Day 4: Challis to Stanley Day 4 Gallery

Pioneer Park Stanley. The spine of Idaho tears a ragged profile across a big sky. Saddles, ridges, peaks and points and each serrated giving the range its name.

We expect cold tonight. 21 frost free days a year makes one ask “Do you feel lucky, punk?” I don’t and we are not well prepared for these two cold nights. But we’ll survive and the grandeur compensates. On day six we’ll leave camp in temperatures variously reported from freezing to 39 degrees. Wet grass dampened my shoes and long fingered gloves did little to protect from a chill head wind. We could only make 13 mph most of the time for the first 25 miles or so to the climb up Galena Pass—but this is a story for day 6.

The ride to Stanley had proved less challenging that expected after toasted legs on Tuesday. I woke with the knot in my left calf remnant of last week’s cramp. Stretching and ibuprofen and generous application of Biofreeze cream put me in tired but capable form. We agreed to a slow, touristy, pace for today. While the climbing was modest, the head winds kept us slow and the scenery slowed us still more.

After two days of desert scapes, it was a pleasure to ride the twisty canyon of the Salmon river.

Ever so gradually we left sage brush for evergreens thorugh sage brush is the native plant of the Stanley Basin and scarcely a tree for shade anywhere. Winds kept us fairly cool though we still needed to congregate beneath the dinner canopy for shade whenever the sun came out from behind a light cloud cover.

The first water stop came in Clayton, Idaho, originally a silver smelter. These water stops are a highlight of each day. Melons, cakes, cookies, crackers, peanut butter, chocolate frosting, raspberry jam, bananas, plums, grapes, cheese and prunes. I can’t stop snacking. We gather around munching and listening to CDs. This morning is chill enough we seek the sun in which to sit—harbinger of two mornings in Stanley!

I wanted to dangle my feet in the Salmon, a Steve Largent kind of ride, but access from the highway is limited. That is until we came to Sunbeam Hot springs. Many of us had remembered suits and took the plunge. Still others wore Lycra. Hot water, though no steam, mixed with cold to give a pleasant temperature gradient—too hot to stand in near the inlet, too cold to sit in near the current.

The pale puffy bodies surely appear as a result of the sulfur. Excuse me while I put my shirt back on.

Fear of sun burn drove us on. Linda, whose legs were beginning to complain, reported much improved strength after a dip in the hot springs. I also was tired, but my legs seemed strong today and I hammered after Doug near Stanley until I turned a wooded corner and

caught my first glimpse of Idaho’s Spine. I had to stop for a picture.

1. Saturday
2. Sunday
3. Monday
4. Tuesday
5. Wednesday
6. Thursday
7. Friday
8. Last Saturday