Day 14: 50 miles. Total: 689
It was windy and rained overnight but I was able to get going fairly early. I got warm pretty quick riding uphill. I knew I had a long hard climb getting up from the Snake River. It was a pleasant climb along Brownlee Creek. At first the hills were all bare with just some green along the creek. Soon it became quite lush along the creek with cottonwood and a bunch of smaller trees. At about 3,000 feet there were some firs and soon the ridges had fir and pine. I was pleased to have entered yet another national forest.
Once over the top the bare hills were back with just a few pines scattered here and there. I didn't expect to decend nearly as much as I climbed but it was downhill all the way to Cambridge.
Cambridge looked like a nice place that allows cyclists to camp in there water tower park. I also noticed a paved rail-to-trail that the map showed followed the Weiser river. At this point the route joined US 95, a much buiser road than Idaho 71 that I had been on. It was 22 more miles to Council, about half of which was slightly downhill. By now the land was mostly grazing and hay fields. At one point there was about a half mile climb to this mesa.
When I was about 4 miles from Council the shoulder, which had been pretty good, disapeared entirely. Then I noticed the rail trail was back running parallel to the highway so I decided to take it. It was dirt and gravel but not too bad so I took it all the way to Council. There were lots of these little sunflowers and other flowers.
It was getting quite windy and I could see rain off in the distance. By the time I got to Council it was really threatening though still holding off. I debated camping in the park, but it had no shelter at all. I finally opted for the motel. After a while I walked from the motel back into town to a store and the whole sky opened up. I can see why they've been talking about floods so much. It really rained. I was fortunate to get a ride back with the lady who runs the motel. I got back only half soaked, glad I wasn't camping. Of course the storm soon passed and it hasn't rained since.