With the the hot weather we've had lately, Carol and I decided to get up early this morning to go for a ride. We headed up on the Webb Ridge Road and parked part way up. This is just off the Webb cut off that we take on the Lapwai loop. It's a pretty good climb for 8-9 miles. We gained elevation very fast. Though we were out early and it was only in the low to mid seventies, Carol and I were both dripping sweat. We finally reached an area where though it was somewhat steep and constant climb, we were in the trees and cooled a bit.

We had some beautiful views of the canyon towards McCormack Ridge. We were looking for a road that cut back to Flat Iron Road but missed it and came out on the Soldiers Meadow Road just west of the reservoir. The last miles through the meadows was just incredible and the weather was great. There were lots of wildflowers and butterflies and not a single car! (We had one pick up pass us right at the very end of our ride.)

We turned back instead of contining on Soldiers Meadow Road and tried every turn off to our left looking for the road we missed. We went up lots of "roads" that went by streams and through woods and either disappeared or ran into a fence or a gate. Some of the gates were not posted "no trespassing" but we decided to leave them for another day after checking maps again. We will also look for our road from the other end near Waha.

We were running out of fluids as our 2 1/2 hour ride had turned into 4 1/2 hours but we had a great time and the climb at the beginning was a great reward at the end of our ride.

Anybody who can tolerate gravel road rides, you've gotta try this area. We always see wildlife. Today it was two deer just at the beginning of our ride. They were running up a hill and hid in some brush then came out again with their tails wagging like flags. They made a nice silouette at the summit before disappearing on the other side. We've also seen elk on one occassion.

We passed Corrie, Chris, Scott, and Debbie on Tammany Creek Road on the way home in the blistering heat back here in the valley. We thought they were totally freaking nuts to be out riding that time of day!

We congratulated ourselves for having avoided the heat on our ride, ate lunch and helped the movie economy by taking in a matinee.