Today was a crazy good day, but another crazy long day. Again, it was very, very hot, but I believe that I did a better job getting needed electrolytes. DiAnne, last night’s Warm Showers host, said there would be more shade and she was right, thankfully. Today’s climb was Sherman Pass, the fourth and highest of the Cascades passes at 5575 ft; however, you start climbing at about 2500 ft so it’s not the 41 mile climb that Washington Pass is to get to 5477 ft. Also, yesterday’s Wauconda Pass wasn’t as high but it was drawn out over 28 miles. Sherman Pass you reach in a mere 16 miles. Still, I stopped a lot to combat the heat and cool down and it took me from about 9:30 after I had a 2nd breakfast and got some groceries at the Republic grocery store until about 5 pm to get to the Columbia River. I was feeling good and called Richard. Cut the conversation shorter than I would have liked to get the remaining 20 miles. That’s when I ran into problems. Somehow I had the idea that it was fairly flat but it wasn’t at all. Plus I had to stop for some dinner materials at the Safeway in Colville before going out to the Bacon Bike Hostel, 7.5 miles from town. When I look at miles, I’m still thinking road bike miles and time and I’m also missing some of the elevation info on the maps. It was well after 9 when I got to the hostel. That sounds late but in the Northwest at this time of year, there are very few hours of darkness. It’s not dark until ten and then by 5:30, It’s light, probably earlier — I’m just never up for that.
At the bike hostel (let me admit that my host Shelley was going to meet me at the driveway and went ahead and found me a mile up the road….so I didn’t do the whole thing today….but then I have about 60 bonus miles from my pre-ride West Coast training), my hosts, Barry and Shelley Bacon, were waiting for my arrival to serve ice cream to Kerry and DeeJay and my newest and youngest NT fellow traveler, 20 year-old Hannah from Massachusetts. More about this hostel tomorrow.
Cycling into the future 
When the going gets tough ….. and, yes, you just keep going. 63 miles and not all flat. Wow. Love reading each blog and each new set of experiences. Stay safe and know you are in our thoughts ☺!
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The eastern part of WA seems to go from desert to green mountains to desert and hot is right. Makes you almost happy to start back up the mountain! We met a fellow camper all tidy on his bike at the store now closed up Wauconda. That climb, as you found out, is just a long drag and we expected an easy day, ha jokes on us!!! What a joy crossing the Columbia, right? After slogging up those passes (Tyler always knew we were close to the top when it got breezy “summit breeze”) the river looked so cool deep blue refreshing. And knowing no more ups for a while. The ride to Sandpoint was/is fantastic, although quite stinky hot as well. We hopscotched with a Japanese student all the way to Cut Bank. Many laughs. His English was not so good and my Japanese, well, it isn’t. But he was able to tell us he craved rice, so we made a big pot of very very sticky camp stove rice one night and made all good in Shinji’s world. Nice to take a day off and recharge. Hope you make it to Glacier before they’ve all melted : ) East it is!
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I know this is ancient history, but my daughter and I rode the Northern Tier in 2014 and stayed at the Bacon Hostel. Shelly didn’t serve us ice cream but we had to ‘test’ her lemon squares. I got to play their piano… You can see our blog at:
crazyguyonabike.com/doc/pupine
BTW, their blog isn’t up to date. Are they still ‘in business’?
I’m BentJay since I ride a recumbent trike.
JayMSinger AT gmail DOT Com
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