Day 17: 25 miles: Total 815 miles
The day began with a 10 mile climb out of White Bird canyon, past the site of the famous 1877 battle where the Nez Perce defeated the US army. The route followed the old highway so there was no traffic and lots of switchbacks of about 5% to 6%. You could see new highway which was a straight and relentless 7%. The view back the canyon was great. I was riding with the young trio of Rachel, Kelsey, and Dan, and wasn't really sure if I'd keep up. Fortunately Kelsey and Dan stopped now and then and when they did Rachel would slow down allowing me to catch up. When we got to the top the old road joined the new for a half mile.
We actually had another mile to climb after this on another old road with no cars. Soon we were cruising downhill but had to slow down to herd some cattle out of the way. I was afraid we would herd them all the way to Grangeville but we finally got them off the road.
We stopped for a Subway at Grangeville and then we parted ways. They were going to put on a lot of miles while I was going to meet back up with John.
After that I sat in the park and talked to Linda, then found the park where I'll be camping and setup my tent and write this. Now I'm going over to the pool to get a shower, find some wi-fi to post this, and maybe find the bike shop. Later I will meet John for dinner.
Here is a link to Kelsy's Blog about their trip.