July 20: Happy Birthday Jay!!!! 43 Miles, 1,194' Climbing.
We awoke in Tonasket, and ate our birthday breakfast of warmed cereal and hard boiled eggs, brought in the cooler from home. After loading up our bikes, parking the van in a safe place for our trip, and bidding farewell to our host, we headed to find coffee. But not before our host caught sight of our Bernie bumper stickers, and wondered if the van would be safe there. He laughed and said it ought to be fine, but hoped we had good insurance.
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| Breakfast of champions: hard boiled eggs and hot cereal..... |
As we navigated morning traffic, I caught sight of the mountains/hills to the west, and wondered if we rode over them. Our guidebook indicated we had serious hills out of the gate in the morning, and our lodging host thought we were crazy to ride the road with its traffic. So my heart was tinged with a bit of anxiety. Yet those hills looked so interesting and unusual, with the rock outcroppings....
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| We are headed into those hills! |
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| Jay had a happy birthday talk with his parents while we enjoyed coffee and tea. |
And then we started. Our route led us past, around, and through unusual hills. We kept waiting for the big climb out of Tonasket, but it never materialized. We weren't too upset about that! Turns out the climb was just really long and gradual, so we didn't really notice it too much. This region has been scoured by floods and glaciers for many eons, and the evidence is in the hills. The hard granite is left behind, and the dirt around them is the eroded softer rocks and debris from flooding.
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| We're on our way! |
Along these hills we spied old relics of aqueducts and rail car tracks from mining. Tried to get pictures of them, but they were well camouflaged against the hills. As we rode, we kept our eyes peeled for bits of the tracks or the tell-tale v-shaped wood channels for the water, calling out with glee when we saw them again, tracing along the hills.
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| Interesting geology, looking like a castle on the hill. |
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| Close-up of the Castle-esque structure. |
In the guide-book for this route, the author shared about the eagle's nest that she had missed until someone stopped her to have her look. We saw it right away as we passed, because there were youngsters chirping in the nest while adults soared above.
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| The eagle nest on top of a pole. |
Riding along the river, we passed acres and acres of orchards protected from deer by mile-high fences. Cherries (we bought some at the store in Tonasket), apricots, apples, peaches, etc. Wish we had been there on a farmer's market day!
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| Orchards and orchards and orchards. Plums, cherries, apricots and more.... |
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| Hard to tell in this photo, but this was a matched set of Belgian draft horses hiding in those bushes! Seemed young, very curious, and quite sweet. |
Eventually, we wound our way around and through the mountains to the lake. Palmer Lake. Storm clouds were brewing, leaving us with astonishing shades of gray, everywhere. We pulled into what we thought was the campground, but it was a boat launch/picnic area with no water. We continued around the lake and found the real campground, which also had no water. Nevertheless, this was our lunch spot. We dined on tofu strips, cherries, and other snacks. I worried about water, but we had enough to get to Oroville if it kept cool and humid as it was.
While eating lunch, the rain came and danced across the lake. By the time we left, the rain was gone.
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| Palmer Lake, among storm clouds. |
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| Beach on Palmer Lake where we ate lunch. |
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| Lunch pit stop. |
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| More incredible geology. Uplift mountains shredded by erosion. Rivulets of rocks at the base. |
As we left Palmer Lake behind, we kept a stream or river to our side the entire way to Oroville. This truly was a road-way carved along a water-way. Evidence of gold mines beckoned, including one gaping maw of a cave which just begged to be explored. We didn't. Nighthawk, a ghost town, adorned one side of the river, with many houses making the slow progression to dust.
The route was steady rolling hills for quite a ways, until the final long climb up out of the river valley and then down to Oroville. During this climb, we rode along the Similkameen River. Our guide book told us to look out for the Enloe Dam and Falls. We heard the roar long before we could see the dam, and unfortunately from the road we could not see the actual falls. Here is a picture I found on the Internet.... As we traveled down river toward Oroville Lake, we saw the river become flat and glassy. There were HUGE signs warning boaters of the upcoming falls, with cables or ropes strung across the river to help those who could not get to shore. A hill hid our view.
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| continuing to ride among the storm clouds and pallete of gray. |
Our descent into Oroville was treat, flying along a good road, surrounded by green vegetation again, including a high-quality golf course. Oroville appeared to be a once-booming tourist destination which had fallen on hard times. We found the campground on the lake and picked out our tent site. Quickly, we changed into swim gear and walked across the campground to the lake. Though it had been warm at our tent, by the time we arrived at the shore there was a gale-force wind whipping big waves. We joined the many others in the water, which was wonderfully warm. You know how when you are in the water you feel fine but a bit cool, then you stand up, expose yourself to the cold wind, and when you duck back into the water it feels really warm? That's how it was. speed boats created more waves, along with the wind. There was a string of floats cordoning off a swimmers area, which we stayed in.
After the salt and grime of the road was washed off us, we braved the wind back to our campsite, where we found it calm. We figured the wind was a product of the lake.
Our tent site was along the lake, but the southern end, which was shallow and more like a marsh. A family of ducks was nearby, and the mother duck kept leading her brood near our site, then running them off into the water. I could not figure out what she was doing, or why.
We walked to the nearby Mexican restaurant--Torino's Mexican-- for an early dinner. I wanted to go here because the owner, Torino, is from Mexico, and closes his restaurant periodically to visit family in Mexico. The facebook page for the restaurant keeps folks appraised of when he is gone or returning. It was extremely delicious, authentic Mexican food, like I have had on my trips to Mexico, or at homes of friends who are from Mexico. The cabbage salsa was just like what my friend, Marta makes! We also had Sopitas, again just like Marta makes! What a treat.
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| Cabbage Salsa! |
That evening, we played cribbage, took naps, and found pretty leaves. Early to bed, to get a jump on the long, long climbs ahead of us tomorrow.
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