Northern Washington and Southern BC
Loop Tour of 8 Mountain Passes

Day 3 - Newhalem to Winthrop, WA.
122km

 A long day... 8 1/2 hours after leaving Newhalem, I reached Winthrop. Rainy Pass summit took 70km of climbing, barring three small downhill stretches. Then I still had to go downhill for a short while and start climbing for Washington Pass. Rain and drizzle made me change riding clothes about 10 times, as I was either too hot, too cold, too wet etc. What a difference from yesterday's rains, which were quite warm; especially as I climbed higher in altitude the ambient temperature was cooling considerably. I was quite worn out when I reached Rainy Pass summit, and at almost 5000ft, it was pretty chilly up there with that cold drizzle of rain to substantiate the naming of the pass!

 Before heading up the pass in the morning, I stopped in the small townsiteof Newhalem to transmit my Pocketmail messages and also to pick up some bananas from the small general store there. I had a chat with the storekeeper and gleaned the information that Newhalem is a company town, owned by Seattle Power & Light. The three dams - or Ross Lake Dam Project - that I would see on my climb up the pass, are the main hydroelectric power supply for the city of Seattle, WA and are operated by the worker/residents of Newhalem.

 There were no services for the almost 100km riding between Newhalem and Mazama - and not much in Mazama. It's a good job that I had bananas, granola bars, peanut butter and jam with me, as I had to "refuel" about every 20km. The road grades were not too steep, between 6% and 8% grades, I'd guess, but they seemed to go on forever! There were also two tunnels to negotiate (where my taillight would have come in handy!), but these were no problem as both tunnels have a flashing light system, that one can activate, warning motorists as to the presence of cyclists inside the tunnel.

 I stopped at the Rainy Pass (El: 4855ft.) summit picnic area - there weren't too many fools picnicking there on this day! There were no picnic shelters so I huddled in the doorway of the out-of-order washrooms to make my sandwiches. Of course, I was all sweaty and wet from climbing to the summit; as a result, when I was stopped, the cold wind and drizzle just froze me, and soon I was shivering. I put on some more clothes after finishing my snacks then rode off for the all too short downhill run that was the prelude to the next climb.

 Oh! I saw my first bear of this trip; he was ambling across the road about 100ft in front of me, as was crawling up one of the hills. Where was my bear spray? In the BOB bag! Dummy! Anyway, I gave him a blast from my air horn and he scampered away. But as I rode by, I noticed that he was standing on the bank, up on his hind legs at the edge of the bush, watching me intently. He seemed to be on his way to Ross Lake Resort, which was close by - they probably had good garbage! I was obviously not worth pursuing - or maybe he was eyeballing Basil?
I digress though...

 Washington Pass at 5477ft. was even colder and wetter than Rainy Pass had been. I was looking forward to the downhill after the summit, but I had to keep my speed in check due to the wet roads - and brakes. Too bad about the rain, as there were a myriad of photo ops, especially riding down to a big hairpin bend as I was descending. However, I did get some photos at the summit...

 The rain let up for a while as I continued the downhill run and I even thought that the sky was looking a bit brighter. Wishful thinking though; I ran into a rainstorm just as reached Mazama! I decided that, instead of camping in the wet somewhere, I was definitely going to look for a motel, but there was nothing to speak of in Mazama, accommodation wise, so I continued on.

 I eventually made it to Winthrop - where serious rain was busy depositing itself - very tired, wet and still not in the frame of mind to look for a wet campsite. Now Winthrop is a tourist town with a Western flavour, raised sidewalks, western style storefronts etc. So it's the worst place for a cheap cyclist to find a cheap room! And to compound the problem, there was a forest fire burning, quite a few miles north of Winthrop, and most of the forest firefighters were taking up all the spare rooms! Anyway I found an expensive room, well not really expensive by Winthrop standards, especially if the Canadian dollar had been worth more, but it wasn't and I suffered the consequences. Too bad that there wasn't a Motel 66, or the like, there!

 Undoubtedly, I had just picked the wrong place to splurge on a dry room, instead of soggy camping. Soggy Basil was happy for the warm and dry room though!

 After a nice hot shower, I washed some clothes and realised that I was starving. I walked a block down the main street and stopped in at the Duck Brand Inn and Restaurant. I had a huge feed of pasta, fresh bread and a pint of locally brewed Pale Ale to wash it all down; I felt the day's tribulations slip away!

 Back at the motel, I struck up a conversation with a group of firefighters, who were staying there. They told me that the biggest of the fires was almost under control and that they, unlike me, really liked the way it had been, and still was, raining! I just hoped that I'd fare better the next day and that the rains would abate for my route.

 I managed to get some photos of Winthrop's main street in the morning, when the streets had dried out a bit...

Day 4 - Winthrop to Riverside, WA
90km

 This was a much better day, both riding wise and weather wise. The sun came out for much of the day, making it almost too hot! By the time that I reached Okanogan the temperature was touching 30 degrees!

 I found an excellent cafe that was open early in the morning, and had myself a leisurely breakfast before braving the asphalt once more. On leaving Winthrop, about a mile out of the main town site, there were more motels, but in retrospect, I still couldn't have been bothered looking for them in the rain on the previous evening. The thing that really peeved me though was, that originally I was going to camp at the KOA, but I figured that it was too wet to camp, right? Well it turns out that when I rode by, their sign said that they had Kamping Kabins! Probably a hell of a lot cheaper than the US$70.00 I paid for the motel room! I guessed then, that I'd be bitching about that US$70.00 for the rest of the trip!

 I saw lots of firefighter's trucks on the road, but thankfully, could neither see nor smell any evidence of forest fires. I also started seeing lots of motorcyclists travelling the Cascades Highway, much as I was, with camping gear strapped to their machines. Though I doubted that they could take in all the sights and sounds, as I could from my bicycle.

 The Loup Loup Pass was a much easier climb than the previous day's toil up to Rainy Pass. After leaving Twisp, the climb to the 4020ft summit began. It was a steady climb and I was thankful that the sun hadn't reached it's full ferocity whilst I was riding uphill. The ride down was cool, and with a dry road, I made good time down to the more desert like area of the Okanogan valley. This area is so much like the Osoyoos and Penticton areas in my native BC. Very dry looking, but when irrigated, lush and good fruit growing country. After Okanogan it was a few miles more to Omak, where I had lunch at a Mickey D's before continuing on to Riverside where I camped.

 Best deal yet! I stayed at Margie's RV Park and it was only US$5.00 for a nice grassy spot with free showers too! Riverside is a very small town with just a quaint general store in the town site, where I bought a beer, an ice cream and something to cook for dinner. The RV park was also a small place with about 20 camping spots, but very clean and in a nice, quiet location. Anyhow, I had only cycled for about 5 hours, so I had arrived there early and very much enjoyed relaxing with my beer in the nice warm sunshine. Even Basil had dried out! As I was writing this, the clouds were rolling in, bummer! "Well, so long as it doesn't rain again," I said to myself.

 

 The next day would be mountain pass #4 and my destination of Republic.

Day 5 - Riverside to Republic, WA
100km

 This day was mountain pass #4, Wauconda, at 4310ft. It was a little tougher than Loup Loup Pass, but the weather helped by not being too hot. It was cloudy with sunny periods - mostly cloudy though.

 After a quick camp breakfast, I rode the 26km north to Tonasket andstopped for a real cooked breakfast at a cafe there, before continuing on to tackle Wauconda Pass. After Tonasket I noticed that Route 20 was narrower and not quite as well maintained as the previous sections had been. I also discovered that the shoulders were much narrower too.

 Just before the Wauconda summit, there is the town of Wauconda - read, speck on the map - actually there are a few ranches around, but the town consists of a general store/cafe/gas station. I was glad to stop for a break there though, and it was only 5km from the summit. When I arrived at the cafe, there were two other loaded touring bikes outside - one with a BOB trailer and the other with panniers and racks - the first cyclists that I'd seen since day one! I went inside and found where they were sitting; not too difficult in the small confines of the cafe! I sat down and joined the other two travellers, and found that they had met by chance at the cafe too! So all three of us had different tales to tell. They hadn't seen too many other tourers either. John was from Seattle and was heading west on Route 20, I don't recall that he mentioned where he had started from? The other fellow, Mike, was from California, and had just taken early retirement. He said that he had three months "leave of absence" from his wife and responsibilities, and was heading east, the same way as I was. He would be on the road much longer than me though, as he had the whole three months to tour wherever he liked. He thought that he might try for east coast of the USA and had started along Route 20 a day before I had, so he was quite impressed that I'd caught up to him. After a good chinwag and a filling lunch, we said our goodbyes and all rode off by ourselves. I didn't ask Mike to ride with me, as he seemed to want to ride solo, which is my preference anyway. Mike mentioned that he was going to stay in a motel when he reached Republic, so I assumed that I probably wouldn't see him again as I had planned to camp.

 The rest of the climb to the summit went quickly and soon I was descending into Republic, where I stopped for groceries and an ice cream. I found out that it wasn't too far to the campground, so I picked up a couple of beers and hoped that they'd remain cool.
 I rode on to the Ferry County Fairgrounds; another cheap night, only US$6.00 and free hot showers again! I guzzled my beer while I set up camp and then relaxed for a while. This was a nice, fairly quiet place, close to the highway, but not too close! I was the only camper for quite a while, until later in the evening when a couple with a 5th wheel trailer pulled in. I chatted with the campground caretaker and asked if there were any restaurants close by, on the road east, that would be open in the morning. He said that there was one at the top of the hill after I left the campground. "Good," I thought, "I won't have to cook breakfast!"

 After cooking up some grub for dinner, I cleaned up, retired to my tent and read for a while before falling asleep. Funnily enough, the book that I took with me, would last me the whole trip, as I always had good intentions of reading quite a bit, but found my eyes closing after about a half hour of text.

 Mountain pass #5 would be waiting in the morning, and it was higher than the ones that I had already climbed, although I'd be starting from a higher elevation - as if that was going to help!