Days 81-83: Sandpoint, ID to Republic, WA

Note: Dan is providing a brief update for Liz

After a great rest day Saturday touring around the Sandpoint area with Austin, it was time to get back to work! Elizabeth said her good byes to Austin on Sunday morning as bags were loaded onto the trailer and folks prepared to ride 70 miles to Ruby, WA.

After a short ride through the center of Sandpoint the route took Elizabeth across the Sandpoint Bay Bridge which spans almost 2.5 miles across the bay.

One of the riders (Gina) has a friend that lives on the route to Ruby. Around lunch time Elizabeth and Gina stop to have lunch with Jeannine.

The route parallels the Pend Oreille River all the way from Sandpoint to Ruby and their destination – the Panhandle Campground adjacent to the river.

Monday started as another overcast day. Elizabeth continues north along the Pend Oreille River for about 17 miles — very flat as it parallels the river. Elizabeth then crossed the river to ride 3 miles on the west side of the Pend Oreille River before joining the Little Pend Oreille River for another 20 miles (I guess they are hard up for names for rivers!)

By noon the clouds were beginning to burn off and blue sky started peeking through. Moving away from the rivers the route started uphill — that made for some higher vantage points for photos!

The mountainous terrain along with abundant creeks and streams provide a lot of views of water falls along their route.

By the middle of the ride all the hard work was done – most of the rest was downhill!

By 4pm Elizabeth had made it to Kettle Falls and the Happy Dell City Park. Like many of the city parks where they camped this was not a campground per se so facilities were somewhat limited (ie bathrooms but no showers).

Tuesday was another big up/down day. The first 28 miles was a climb up 4511 feet then descending about 15 miles and 2900 feet before reaching the destination of Republic. As usual, Elizabeth was up early and catches the picture of the tents at 6AM as folks are beginning to wake up for the day.

Elizabeth found a rock painted with a picture of a gumball machine and a very philosophical message: “Chews Happy”. Obviously a message that speaks to and about Elizabeth — she decided it was good luck and expects the rock to show up in some future pictures!

Leaving Kettle Falls the route immediately crossed the Columbia River which was the lowest point for the day. On the other side the route climbed into the Sherman Creek Wildlife area.

Big mountain climbs often mean nice vistas – Elizabeth stops to take a few pictures and frames her bike up in a view of the valley below.

Over 4000 feet of climbing Elizabeth summits at Sherman Pass!

The reward of a big climb is a nice 15 mile down hill where Elizabeth gets to enjoys some views and exercise her hands (on the brakes) rather than her legs. Elizabeth soon reached the Ferry County Fairgrounds Campground in Republic, WA.