This morning’s ride started out by following Snake River upstream, first on the Oregon side, and then crossing over to the Idaho side. I set my clocks forwards an hour to Idaho time and said goodbye to Oregon. The road then climbed out of the deep canyon, with a 7 mile and 2,000 foot ascent, and then down the other side into a large flat valley through which Weiser River flows.

The route hooked around to the south and curved back north, climbing back up into forested mountains.

The mapped route followed the highway up, but unlike the Oregon highways this one had practically no shoulder. Running adjacent to the road is the Weiser River Trail, an old railway track that has been converted into a bicycle trail. I had jumped on it for a brief section earlier and decided I preferred the paved road to the gravel trail, but after doing a couple more miles on the road I quickly changed my mind, and I’m glad I did. The river trail was graded so smoothly, and flowing through the forested trees proved much more shade than the road.

I had my eye on camping near the town of New Meadows, so that I could finish the second climb today. New Meadows turned out to be aptly named, it sits I the middle of a gigantic meadow, many miles long, I cycled 4 miles along the edge of it to the campsite and that isn’t the full length. It’s surrounded by low forested peaks.

The other thing that’s stuck me so far about Idaho is the cloud patterns have changed. It might just be the weather, but they are a lot different to Oregon. The wind is still blowing strong tonight, it probably doesn’t help camping in a huge meadow. So far Idaho has been distinctly different to Oregon, and the highway excepted the route has gone through some really pretty scenery.

Alto today I met a couple more cyclists, this morning I chatted briefly with a west bounder, from Holland, and this evening there’s a pair of gentlemen doing a section going east staying at the same campground. Time to retreat to my tent and out of the wind.