I knew Day 2 was going to be an issue. The wild fires near Lowman are directly in our path.
The day started well enough. We woke up at 7am and it was 46 degrees inside the tent. I was looking forward to a dip in Big Trinity Lake but I couldn’t convince myself that the water was warm. We ate breakfast (rehydrated scrambled eggs), packed up camp and headed out.
We crossed many bridges, followed many creeks and climbed a rutted out sandy track to the 50″ bridge. We turned to the east as the route directed and encountered our first closed road due to the fires.
I suggested we head east and after 27 miles discovered my road around the fires was a hiking trail. We turned south towards Atlanta and discovered the road ended in Atlanta. We grabbed beers and lunch and then more beers. This did not solve our problem.
We inquired about gasoline and the guy at the end of the bar said he could get us some but it would cost us. This was no surprise so we waited for him to return.
He never returned. This did not solve our problem.
We backtracked to the 50″ bridge and made our way to Idaho City with one accident recorded. From there we headed to the heart of the fire and passed through with no injuries but did suffer minor smoke inhalation.
Now in Lowman and 9 hours of riding for the day, we spoke to a friendly Sherrif. He suggested a stay at the hot springs down the street.
Gluttons for punishment that we are, we pressed on for 2 more hours and the promise of a hotel in Cascade.
2geeks2bikes 