The ride from Bull River to Libby was 54 miles and 6 hours in the saddle (to the minute!) took me most of the day to ride. It has been HOT again out here. Not CA central valley 104+ hot, but respectable 94-97 degrees hot. Definitely hot enough to merit stopping at most available water crossings to swim or soak my shirt and sarong for evaporative cooling (thank you thermodynamics!). I'm not so good about getting out of bed before the sun is up, which means it's often 10ish before I've had breakfast, packed up camp, and started down the road. I miss the full face sunburn issue of east bound early morning riding this way, and it puts me smack in the mid-day sun for the prime of my ride when my body's warmed up but not yet fatigued. Fortunately, hwy 56 follows the Bull River most of its length, so I had ample dipping/cool-off opportunities and one primo swimming spot.
COLD water! Like pins and needles on my skin and losing feeling in my limbs after standing in it for about 30 seconds! I thought of my brother taking the plunge into the 42-48 degree water at the base of Burney Falls back in CA last month (has it been a month already?? Wow!) and I dove into the 6-8' deep thalwag at a section of river about 12' wide. I've never seen river water so clear. I saw a 10" trout swimming lazily along the bottom like he was just beneath the surface (before I dove in and disturbed his peace). I intended to swim across and play a bit, but the cold set in and half-way across (just about 6', remember!) I decided I was refreshed enough and swam back and clammered my way back out up the steep silty clay bank. Brrrrrrr and yummy! An excellent swim rest.
I hope to post photos soon--the canyon was beautiful. I rode by the Cabinet Montains today-home to just 15 grizzly bears according to the aging interpretive sign. The road grade was kind today, no major climbs and my knee was grateful. I came out onto hwy 2 and turned right toward Libby at about 6:30pm with 15 miles to go. What would be a 10 minute drive took me about 2 hours, and again, due to my late morning start, I found myself cycling through dusk in bear country. Hwy 2 had a fair amount of traffic- a half dozen cars a minute or so (*grin*). I saw an osprey carrying a trout a hundred feet over head, circling her nest before landing to feed her young. Also 2 bald eagles and several big nests, probably some osprey and some eagle. Way fun to see these majestic birds along the big powerful kootenai river near the 2.
One approx mile-long stretch of hwy 2 had 6-8 piles of bear scat, some fairly fresh! I retrieved my pepper spray and rode with it in my left hand hoping not to have to find out whether this stuff really makes any difference. I recalled a photo a friend of mine took while she was horse-packing in Montana: black bear scat is full of bery seeds and squirrel fur. Grizzley scat smells like cayenne pepper! I never truely feltunsafe on this stretch of road, and I was very happy to arrive in town intact. Being on the road offers many many opportunities to be grateful for basic survival needs being met and today I choose to celebrate the intricate web of life!
As I rode into Libby, there was a very funny billboard for the local hospital: "Big town technology, small town service. Neighbors healing neighbors." The picture showed a man in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat in an MRI machine. I hope to post a photo soon. I passed on a sketchy rv park outside town and selected a nice one with $8 tent sites and a community fire ring with a creek out back. I met two folks that expressed some interest in massage therapy tomorrow evening, so I decided to take a rest day and find Internet and a landline for my bio-optic holography session with Bob (Robert Twnnyson Stevens) tomorrow. Seems like a lot to prepare and I AM up for it!
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