Living the Wild Life With Hells Canyon and Black Bears: Iowa Girl, Biking America

June 2:

Much has happened in the last couple of weeks, but I have to tell you guys about this really gnarly day I'm having. It's been awesome. 

It started in Hells Canyon, Oregon, with a morning rain that quickly disappeared simply because I asked it to nicely.

As the sun came out, I hit the road with a good feeling, sweating the 13 miles uphill out of the canyon and into Idaho. Halfway up I slipped off the narrow shoulder to avoid a truck and ended up eating dirt.

As a result, I celebrated the Brown Lee Summit by drinking a beer on the side of the road and picking gravel out of my bloody knee with a sewing needle. Still feeling good, not even those rain clouds could get me down... Meet me again at the bottom of the descent in the fair town of Cambridge, where my high spirits were getting blown to pieces by the 20 to 30 mph winds.

I didn't want to go on but after some food opted to get off the 95 and ride the next 20 miles on the unpaved Weiser River Trail. I didn't know If my Surly could handle the terrain but figured flat tires were better than the imminent semi-induced slipstreams and no shoulder highway. 

This is a testament to how much a little perseverance can pay off. I'm loving life again after spotting a baby black bear and a giant owl, riding my bike along-side bounding families of deer and herds of cattle.

Also, if slowly and steadily navigating the red gravel-pebble-pothole-snake covered trail in the sunny Idaho wilderness doesn't make you feel like an incredibly happy badass, I don't know what will.