Profile of the climb from Arco (on the right) to Willow Creek Summit (on the left)
Day 5 – Friday, June 18th
Mackay, Idaho to Challis, Idaho
The climb to Willow Creek Summit
This was to be a challenging day, and I had some apprehension about it. The profile below provides a graphical representation of the climb.
Profile
of the climb from Arco (on the right) to Willow Creek Summit (on the
left)
The town of Mackay is at mile 30 on the chart, so we had a climb of 30 miles. Notice there are some wavy patterns in the climb, where you climb up, then glide down alluvial fans (the fan-shaped mounds of silt that fan out from the mouth of canyons) coming down from the Lost River range to the east. The climb starts in earnest 5 miles from the summit, with a 5 to 6 percent grade to the top.
We
Left the Wagon Wheel Motel, got breakfast, then started pedaling
north at 11:00 AM
Today the weather forecast was good, and the longer range forecast was good as well. Finally it seemed that summer was beginning to arrive. Again, the temperatures were pleasant, with a light tail-wind.
Climbing
north of Mackay, before Mackay Reservoir
Near here, we encountered a cyclist going the opposite direction, who we greeted with a friendly “Hello”. To our surprise, he responded only with “F*** you”. There must have been something going on in that man's life before he saw us to elicit such a response to a friendly greeting, and we will never know what it was.
The
Lost River Range, with a fresh dusting of snow, viewed from a
historical marker on the west side of the road
We began climbing and descending alluvial fans, but the climbs were not that high, and it was nice to get out of the seat when coasting down the other side.
Looking
to the southwest, just beyond the Trail Creek Road, which heads west
to Ketchum, Idaho
We stopped to eat our lunch in the shade of some trees of a farm at the side of the road. Seeing our bicycles loaded for cross-country travel, a resident came out for friendly conversation.
Where
we stopped for lunch – we sat in the shade of the trees to the
right
She invited us to refill our water-bottles, and try the “best water in Idaho”. We filled them, and the water was good. Apparently cross-country cyclist often stop there for water. We enjoyed the conversation as well.
After our lunch stop, we continued cycling, and soon the steepest part of the climb came into view miles ahead. It was definitely steeper, though we could cycle it with only occasional rest stops. We could pretty well see where the summit was from the valley below.
In this climb, my fears were allayed, as it was not nearly as bad as I thought it might have been. One unforeseen side-effect of the climb, was that half of the steep part of the climb turned to the west, and were facing into the sun. Heretofore, we had been facing away from the sun with our northerly course, and we didn't worry too much about sun-protection on our faces. Later in the day, we noticed our red faces, and it wasn't from embarrassment...
We
made it up Willow Creek Summit!
Looking
back from Willow Creek Summit at the Lost River valley
From here, it was all downhill to the Salmon river – miles and miles of pleasant, downhill gliding. After awhile, it got to where we had to pedal a little, but still easy and pleasant. But at the rim of the Salmon river canyon, we passed through Grandview Canyon. In driving this section, I've never stopped to take picture, but on bicycles, we enjoyed it considerably.
Entering
Grandview Canyon
Coming
out of Grandview Canyon
North of Grandview Canyon, the slope was less steep, and we had to pedal more, but we were still making good time. The country-side began to open up, and farms came into view.
We
finally made it to the Salmon River
Just after crossing the Salmon River, we came to a convenience store at the highway 75 junction. Highway 75 follows the Salmon River, taking you eventually to Stanley, Idaho, Red-Fish Lake, and Sun Valley, which was not on our route. The convenience store was our first chance for refreshments since leaving Mackay.
Looking
back the way we came, from a convenience store at the highway 75
junction
The town of Challis is on a bluff/hillside overlooking the river, so it was a somewhat steep climb to reach it, but thankfully, not that long.
We
made it to Challis!
As you can see in the photo above, there was still plenty of daylight when we arrived. We debated whether to camp or not, finally opting for a motel. We ate a steak dinner in the motel restaurant, celebrating our victory over the first big climb of the trip.
On this day, we traveled 53.7 miles, with an average speed of 8.8 miles per hour. It took us 8 hours, 40 minutes to do it. We were pedaling for 6 hours, 5 minutes.