Northern Tier Day #53 Libby, MT to Sam Owen Campground & State Park, ID
Northern Tier Day #53
July 12, 2019 Libby, MT to Sam Owen Campground & State Park, ID 94 Miles
Ride Time 6:50
Tour Total 4159 Miles
I slept well last night in my tent at the Volunteer Fire Dept Memorial Campground in Libby. I stayed up late with fellow Brooklynites Brian and Chris at their campsite drinking beer. It was so awesome to have a supermarket next to the campground, so that Brian could get us yet another six-pack of Moose Drool before the store closed. Brian and Chris had met through 718 Cyclery located in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, and which offers cycling tours. They were riding from Brooklyn to Vancouver doing a Modified Northern Tier. We compared our experiences transitioning from the prairie to the mountains and how the red state Trump supporting people of the plains seemed more earnest and friendly than the liberals in the mountains. Their blog can be seen at: http://tourbook.cc/tour/4g8adna0
I returned to Rosauers this morning to purchase an egg sandwich, a Starbucks Frappuccino, and a mango orange juice. It was a huge supermarket with an eager friendly staff. I had several people helping me hunt down the granola. I enjoyed my breakfast in front of the store on a bench overlooking the parking lot, with the mountains in the distance. I was greeted by a local who said, 'Beautiful day for a ride'!
I pulled out onto my old friend, US Highway 2 and noticed 5 west-bound cyclists flying down the road ahead of me. It was Team Spokane. I cranked to catch them and joined the train. It was actually the Spokane crew plus one. There were six of us barreling down the highway together. I wasn’t used to riding with a group and had to keep a sharp eye for tree bark on the road. It was a 10 foot wide shoulder with no rumble strip and a white line.
I didn’t shower yesterday, and I’ve been wearing the same clothing for three days. It was sunny with a few puffy clouds in the blue sky. I was riding west through the Kootenay River valley, and there were train tracks immediately to my right, and 300-foot bluffs shot up behind the tracks.
Team Spokane was accompanied by their friend Steve, who was originally from Libby. He later moved to Spokane and regularly cycles with the Spokane crew. Steve used to manage the Rosauers grocery store that I patronized in Libby, and I complimented him. He was sporting a Spokane Rockets bike club jersey which read, ‘Coffee Bike Sleep Repeat’.
Towards the Idaho border, Highway 2 entered Troy, which was the lowest point in Montana at 1,800 feet. One would think that the lowest point would be in the eastern part of the state. The shoulder narrowed to 4 feet with Jersey barriers to the right. The road was littered with bark and debris.
Team Spokane rides an annual century called the STOKR, Scenic Tour of Kootenay River, that's a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. It occurs every Mother’s Day Weekend and averages 450 riders. They were familiar with this route and told me where all the food stops were. We arrived at their first stop, at the junction of US Highway 2 and State Highway 56, where I removed my sweater.
The shoulder narrowed down to a crappy 14 inches with gravel to the right. There was no cell phone service again today, and I admired the expansive bluffs overlooking Bull Lake. I crossed into Sanders County and entered the Green Mountain Conservation District. A large crow flew above my head squawking.
At 35 miles, the halfway point, we pulled over and had snacks. We bid Steve goodbye, who headed back to Libby. The shoulder was 18 inches down into gravel, and an empty log truck came within 3 feet from me. He easily had enough room to have given me 6 feet, and I watched him do the same thing to Tim. A tanker truck passed with the same scary clearance, forcing me over into the gravel.
I was close to the Idaho border at Troy, but the route dipped south. I passed sweeping views of the Cabinet Mountains. There were pine trees as far as my eye could see, fields of grass, and the small Bull River to the left of the road. I was following the river downstream, and passed a sign warning of Cattle Horn Sheep in the road. I was seeing pinecones the size of eggplants. The sun came out so I pulled over to apply sunscreen. I passed grass pastures, pine trees, the river, and spectacular mountain views. This place was beautiful!
Team Spokane reported that the Eureka City Campground had been like Woodstock other night. The groups of cyclists camping there had been amped up, and didn't go to sleep until late. I’ve noticed a lot of real estate offices in this area. It’s beautiful here and it’s not too far from Spokane. Developers are aiming to parse things up and make some money.
I took a right on State Highway 200 and pulled into Big Sky Pantry. Team Spokane had heard about their sandwiches, and it was a fantastic little store. I had a roast beef sandwich with Swiss cheese, a Gatorade, and blueberry turnover. The five of us sat outside on the porch where we met eastbound Dutch cyclist Ger pedaling from Anacortes to Minneapolis. I teased him about the American Women’s World Cup win. Another east-bounder passed the restaurant without stopping. He would have another 50 miles to Libby with no services in between. It was my last meal in Montana.
It was a beautiful sunny day, and I rode alongside the Cabinet Gorge Reservoir, which was set within a much wider valley. There were large rolls of hay in the pastures right before the turn off to Heron Road. Tim pulled over to the side of the road. He told me he was ok and I kept going. I passed two eastbound cyclists, whom I later learned were French on their way to Glacier National Park.
At one point the sun was so bright that I couldn’t read my phone. I rode over the Cabinet Gorge Bridge to the south side of the reservoir. I began 2 miles of gravel that I had anticipated on Clark Fork Road. My last 2 miles in Montana would be on gravel. It’s been a long fantastic go Montana! 13 days! Thanks for another great adventure!
Train tracks were immediately to my right the river was beyond that. I heard a whistle and I could feel the train on the other side of the trees heading west. I passed several collections of beehives. The gravel road narrowed to one lane, and I could make out the Cabinet Gorge Dam through the trees to the right. Something was wrong. The gravel had lasted too long, and I realized that I was on the wrong road. I had to turn around and go back. I’d been on Parker road, not Clark Fork. To correct my error and to get back on route, I took a right on Cottonwood Road. The gravel wasn’t bad. After a couple more miles of gravel, I was back on the correct gravel road.
I crossed into Bonner County, Idaho and the asphalt began. There was no Idaho welcome sign, which was a problem for my documentation and social media. I decided to turn around and go back to state highway 200. I was doing a lot of extra gravel today. I ran into team Spokane. Tim had had a flat tire. They would continue on the south side of the Cabinet Gorge and we would meet at the campground in Clark Fork.
I rode back to the railroad tracks outside of Heron and realized my earlier mistake. I crossed back over the Cabinet Gorge Bridge and made my way back up to State Highway 200. On the highway I passed a guy with a pick-up truck and trailer with a giant tank that he was filling from a roadside spring. I was now on the ACA Alternate Route around riding along the north side of Cabinet Gorge Reservoir. There was a little bit more traffic and litter, but it wasn’t bad.
I pedaled 3 miles back to the border. I passed the Welcome to Montana sign and began patiently searching for the Idaho sign. All I saw was an Idaho Highway sign, and took a disappointing photo in front of it. A half mile down the road, I found what I had been looking for, the large blue Welcome to Idaho sign that I remembered from last year. I got stung by a bee leaning my bike against the sign post. There must have been a beehive there, because they were swarming all over the place. I did my border crossing photo shoot as quickly as possible and got out of there. This border crossing documentation business is a lot of work. I was now in Pacific time, and had picked up an hour.
I passed a large gravel operation that featured a collection of old cars and trucks. I got a text from Tim telling me that they couldn’t find the campground in Clark Fork and that it was closed. I was right across the river from the campground and could see it. With my restored phone service I called and talked to the owner, who told me that they couldn’t take folks right now because a pipe was broken and they had no bathrooms. Clark Fork greeted me with two bridges across the river, one for cars and another for trains. I met team Spokane at Clark Fork Pantry where I had a huckleberry milkshake.
Team Spokane headed to the next campground, 7 miles down the road while I went to the post office. I returned to Clark Fork Pantry to buy some post cards and ran into Brian and Chris. We went to the Cabinet Mountain Bar & Grill where I ordered a Rocket Dog IPA and then a 208. We had just gained an extra hour and decided to use it wisely. They were going all the way to Sandpoint today, another 27 miles. They told me that the power had gone out in Libby this morning, which explained the dark supermarket aisles and the malfunctioning traffic lights. I wrote a few postcards in the bar, and then swung by the post office before heading out of town. I passed a mandatory invasive species checkpoint leaving Clark Fork, and then crossed over Lightning Creek.
Beautiful Lake Pend Oreille came into view, which was a large body of water with mountains visible on the far shore. Train tracks were again to my right, ostensibly the Seattle to Chicago Empire Builder line.
Team Spokane had reserved a campsite and welcomed me to join them. I met them at Beyond Hope Resort where I ordered several Pacific Rain Pale Ales and a steak dinner. After my meal, I set up my tent and bathed in the crystal clear lake against a spectacular sunset.
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