Curves, Curves, and More Curves

Long day of travel today. 474 miles.  Most of it on two-lane, curvy roads.  But that was by choice.

We got to investigate where we were this morning, now that it was light.  The forest service road that we were on was high above the tiny town of Elliston.  There were several dispersed camp sites along this road, one of which was right on the edge of a promontory overlooking the valley below.  Quite the magnificent view.  It would have been extremely difficult to navigate the RV to that spot in the dark, so we made the right choice by picking a turnout by the side of the road.

Imagine the RV parked right here.  Room with a view.

US-12 wanders west through the mountains for another 30 miles or so before joining up with I-90.  This was another beautiful stretch of road and it would have been fun to investigate some of the features along here, particularly the Valley of a Thousand Haystacks.  We initially saw this marker by the side of the road while at the same time noticing the rather different haystacks in the fields.  Instead of being baled, the hay is piled in rounded piles by a contraption called a beaver slide.  This is the only place in the US where hay is still put up in this manner.

Another 60 miles or so on I-90 into Missoula, where we stopped at the Maclay Flat Recreation Area to get out for a while and stretch our legs.  We took a 2-mile trail through the grasslands next to the Bitterroot River.

I was going to launch the drone to get an aerial shot, but it began to rain.

The rain continued nearly steadily for the remainder of the day.  We stopped in Lolo to top off on fuel and to pick up some groceries, then continued on US-12 over Lolo Pass.  There was a little bit of urgency here as there was a 100% chance of snow here for tonight and tomorrow.  Deb was reading about Lewis and Clark who took this route over the Bitterroot Mountains in the early 1800’s.  It took them eleven days to get over the mountains.  With very little game available, they had to kill and eat a couple of their colts to survive.  If they could only see it now...

We stopped briefly at the Pass, which sported a log-cabin style visitor center.  Deb picked up her usual plethora of maps and brochures and we headed down the other side.

This route is a favorite of motorcyclists, because of the curves in the road. Many will take their picture by this sign: “Winding Road, Next 99 Miles”.  So I did, too.  I may not be a motorcycle, but I can enjoy the road, also.

The trip down the mountain did not disappoint.  It was curvy, and it was beautiful.  The first 99 miles descended along the Lochsa River, often through steep terrain which was barely wide enough for the river and the road.  And at a 50mph speed limit, 99 miles takes a long time.  But it was spectacular, even in the drizzly weather.

We stopped at one trailhead where the trail crossed the river on a suspension bridge.  After a couple hours of curves, it was good to get out and stretch for a bit.

The next couple hours had a higher speed limit, but was still curvy as it hugged the Clearwater river all the way into Lewiston, Idaho. 

Once we had cell service, Deb started looking for a place to stay for the night.  She ran across a web page describing the Manhattan Project and the Hanford Visitor Center in Richland, Washington.  We were headed in that direction so she looked into it further.  Turns out they do tours of their B Reactor and the next tour was tomorrow at 8:30am.  When cell service was available, she reserved us a couple spots on this tour.

That means our target for tonight’s stay was the back parking lot of the visitor center in Richland, another 2.5 hours away.  We did most of that drive in the pitch dark, over lonely roads through wheat country, in the pouring rain.  Not the ideal way to travel, but we are now here and ready for tomorrow’s tour.