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| Jay taking a picture of me taking a picture of our bikes. Green frog Cafe in Palouse |
"Should we go the route in the guide book, or try the farm road route?" I asked, looking at the maps. We were considering taking a hypotenuse. Moscow to Pullman to Palouse was a right angle of sorts, and this route recommended by Google connected Moscow to Palouse in a ragged hypotenuse. "Sure, why not? What's the worse that can happen? We try it, it doesn't work, and we end up going around." So we did.
Up, breakfast of cereal, gathering of damp things from the misty night. Will need to lay things out when we arrive in Kamiak this afternoon. After we loaded up we headed out and back to Moscow. I detoured us to the place where we repaired Jay's wheel, just in case the pump was laying there. It wasn't. Back at the Co-op we had a lovely hot beverage, purchased supplies for dinner, and had some snacks. Nice to soak up the scene and people a bit.
The route we selected was right out of the co-op. After riding for not more than a mile, we were deep in the rolling wheat fields. It was stunning. My phone was holding the image of the map that would get us to where we wanted to go. Or so we hoped. We did not want to lose this only connection to our route, so my phone was off limits for anything else. This is why I have no pictures of this beautiful scene. But Jay did, so once he posts his blog, check it out. Until then, I'll try to describe it, even though the absolute gorgeous beauty of the palouse hills on these roads can not be described. They went on and on and on, in undulating layers of green-ness. There was no ending to the layers. Every once in a while there would be a farm house nestled in a cleft in the hills.
And then the road turned to gravel. Well. I hadn't thought about that. We do have Rock and Road tour bikes, which are designed to handle anything you try to ride over. So we road on. Searching for Ester Ranch Road (which intersected with Ester Rd later), we only found John Ruby Road. Hmmm. We kept going for a mile, and decided that John Ruby Road must be miss-named Ester Ranch Rd on Google. We turned around (there were some viciously barking dogs ahead, so it was good timing. On the way back, we passed a house with friendly, joyous dogs barking. They were happy, outside, living. Very cute.
John Ruby Road intersected with Ester Rd eventually, and the gravel road wound on and on. I now understand that riding on gravel takes a lot out of your body. It's a whole body experience, and includes a lot of mental effort. When cars passed, they sent up clouds of dust. One Rv passed, driving like a bat out of hell. Absolutely insane on that road, really! Some sections of the road had severe washboarding, from people driving too fast. We had to be alert to watch out for the washboards because they were jackhammers on bikes!
After 7 miles (a total of 9 when you count our extra mile out and back to check for Ester Rd) we came to Hwy 95, which we needed to use for a few miles before turning on to Palouse Rd. Once on Palouse Rd, we thought it was going to be difficult traffic, and there was no shoulder to speak of. I stayed in back with my bright yellow safety vest, and dinged my bell when cars were coming so Jay knew. This was very thrilling for me, to get to use my bell. Jay says he thinks it's an ice cream truck every time he hears it.
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| Celebrating our ride. |
Palouse was a pretty little town at the intersection of two major arteries. An artsy town with far more restaurants and art galleries than its population could support. Well located and a tourist destination. We ate lunch at the Green Frog Cafe. Tuna sandwich and a massive cookie we split. Absolutely huge slabs of bread. I ate mine 'toast' like, which was easier to fit my mouth around. Jay attempted the sandwich as a sandwich, successfully, albeit with astonishment on my part!
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| Bikes parked in front of Green frog |
We didn't linger in Palouse, as we wanted time at Kamiak Butte to explore. From the town of Palouse, it was 4 miles on Hwy 27 to the turn off for the park. I continued the bell ringing, but this time, due to the number of vehicles, one ding for each vehicle.
If I had known what lay ahead after we turned off from 27, I'm not sure I would have gone through with it. I should have known when the bicycle directions on Google maps said "Walk your bike." The highest point of the butte is 3,641 feet. The campground is 3,448 feet. From the base of the road up to the campground is 800 feet of elevation in less than a mile. There were sections that were over 15% gradient, which is painful even on a road bike.
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| Notice how close together those elevation marks are? |
The campground was up on the butte. Whoever designed this road took the most direct route, straight up the mountain. I didn't make it far before getting off and pushing my bike the rest of the way. I was afraid I'd get stalled and stuck and fall, not being able to get my feet out of the pedals. but Jay, the rock star he is, he made it the whole way up. I was so very impressed. He powered through and road all the way.
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| Camp sites |
After finding a site and laying out all our damp things in the sun coming through the trees, we hiked up to the top of the butte to see the view. I could really feel my legs. Not sure if it was the gravel riding, the pushing of my bike up the hill, or general weariness after 4 days on the bike, I was suddenly very tired. But the climb was worth it. Of course, the pictures don't do it justice. I loved the shot of yellow mustard peeking through the trees. To explain how tired we were, the hike back down seemed much longer than the hike up! completely the opposite of how things normally are.
Back in camp, we devoured our meal of couscous and beans. Jay made enough that we couldn't finish it! While it was cooking, Jay pulled out a foil wrapped bit of chocolate left from the night before. What a treasure! I melted mine half on my tongue to savor it. Perfect.
After talking about the next day, and our 12 mile ride into Pullman, we debated the wisdom of going early to beat traffic, or going later to make sure we were after the morning rush hour. We decided to get up early, have coffee/tea, and ride in before the traffic got too bad.
We were the only campers on the mountain that night. It seemed amazing to have it all to ourselves!
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| waiting for our meal at Green Frog. |
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