Bicycle Tours

From: East Hope, Idaho
To: New Port, Washington
Mileage: 58




Well the sunrise over the lake was just as pretty as the sunset. We were off to an early start this morning and after packing up the tent we headed out. Hope we didn't wake any of our neighbors. We try to be quiet but I'm sure the other tent campers heard all of the zipping and unzipping and crinkling of folded tent etc.

Breakfast was just down the road in Hope at a really quaint hotel and restaurant that over looked the lake. Our first destination today was Sandpoint, population 6835. We need to replace the rear tire before we begin the mountain passes in the Cascades and it is laundry day.

Sandpoint is a really neat town. Boy they have it all! Lake Pend Oreille in the summer and skiing in the winter. There are six bike/sporting good shops in town so we assume lots of hiking, mountain biking and rock climbing in between. The downtown area is really bike friendly except for route 95/2, which unfortunately makes it's way though the center. We were able to avoid this busy road and navigate to the laundry mat, 4 of the 6 bike shops and lunch. We also avoided 95/2 and found the exiting bike path leading out of town.

The bike path was a godsend as it parallels busy 95 for about 5 miles. We only had to ride 95 for 3 miles until our map sent us off down a quiet country road. We swung through Round Lake State Park another beautiful campground right on a lake for a pit stop. Then continued on our route for the afternoon, which followed the Pend Oreille River. Over hill and dale - we went up and then down, though mostly forested countryside. This part of Idaho reminds us a lot of New Hampshire.

The temperatures have warmed up a bit. The temperature reached the high 80's as we crossed over into Washington State at about 5 pm. We entered our last state and pulled out our last map of this trip. It is good to get out of the sun. SeeMore is getting a new tire and chain lube and it's my (Mary) turn to catch up on the journal.