Day 28--The Obvious Title For Today--Goodbye Montana, Hello Idaho!

We left our cow pasture at the usual time of 9:30 this morning. First the weather seemed like another sunny and warm day. Okay, there were some clouds, but it was warm. I took my leg warmers off (I always put them on when I get dressed), as well as my arm warmers. I even took the sleeves off my jacket. However, by the time we left, it had clouded over, and the wind was making for a lot chillier temperature. The sleeves of the jacket went back on. 

We had about 15 miles to Lakeview. Derik lead the entire way with Connor and I drafting. We made good time. Lakeview is where the Visitor Center is for the huge wildlife sanctuary. We stopped to check out the center, and get water (we had decided against filtering water from the creek last night as there was a large amount of brownish white foam sitting on top of the water just upstream). 

We continued riding toward Red Rock Pass. The road was decent about half the time, bumpy the rest. The colors were beautiful though.

We passed Upper Red Rock Lake campground where we were aiming for yesterday if we couldn't find another place. The British boys had camped there last night. Here's a photo of the lake.

The climb to the Pass was not that difficult. The wind was, at times, very annoying. At one point prior to the Pass, Derik had pulled over at a spot suitable for lunch. Connor, however, rode right by him, even though Derik yelled. When I got there, Derik told me what happened. There was nothing to do but keep riding. Connor thought Derik was ahead of him, so he wouldn't stop until the top of the Pass. 

It was okay though, because the top of the Pass was a good spot for lunch. It was also where we crossed over from Montana to Idaho!

It was also our 7th Continental Divide crossing.

We came down the other side toward Henrys Lake.

We passed by Sawtell Peak which has this round ball thing on top.

I thought maybe it is Idaho spying on Montana.

We came to a stretch of pavement for a handful of miles. The map told us to turn right onto unsigned gravel road. That is always difficult to determine which gravel road is the correct one. But, we found it. It was also known as the Harrison to Henrys Lake Island Park Community Trail. It was more of a double track than a gravel road. 

We popped out onto a paved semi-residential street that took us to Hwy 20. The map had indicated there were no services, but there was a Subway! We decided to have an early dinner there, then go on the last 4 miles or so to the campground. 

We are staying at Big Springs Campground. It appears to be closed (water is off, garbage bins are locked, men's restroom is locked, women's is open, but that seems to be an oversight as there is a bunch of firewood bundles, a garbage can, and a tarp in it). Oh well, another night of free camping (20 out of 28 days)! Water is not a problem because, well, we are at Big Springs. Here, the water just comes out of the ground. There is a spot where we can just fill up our bottles without even filtering. 

Water is just coming out of the ground!

There is a cool cabin and water wheel.

The property belonged to Johnny Sack. It's now on the list of National Historic Places

If you zoom in, you can get the idea of who Johnny Sack was. Basically, he was a German immigrant who bought the land around the Spring, and hand built the cabin and the furniture inside. He died in 1957. The property now belongs to the Forest Service. The cabin is open for tours, but is closed for the season.

The Spring from the cabin. There were trout jumping all over in the water. There were also tons of bugs...er, I mean...fish food! Of course, there is no fishing allowed. Seems like a good place to be a trout!

Since we didn't have to cook dinner, we played a few extra hands of Golf. Connor is still winning, but there is still time...