Chelewah and Republic, WA

I made it to the last state. All that is left is a few more mountain passes and about 400 miles.

So our trip out of Idaho was a relatively good one until we started climbing a hill. Five miles later we were still climbing the hill. Five miles after that we were in sight of the top. This was a nasty climb. the outside temperature was recorded at 106 degrees and working all the way up the hill just adds to your body temperature. We woke up at 5:15 in hopes we could beat the heat but even at noon when i was just about to the top the hill was unbearably hot. I feel bad for the others that were behind me because it would only get worse for them. Everything turned around at the top of the hill though. I think it was called the Flower trail pass with a top elevation of 4,046ft or something like that. My favorite sign (downhill truck sign) was posted about every mile on the downhill just to remind us that we were in fact going downhill (not that we needed a reminder). 8 miles later of continuous downhill we made it to the church. This church that we stayed at was amazing. upon arrival they had a potluck they invited us to and laid out a delectable array of fruits and snacks soley for us. It was fabulous. So after i ate about 200 grapes i went out back with a few others and just sat in the ice cold stream. Then like we really need more exercise we started a game of volleyball for about an hour and a half. Then the church was so nice they reserved the public pool for us. Again...like we really need the exercise we were just playing basketball in the pool and getting absolutely exhausted. But it was so nice and spectacular that the church put this all together and fed us so well! I loved it.

So today's ride started off well once again. Then at mile 35 we started climbing. 25 miles later of continuous uphill riding we finally made it to the top of Sherman pass with an elevation of 5,575ft. I cant stress how much up hill that is, just ridiculousness. Thats the distance from mainland to Catalina Island all uphill. or for people that have not gone to Catalina thats a complete marathon distance all up hill! Then from the top to the bottom it took me 34 minutes without using my brakes going around 30mph on average.


so to recap. yesterday we climbed 4,046 ft. then went back down. then today we climbed 5,575ft just to once again come back down. yeah cant we just stay up at 4,000ft until Vancouver?