First job of the morning was an apprehensive test of the rear tire but thankfully it hadn’t lost any air overnight so the plug seems to be holding for now. 

 

Had breakfast and got ready and then had another chat with Chris the southbounder who confirmed the tough sandy section was not until further up the trail. So with that info, and a fully inflated tire, I decided to stick to the main route out of the campsite and not take the paved road. I’m glad I did as it was a beautiful first few miles along a former railway line which tracked up the river valley. At the first road junction I was able to get onto a gravel service road all the way up to Island Park. I didn’t see anybody for a couple hours but that changed abruptly as I approached Island Park, a holiday area busy ahead of 4th July weekend. I wasn’t in Idaho for long but it appears the grittier, unrulier cousin to Colorado - people were still doing recreation activities but this seemed to consist of dirt biking and ATV’ing, rather than cycling and rafting. The numerous ATV’s tearing around the dirt roads were kicking up a pretty unpleasant amount of dust. 

 

To avoid a two mile stretch of highway the route went on a ten mile detour loop, returning to the highway almost in sight of where we’d left it. Whilst I understand the desire to minimise highway riding, this felt rather contrived. 

 

After a supermarket stop for lunch I left the craziness of Island Park and returned to the sanctity of the forest as I pushed on up Red Rock Pass, crossing the Continental Divide at the top which marks the border between Idaho and Montana. I rolled down the other side and into my final US State of the trip (for now). 

 

The final few miles were a bit of a battle into a headwind. I feel like I’ve spent as much time riding West as I have North recently, which is noticeable due to the prevailing Westerlies in this area. 

Got to the campsite which is a fairly basic affair on the lake but does have a fresh spring water pipe which is lovely to drink. 

 

Met a guy called Greg, who was out on a motorcycle trip. Had a really nice conversation about his work as a Boeing engineer and the time he’d spent in Bournemouth whilst working with an aviation company based down there. He also rode bicycles and his son took part in long mountain bike races. 

Later we were joined by a southbound Divider, so we were able to share more of the stories and advice.