the potential. We feel like their first guests and occupy a room in the building across from their home & office

The rain came back as we were unloading and wiping down our gear and bikes. Jeff said there is a laundry right next to our room that we can use so Kim threw in a load of our wet clothes. We’re now each having our own bag of microwave popcorn and chatting about tomorrow’s adventure.