July 22
36 Miles, 2,995' climbing.
This was a tough day. And somehow I have no photos from this day until we ended our journey at Bonaparte Lake! Not sure how that happened, except I was in a depleted energy state for most of the ride. Our route took us back the way we came yesterday afternoon, down Curlew Road and turning right onto Herron Road to take West Curlew Road, the back-roads to Republic. Being a typical country back-road, it wound around hills and dales, and any hills were rather sharp. As far and the scenery and ruralness, it reminded me of a very hilly version of Old Arcata Road. We climbed up one long and winding hill, and I saw what has become my sign of impending civilization: School bus stop signs. Then we passed the Republic cemetery--the old one filled with graves of early residents.
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| View along West Curlew Road. (stock photo) |
I was surprised at how sore my legs were from the previous days. It was just 10 miles to Republic, but it seemed like much longer. Republic was a lovely little old logging/mining town with a fantastic grocery store. Republic has found a way to exist in this century, and one of the ways is supporting bicuycle tourists, as it is on the Northern Tier bicycle route. We loaded up on snacks for the road and lunch, since this was our last shot at food until we returned to Tonasket the next day. We planned on making dinner that night, and possibly eating breakfast at the lodge for a treat. The haul included triscuits, cheese, fruit, and other treats. Plus a donut and hot beverage.
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| The town of Republic (from public source) |
Looking ahead to the long climb, we loaded up all available containers with ice water. Then we pointed our bicycles west, and started climbing. The 13 miles started right outside of Republic, and did not let up. Steady and slow. I became defeated somewhere along the climb, and could not convince my body that we had plenty of reserves to conquer the pass. We stopped several times to rest, at my urging. My favorite place was a driveway with a No tresspassing sign that read, "Survivors will be Prosecuted." There was moss on the rocks under the trees, and birds flitting in and out of the bushes.
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| Public source photo of what the road from Republic looked like.... |
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| Before Wauconda Pass was the old town of Waudonda, now a ghost town.... |
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| The Pflug Mansion (see sign for info) |
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| This is what that 13 miles resulted in~ the Wauconda Pass. |
Finally the top! There is a picture, I think in Jay's pictures. We had a thrilling 5 mile descent to the turn off for Bonaparte Lake. I thought this was a preview of our fun ride tomorrow into Tonasket, which was ALL down hill. Something to look forward to in the morning. When we turned off onto the Bonaparte Lake road, the whole atmosphere changed. This road oozed "fun." Anyone who took this road was going for an adventure. We were passed by all types of vehicles pulling/hauling all sorts of recreation equipment, including fishing boats and bicycles and campers. This lake was a fishing lake, not a sport-boat lake, and Bonapart Lake Resort was a hunting/fishing lodge.
We searched for a "perfect" spot to eat lunch. Needed to be in the shade, but near the pretty creek that we were riding along. Finally, I spied a set of flat granite rocks that could serve as our table and chairs, and we dropped everything and ate. I made my way down to the creek to explore and soak my feet in the chill stream. It reminded me of exploring creeks in the quarry when I was a kid.
Back on the bikes, we took a climb, not severe but enough to get you to notice. We passed a home with a tall wire fence, and then saw the pair of German shepherds/border collie mix dogs making a run for us. I didn't trust the fence, but evidently the dogs did because they stayed in their yard and enjoyed giving us a what-for. My heart, already pumping hard with the climb, somehow managed to find some Adrenalin to pump a bit harder. There is no way to out-run a dog on a hill, so my only strategy was to stop my bike and look at them if they made it free.
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| Bonaparte Lake Resort office/restaurant. Great home-cooked food. |
Over the rise, we came out into stunning meadows of various colors, with a stream running through. We startled a Great blue heron, which went squawking off through the trees. I was able to trace its path for a while. Our destination was the state park, and the resort next door. We arrived at the state park, rode our bikes around the park roads to find the hiker/biker camp, and then rode over to the resort to check out its options. The resort was one of those low-budget, big-heart places where folks are working really hard to make a living and provide something of value. But not a high-dollar place. We checked into the lodge office/restaurant and had a cold drink. Root beer and beer beer. They had boats to rent, a restaurant, and a full campground. They even had places for horses to camp!
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| Well deserved cold drink! |
From our exploration, we determined the hiker-biker camp next door was our best option. I had a hunch that a trail connected the two places, and after following that hunch, past the horses, we found our camp site! Surprisingly, there was still many hours to our day. We set up camp, and then set to exploring this lake, our 5th on this trip.
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| Camp for the night. |
While I set up the tent, Jay took a nap on the picnic table bench. Afterward, we played cribbage, and then went to the swimming area at the State Park. There we found a grandmother with three grandkids, two who were swimming and the third who was miserable on the bench because she had forgotten her swim gear and couldn't swim. There was a family of ducks on the shore, begging. Best part was when one of the kids found a huge toad we all got to admire. I found my goggles to be highly effective, because the lake was pretty murky.
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| Topo map of Bonaparte Lake. |
On our walk back to our site, we met the camp host, who told us all about the loons. There were two pairs on Bonaparte, because it is such a large lake, and has the natural marsh barrier in the middle. She said the two pairs still fight a lot. Evidently loons are very territorial, and do not like competition. She said if we kept our eyes out, we might see the young loons that were being raised by one of the pairs.
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| Dock at the resort, where you can see the colorful kayaks we rented. |
Back at camp, we had snacks and changed into kayak gear before walking over to the Resort to rent Kayaks. We wanted to explore the lake, and especially check out the marsh in the middle. I was so eager to catch sight of a loon! The kayaks were colorful plastic ones that worked well. I was nervous because the wind was coming up and making wavelets, but I remembered the kayak lessons Stuart had given me many years ago, and kept my kayak pointing perpendicular with the waves. At least that's what I remember him saying. It worked, and I didn't feel unstable. My favorite part about exploring the marsh was looking at the dragonfly casings on the reeds, and seeing the eggs of different insects and amphibians in the water.
Here are pics of loons, from Internet, not my camera. Adorable with their chicks....
We explored on the opposite side of the lake where hunting cabins hid among the trees. Soon, our 2 hours were up, and we returned to the dock. Both of us were quite hungry by this time, so we prepared our last road dinner of beans, couscous, cheese, and necco wafers (I purchased them in Republic for a surprise). And we topped it off with some roastaroma tea. No caffeine but such wonderful rich flavor. I think we found it in Republic, but I can't remember now!
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| The swimming spot. |
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| A view of the opposite side of lake, where we explored with Kayaks |
Our evening was capped off by a walk down along the lake trail, at the state park. We arrived at the small dock there, and sat for a while, looking for loons. We did see the parents flying about, but I was never sure if we saw a young one or not. We went to bed with the dark, being exhausted from far too much fun and exercise!
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| Goodbye to Bonaparte Lake..... |
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