Day 30, Thursday, August 16, 2012, Sula to Wisdom, MT
Today we climbed to our highest point so far on our eight week odyssey. Chief Joseph Pass is over 7200 feet and a few miles before Chief Joseph is Lost Trails Pass over 7000 feet in elevation. The climb begins at Sula, but is only a 3-4% gradient for the first 6 miles then it kicks up to 6-7% steady for the next 7 miles to Lost Trails. The 200 foot climb to Chief Joseph was back to 3-4% at the most and it was over quick.
The descent off of Chief Joseph was interesting. The first few miles, or less, was quick and I noticed I lost maybe 500 feet in elevation when it leveled out, more or less. It really was going down, but at a rate of 1% or less. On top of the minimal decline there was a headwind. Not a strong head wind but one strong enough to cause one to pedal while going down hill. I was really hoping to just coast in to Wisdom.
The bottom of the descent was close to the where The Big Hole Massacre of the Nez Pearce occurred and is marked by a National Battle site monument. This monument is right on the western edge of The Big Hole Valley. Lewis or Clark in their journal described it as a valley 60 miles long and 40 miles wide. I don't think they missed it by much. The astounding thing to me is this valley is at 6000 feet in elevation, which means we only lost about a 1000 feet in elevation from the top of the pass. The Bitterroot Mountains mark the western edge and the Anaconda Range part of the north and east side of the valley. I imagined and was verified by some locals the winters are very cold.
After leaving the National Battle site Herb spotted a herd of Antelope about a half mile off the highway. They were only distinguishable by their very white butts. This, too, was verified by a local when I described what I saw. My experience of Antelope is if they see people they are outta here. This herd could hardly be bothered. The local said the Antelope in the valley had gotten used to humans, except when the day before hunting season rolls around and they disappear. Next to the road and right in front of us were Sandhill Cranes. Pulling out the camera to capture either of these never occurred to me.
Wisdom is a very small town just hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Fortunately for us there is a nice Pioneer Motor Lodge and The Crossings Restaurant.
Tomorrow we ride to Jackson. Home of the Jackson Hot Springs.
STATS: El Gain= 2875, Mx Alt= 6975, ODO= 4049, D= 40, I inadvertently cleared my data on the descent from Chief Joseph Pass so no ride time.
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