Day 18 – 70 Mile Ascent

By Mark Heggestad
This post is posted a day late due to lack of Internet and cell phone service.

I ordered the maps we are using for this journey several months before the trip.  When I received the maps I did a quick perusal and something caught my eye.  A 70-mile ascent!  Not steep (until the bitter end), but just a constant uphill journey for 70-plus miles.  It has been the one-stand out item in the maps that has stuck with me.  I assumed we would break it into two days.  But a couple things made that assumption wrong.  One, there are no services, no places to stop for water or food, no cell phone service, nothing.  So a good place to get past.  And second, we had a lot of pent up energy from two days of no activity.

So today we traveled from Lowell, ID to Lolo Pass, which is on the Idaho/Montana border.  The total trip was 77.4 miles, and we ascended almost 4,000 feet. We had originally planned to stop about 12 miles before the summit, but an irrational need to “get-r-done” came upon us and we went for it.  It was a bit grueling and I hope I don’t pay a price tomorrow.  But it is such a great feeling to get that long ascent and its challenging summit completed.  Tomorrow we will start at the top of the pass and coast down hill for the first 20 or 30 miles.  Not a bad way to start the day.

The first 65 miles of our ride today paralleled the Lochsa River.  It was rare the River was not in our sight.  And it was rare the roar of the river did not fill our ears.  It is an absolutely beautiful river and riding so close to it felt fierce and peaceful at the same time.  I give it at least partial credit for distracting me from the constant climbing.  

Lochsa River.  The road we biked is on the right.  Followed this river almost all day.

Lochsa River with walking bridge

Lochsa River

End of the day, at Lolo Pass.  5,200 feet and a little snow.



Comments

  1. UnknownMay 21, 2017 at 12:11 AM

    These are awesome pics. Love the Lochsa river and congrats on the 70 mile ascent!

    ReplyDelete

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