2015-07-21 Day 23: Lochsa Wilderness, Lolo Hot Springs, MT to Lowell, ID

Miles Today: 87. Total Miles : 1244

We traveled over Lolo Pass early this morning and followed the Lochsa River for the entirety of today's ride. All the drainage of this river is designated as a wilderness. So we passed through 66 miles of no services at all. This was fine as the wilderness canyon provided us with one of our most scenic days of this trip. The mountains were high, heavily wooded, and all around us. We saw Ponderosa Pine for the first time going over the pass. The forest up higher had a lot of Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar. (Yep, it looked and felt a bit like home.). No logging has ever been done in the canyon. The river has crystal clear water that tumbles through rapid after rapid.

We had the good fortunate of following that tumbling water all day down a gradual slope that required us to pedal the bikes but not aggressively. Hence we had a new record high daily mileage. We stopped at 70 miles and could not resist a swim in one of the really fine swimming holes that we had been riding past all afternoon. By the way if you wonder what was for lunch, it's pictured including an Idaho Spud- a candy bar from my childhood summers.

I asked Jon what he wanted tonight. He said a bed. I said I had been riding along thinking about a big plate of food. We found both here in Lowell (population = 23).

So, the adventure moves into a new state Idaho. Here are my best memories of Montana.

• The floating box on Lake Hebgen.
• Walking back through the wild west history in Virginia City with Teresa and Marion.
• The lush green valleys of the southwest corner.
• Beaverhead Rock where the fortunes of Lewis and Clark took a very positive turn.