I woke up very early to flashes of lightning, with some small claps of thunder. It only showered briefly and while it was raining I made breakfast in my tent, breakfast in bed!

It didn’t last long, and I was soon packed up and on my way. The clouds were low and it was drizzling for my morning riding.

In fact the only thing changeable about the day was the weather; I cycled for pretty much 100 miles following a river up a steep sided canyon that was covered in thick trees. I can see why they named the river Clearwater, it was very wide and so gentle that the water was very clear.

The drizzle faded off in the morning and I could see low clouds hanging onto some of the peaks around me, until after lunch the clouds again descended and another hour or so of drizzle.

This evening I’m staying in a campsite in the trees beside the river I’ve been following all day. The climbing today was mostly gentle, I only gained about 2,000 feet over that entire distance, but tomorrow the final climb to Lolo Pass is almost as much height again in only 13 miles, at which point I’ll cross into Montana and hopefully coast downhill to Missoula.