Today is Memorial Day and there are flags everywhere. After a food fortification at the Waffle Iron Cafe, we climb through fields to Minam Summit at 9 miles. Here in the mountains, the early morning air is crisp, and makes for very easy breathing, as the warming sun slowly takes over. Very early starts are the best recipe for a good biking day; getting in miles early makes them seem easier and gets you into "camp" sooner. Late starts mean missing all those friendly, waving farmers driving by in older model pickups, hot late afternoon climbs, and panting dogs.
We drop into a canyon that is a preview of the Snake River Canyon and race downhill on winding curves, often with only a concrete barrier separating me from a long plunge. Mule ear flowers appear on the grassy slopes and there are fir trees mixed with the pines. The Wallowa River below is roaring. I pass the hamlet of Minam tucked into a rare straight stretch of road within the steep canyon walls. We wind along the river to the town of Wallowa where I get in a breather in the local park, chatting by cel with Peggy Hudson about what types of wildflowers I had just whizzed by at 25 mph. Most of the traffic is going against me, as folks head home from the long weekend, but the roads are sure full of RVs! Now into high cattle country and we pass through Lostine and Enterprise and stop in Joseph, set next to the incredibly gorgeous, snow spangled peaks of the Eagle Cap Wilderness. I am treated to a wonderful sunset as the cool evening falls here at 4500'.
We drop into a canyon that is a preview of the Snake River Canyon and race downhill on winding curves, often with only a concrete barrier separating me from a long plunge. Mule ear flowers appear on the grassy slopes and there are fir trees mixed with the pines. The Wallowa River below is roaring. I pass the hamlet of Minam tucked into a rare straight stretch of road within the steep canyon walls. We wind along the river to the town of Wallowa where I get in a breather in the local park, chatting by cel with Peggy Hudson about what types of wildflowers I had just whizzed by at 25 mph. Most of the traffic is going against me, as folks head home from the long weekend, but the roads are sure full of RVs! Now into high cattle country and we pass through Lostine and Enterprise and stop in Joseph, set next to the incredibly gorgeous, snow spangled peaks of the Eagle Cap Wilderness. I am treated to a wonderful sunset as the cool evening falls here at 4500'.
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