What a day of scenery! Flowers, hills, and rivers were all for the taking in on the backroads of the Wallowas.
It was so cold (in the mid-30's!) this morning that I needed my gloves, down vest and balaclava just to feel sorta comfortable. The first long downhill was such a big chill that I longed to climb and warm up. And I got my wish soon enough, ascending 11 miles to mile high Salt Creek Summit. Wow! The fields of purple-blue lupines, salmon paintbrush, stalks of dark violet delfiniums, clusters of yellow-orange mule ears, plus a whole company of to-be-named-later varieties. It's their time and they weren't holding back. And neither did I on the ensuing 11 mile descent, racking up a max speed of 31.8 mph! But I was overtaken by a motorcyclist, and to my surprise, I encountered him again downhill stopped and taking photos of me as I passed, hanging on for dear everything. I stopped and we chatted and it turns out that Greg, now living in Snohomish, WA, had grown up in Seattle and attended Nathan Hale high school, just a few blocks from my house!
The fields of flowzers kept coming on as I finished the afternoon with another long climb then descent to join SR 86 and the final push to the Copperfield CG on the banks of the Snake River. We are back into barren canyons, sage and brown landscape. Idaho Power maintains a series of public, minimal cost campgrounds along this southern access to Hell's Canyon and they are stunningly well located and maintained. Good news tonite>> there were great showers, no bugs and a soft lawn to set camp on. Bad news tonite>> there was no store of any kind nearby for dinner or supplies. None of the lounging RVers took pity on the lone biker with the old, scraggly dog, and left him to munching feverishly on peanuts, crackers and half an apple after a 71 mile ride. Guess I'll need to start awakening my mooching gland...
Great stars tonite to end this gorgeous day.
Passed 500 miles today.
It was so cold (in the mid-30's!) this morning that I needed my gloves, down vest and balaclava just to feel sorta comfortable. The first long downhill was such a big chill that I longed to climb and warm up. And I got my wish soon enough, ascending 11 miles to mile high Salt Creek Summit. Wow! The fields of purple-blue lupines, salmon paintbrush, stalks of dark violet delfiniums, clusters of yellow-orange mule ears, plus a whole company of to-be-named-later varieties. It's their time and they weren't holding back. And neither did I on the ensuing 11 mile descent, racking up a max speed of 31.8 mph! But I was overtaken by a motorcyclist, and to my surprise, I encountered him again downhill stopped and taking photos of me as I passed, hanging on for dear everything. I stopped and we chatted and it turns out that Greg, now living in Snohomish, WA, had grown up in Seattle and attended Nathan Hale high school, just a few blocks from my house!
The fields of flowzers kept coming on as I finished the afternoon with another long climb then descent to join SR 86 and the final push to the Copperfield CG on the banks of the Snake River. We are back into barren canyons, sage and brown landscape. Idaho Power maintains a series of public, minimal cost campgrounds along this southern access to Hell's Canyon and they are stunningly well located and maintained. Good news tonite>> there were great showers, no bugs and a soft lawn to set camp on. Bad news tonite>> there was no store of any kind nearby for dinner or supplies. None of the lounging RVers took pity on the lone biker with the old, scraggly dog, and left him to munching feverishly on peanuts, crackers and half an apple after a 71 mile ride. Guess I'll need to start awakening my mooching gland...
Great stars tonite to end this gorgeous day.
Passed 500 miles today.
Love to see pictures of some of those flowers, sound gorgeous!
ReplyDeletePeggy