Panhandle Ramble Wrap Up and Reflections

Jana read this description of the Panhandle Ramble Route (I think on Facebook); “This route was much more difficult in person than it looked on paper.” That is probably the most concise and accurate description of the Panhandle Ramble!

Five of us women, ranging in age from 47 to 68 started the route. Four of us rode 320+ miles with over 30,000 feet of elevation gain over 7+ days, from 10:30am on July 12th to about 1:30pm on July 19th (Bethany made the wise choice to cut the route at Wallace. She still had to do the final climbs from the Trail of the Couer d’ Alenes). There were a minimum of two big climbs every day, and often several small climbs. The descents were glorious, except when they weren’t (which, fortunately, wasn’t too often).

We all agreed this was the most difficult bikepacking trip we had done! Things that made it difficult (besides the shear amount of climbing) were the heat, and at times the navigation (particularly “The Maze” and the bushwhacking sections). I am thankful for my Garmin 840. Without it, there would have been several wrong turns. There were also the mosquitos, no-see-ums, biting flies, and yellow jackets that added to the fun. The near constant hum in the air was nearly as bad as the cicadas when I did the Trans Am. 

While it was a challenging route, it was also amazingly beautiful. The sense of accomplishment upon rolling back into Couer d’ Alene was undeniable. It was definitely Type 2 fun (that kind of fun where, while you are doing it, it’s not exactly fun, but when you look back, it was fun). Favorite moments were the climb along Fishhook Creek…a beautiful shaded gorge, complete with a rock tunnel, and the views in the Grandmother Wilderness (but not the road surface…that was brutal). The climb and descent of Moon Pass was fun, even if it was quite dusty whenever a vehicle went by. 

We took full advantage of various restaurants. The burgers at Drifters Bar and Grill in Emida were the best ever! Also, never underestimate the power of a gas station hot dog (G&G Riverstop and the convenience store in Avery…here’s looking at you)! Second breakfast at Timber Lodge in St. Maries was also delicious. The hospitality of Jim at the cafe in Clarkia (and the BLTs) won’t be forgotten. We did not roll through a single town without getting some sort of food and drink, even going off-route to the Valley Mart for ice cream and snacks. 

Camping was mostly plentiful, but sometimes a challenge. The Trail of the Couer d’ Alenes section, specifically. We did find a campground near the Valley Mart off-route about 3 miles (way to go Ginny!). That was our only paid camping, but well worth it because they had showers. 

All the people we encountered along the route were very nice. They were curious as to what and why a bunch of women would be riding bikes in such difficult terrain. We sometimes wondered too. 

If you are thinking of doing this route, we would recommend allowing at least 8, maybe even 9, days. Better yet, don’t have a deadline. Go until you want to stop for the day. Climbing fitness makes it more fun. Decent water carrying capacity makes for peace of mind. A bike with fatter tires isn’t overkill, as well as front suspension. It is of utmost importance to have reliable tools for navigation, and experience using them. Some source of SOS device (such as a Garmin InReach) is not a bad idea either. 

Having great friends to do this adventure with is, as they say, priceless! Thank you to my adventure buddies, Jana, Stephanie, Ginny, and Bethany for all the laughter, conversation, and willingness to work hard, and get very very sweaty and dirty (we stink in solidarity)! Finally, thanks to Eric Deady for creating this route (although sometimes we wondered what were you thinking)!

Day 8-Panhandle-The Final 44 Miles to Victory!

Sunrise over Black Lake. 

I got up at 4:15 (mainly because there was a baby who kept crying off and on, and I needed to get up at 4:30 anyway). I was packed and ready to roll at 5:45. I knew that I would be the slowest on all the climbs. Even though we had planned a no later than 6:30 departure, I knew I needed to get going earlier. I did not want to be the reason we were late getting back to CdA. Even on the Trail of the Couer d’ Alenes, I would be slower. I got to where we exited the Trail. I waited for Jana, who was going to leave earlier too. I was there for less than 5 minutes, when both Jana and Steph rolled up. They had left at 6:00. 

Early morning shadow photo. 

No one but me and the birds (saw 15 herons).

See the flock of geese?

I started the climb while Jana and Steph waited for Ginny. Again, just trying to make it so no one had to wait so long for me. The first climb was not too long (2.3 miles), but the average grade was 9%! There was walking. There were also swarms of mosquitoes! I had to put more bug spray on before I could continue to push Billy uphill. 

Had been way down there. 

I managed to finish the climb just a couple of minutes before the others arrived. Good thing I started early. 

Coming down for a short bit until the second, much longer climb of 6 miles, but only a 5% average grade (so much easier). By the way, Bethany did this same climb, just a couple of days before us. We could see her tire tracks. Lucky her, she had seen a cow moose and her calf. We did not. 

We made good time on the long climb. We had another shortish, but 8% climb, then the long descent to pavement and into Beauty Creek CG. 

Steph using both her sunglasses and reading glasses…so stylish!

We stopped at the picnic shelter at Beauty Creek for some lunch. We were joined by about a million yellow jackets. Needless to say, we kind of ate and ran. 

From Beauty Creek we had just 10 miles to go. One more long hot climb on E Yellowstone Rd. Then a wonderful downhill to the Centennial Trail. 

Bethany met us on the trail. 

Photo by Bethany. 

We all rode the rest of the way to the official start/finish. 

Woo Hoo! Victory is ours!

Too lazy to go take a photo with the moose. 

Billy had made it!

Bikes loaded. 

We went for some food, and then headed to Spokane Airport to drop Bethany off. 

Day 7-Panhandle-Second Breakfast and the Not-So-Quiet Nook CG

Our campsite with the sunrise. 

I was sleeping last night, dreaming it was raining. Turns out it really was raining…lightly. There was also some lightening and thunder. Ah yes, an Idaho Mountain summer thunderstorm. I closed the door on my rainfly, and went back to sleep. 

We actually slept in a little bit. But then it was back to riding, with a 3/4 mile climb right out of our campsite. But, it was good gravel. We then had another long climb that took us high above the St. Maries River. 

Jana

The river down below. 

Coming back down to the river. 

After 17 miles, we rolled into St. Maries. We stopped for a bit of resupply at Archie’s (an IGA).

We asked where there was a good breakfast or lunch place. The clerk said Timber Lodge Cafe. We headed there and had some delicious second breakfast (I had French toast of course).

Next thing was, as you can probably guess, was another big climb. It was getting quite warm, but the higher we climbed the “cooler” it got. Then there was another weird part (not really bushwhacking, but initially a headscratcher. 

Yeah, this was uphill and I walked. 

This is the route. I had to walk up with my phone to make sure which way we were supposed to go. It ended up being the top of the climb, and we had a long downhill, which spit us out onto Hwy 3. We had 2.2 miles on the hwy before turning off to head over to the Trail of the Couer d’ Alenes. It was an awesome downhill. Unfortunately, I was the last one. Jana had stopped and as I went by, I told her about the next turn. I got to the turn, which was very easy to miss. No Steph or Ginny. Oops, Jana and I were pretty sure they had missed the turn. We continued on hoping they would figure out soon. 

Jana and I came onto the Trail of the Couer d’ Alenes. This was a section I had not done before (turns out, a kind of boring section). 

The Medimont TH. 

We stopped at the Medimont TH. We had talked about a possible camping option at Medimont. We didn’t have phone service. Just as we were about to go to where we would get off the trail, and see if they were there, here they came along the trail!

This was the place to go off route to a convenience store for ice cream. We were hoping to find some camping options, as we were done, even though we hadn’t done the all the miles we planned (no surprise there…we set our ambitions high).

We looked at aplace called Rainy Hill. But then Ginny found there was an actual campground not far from the Valley Mart. And, the best news of all? SHOWERS!!! We had refreshments at the Valley Mart, then rode on to Quiet Nook Campground. It was a quaint little private campground that did, indeed, have showers! First we went swimming in the lake, then took the best showers ever!!!

We did some route calculations. We had 44 miles to go, and had to get to CdA by 5:00 so Bethany could pack up her bike, and we could get her to the airport by 8:00pm for her 10:00pm flight. Factor in that we had not finished that much mileage in that timeframe on any day of this trip, plus there were two major climbs, and several smaller ones. Let’s just say, it wasn’t looking good. After trying to figure out alternatives, we ended up just planning to get as early a start as possible. We got as much ready ahead of time as possible, and went to bed. 

Pan Day 6-The Long Long Day

We were out over 12 hours today. We rode 52 miles and 5000 ft of elevation, and we still didn’t get where we planned. But we ended up camping in a great spot. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. 

We got our earliest start at 7:11 this morning. It was a good thing too, because we needed all the time we could get! The first few miles were pleasant along Garnet Creek (apparently, there are garnets). Then we started the first climb. It was 4 1/2 miles.. The main redeeming quality was the road surface was good. We came down the other side, then had a few miles before starting the climb up Bald Mountain. Again, it was just mostly in the trees with no views. 

The only “wild” life we saw today. 

Good gravel road. 

It was 12:30 once I reached the top of the climb. Everyone else was already there, and had been for awhile. I ate some lunch, then we headed down. There was a few ups and downs in the “moon dust” road. 

Moon dust. I had to walk up part of this one. 

A bit of a view. 

Ginny had taken off ahead of us. When we got to the Moon Dust, there were no tire tracks. Uh oh, Ginny went the wrong way. Well, we kept going figuring she would find a way (she did). We popped out to the highway, and ride the 6ish miles into Emida. Our goal was the Drifter Bar and Grill. We were hungry! Maybe a minute after we pulled in, Ginny arrived too!

After the best burgers, we still had about 22 miles planned. Little did we know how hard it was going to get. We left the bar and grill at 3:15. 

The next section, navigation wise would prove quite tricky. The first bit was just gravel…no biggie. Then things got interesting. 

Okay…double track…not too bad. 

Pretty meadow. 

Steph and yes, this is the route. We were having to push the bikes through overgrowth, and over a few downed trees. The hardest part was that it was also uphill. We finally got to a brief spot where we could ride again. Then we came to a very steep downhill singletrack. It was actually a double track, but only one side was ride…I mean…walkable. 

It was getting pretty late. The hike-a-bike had taken a chunk of time. 

We finally came to a decent enough road. As we came down to a bridge, it was after 7:30. We called it a day, and made ourselves camp. Jana found easy access to Alder Creek. We all stripped down and washed off. Amazingly, there weren’t many mosquitoes. We ate dinner, and retreated to the tents. The day was finally over!

Panhandle Ramble-Day 5-Working Hard for the Beauty

We all decided today was the hardest day, but the most beautiful. Even though we didn’t climb quite as much as yesterday, or go quite as far. 

We got a bit later of a start at 8:15. We immediately had a 6 mile climb. It was quite punchy at the start, then leveled out some, but what made it hard was the road surface. It was very rocky. Had it been any steeper (and later it was), I would have walked. 

This was a good part. 

With not much left of the first climb, we met these motorcycle guys from Boise. They were going the opposite direction. 

We finished that climb, only to start another one not much further. I ended up watching chunks of this one, but the views were spectacular. 

See all those rocks?

Views for miles. 

And a view of Ginny. 




Finally got to the top of the second climb at the Grandmother Wilderness Study Area. There were picnic tables, and even a vault toilet. 

Jana and Steph up on the rocks. 

Views from the rocks. 

A terrace of flowers. 

The down was just as technical as the climb. Very slow going. Then there was a not so bad spot. 

Going back up yet again. Jana riding what I had to walk. 

Nice view looking back. 

This was nice, except…see that climb up the hillside? Garmin did not tell us about that one! Both Ginny and I walked that one. 

We had another technical descent. We were running out of water. There were two disbursed sites with “Spring” in their name. Neither had water. We came down a long good gravel road. We hit pavement, and another climb before getting to Clarkia. 

We made a beeline for the restaurant. While waiting for our BLTs, we made a plan to not go to the campground we were planning (which was 4 miles off route), but instead, go 5 more miles to Emerald Spring CG. Of course, we had another 1.5 mile climb before dropping into the valley where the campground was. We were so happy to get to the campground, until we found out there was no water. Why do they include Spring in the name if there’s no spring? We went searching for water, and found a creek with easy enough access about 1/4 mile down the road. 

We filled everything, and everyone was relieved. 

Clarkia restaurant. 

Jana going through the fence to find the creek (Steph and Ginny found the better access. 

On one of the descents, one of Billy’s kickstand bolts fell out. We used a Voile strap to secure it to the frame. Tonight I was able to jury rig a fix. We’ll see if it holds. 

Early start planned for tomorrow, so going to sleep now. 

Panhandle Ramble Day 4-Tunnels Aplenty!

We got our earliest start this morning at 7:45. That was necessary because we had two big climbs (what else is new), and we needed to get more miles done if we want to finish by Friday. 

Our first climb was a continuation of last night’s climb. We had another 6.9 miles to go to reach the top of Moon Pass. The ride started out with a number of “dust bombs” going by (vehicles).

Good thing I had my dust protector (buff)

The climb took me 1 hour and 45 minutes. I was the last one. 

I had stopped to take a break, and Jana passed me. 

The summit (again, no sign)

Heading down that way. 

The descent was very fun. At one point, I was going 29 miles/hour. The descent continued to the turn for the Hiawatha Trailheads 

We thought we would be going on the Hiawatha, but it ended up that we were on Milwaukee Road instead. The Hiawatha was actually down below us. We still got to go through 7 tunnels, and over two high trestles. 

The first tunnel. 

No 2

The best of the high trestles. 

The actual bridge. 

No 3

No 4 I didn’t take photos of every tunnel. 

Eventually, we rolled into Avery. We beelined for the grocery. Once again, we had hotdogs, and lots of liquids! By now, it was quite toasty. 

After lunch, we decided a dip in the river would feel mighty good. Conveniently, there was river access just across the street. 

It was quite refreshing. We all changed out of our bike shorts (riding in a wet chamois is NOT a good idea), but just soaked our shirts. It felt so good!

By the time we were ready to roll again, it had been 2 hours! Now we had about 19 miles and a massive climb. It was 3:00.

Milwaukee Railroad car in Avery. 

We crossed to the other side of the St. Joe River, and headed up the Fishhook Creek Canyon. It was spectacular!

The photos don’t really do it justice. 

Notice how shady it was. One advantage of doing it later in the day. 

Ginny

The Garmin initiated the climb pro saying we had 11.5 miles and about 3000 feet of elevation. The first couple were all green and yellow (2-3% grades). Then there was a sharp red spike. First I thought, uh oh, that’s gonna suck. But then I realized it was probably a tunnel. It was! And it was the coolest one yet! 

The 8th tunnel of the day. 

The climb continued at 2-3% for quite a bit more. The more miles we could climb easy, the shorter the steep part would be. I would say the climb started in earnest with about 6 miles to go. 

It was all shady until this one spot. 

Finally, I got to the top where Steph and Ginny were waiting. Just a couple minutes later, Jana arrived. It was 6:50. Now we had a mostly descent to a disbursed campsite on the North Fork of the Clearwater. We arrived just before 7:30. It had been almost a 12 hour day (but with a two hour break in the middle). 

The mosquitoes and no-see-ums were intense at the campsite. We all donated blood to the little suckers. We set up camp and fixed dinner, then dove into our tents. 

I have to apologize for the less-than-great quality of these blog posts. I’m trying to write them before I go to sleep, but I’m pretty exhausted, so not being very creative. I’ll try to do better, but I make no promises.