Sept 4th: Challis to Stanley 102km 841m

Hot spring source - Sunbeam

Today will rank amongst the toughest we have done.  We plodded along all day into a strong headwind and uphill.  Again we followed the Salmon River and passed through canyons and valleys of Idaho.  This time the wind seemed to channel through the canyon and straight into us.  At times we were down to 10 kph as the wind just about stopped us dead.  Idaho is not heavily populated and we travelled most of the day through wilderness and farmlands.  There were two points of particular interest a few miles before Stanley. One was a viewing point over the gravel beds in the river where the salmon were breeding and the other was a hot water spring pouring a lot of sulphurous water straight out of the mountainside rock about 10m above the road. This water was too hot to touch for more than a second and where the water entered the Salmon River on the other side of the road, rocks had been used to create a warm bathing pool which was actually being used by a young lady in a bikini!! We did have 2 stops along the way where we got lunch and an ice cream cone.  Due to the slow travel we arrived in Stanley after 6 pm and the whole town was booked.  We rode back to Lower Stanley and they were also booked out, but the nice lady at the motel made several phone calls and all she could find, at a motel/lodge further down the road, was a tepee to sleep in with no bathroom or toilet facilities for $35. It was either that or sleep outdoors and the forecast overnight temperature was just above freezing (we are 1908m above sea level here) so we resigned ourselves to the tepee and little to eat or drink in view of the lack of toilet facilities.  Much to our surprise and relief, when we arrived at the Salmon River Lodge they had freed up a room for us and we have a comfortable room with a hot shower though there is no TV, telephone or internet.

Salmon River - Challis

Near Stanley