June 27 on the TransAm

We got another early start this morning, leaving Bates State Park at 6:15 and after a quick stop for water at the artesian well pipe, we were on the road at 6:30. Tipton Pass was our immediate obstacle. We started up it with vigor in the face of low clouds. It wasn’t long before we realized that the low clouds were the smoke of a controlled burn up the entire pass. The smoke became so think and heavy that at one point I thought of turning back. We stopped a car and he said it was bad nearly all the way to the summit. So I prayed for God to give His children oxygen and we pressed on. At one point, about 4 miles in, the fire was still burning. Thankfully, the summit was within a couple of miles and the smoke began to clear. We reached the summit of Tipton Mt. at 8:00. 

Riding down was, as usual, an absolute blast! But it was quickly stifled by another climb up Sumpter Pass, which we reached by 10:00 (there was no sign for a Kodak moment). Both climbs were challenging but I can tell we’re getting stronger. We needed to stop plenty of times for rest but it’s obvious we can go farther between rests than we could last week. And it seems the hills are getting a little easier. 

Given our early start, we had our eyes on the Bike Hostel in Baker City as our target. It was only 48 miles (a little under our daily goal), but it seems a good place to rest after 3 tough climbs–especially since we have some tough climbs ahead of us in Idaho/Montana before reaching Missoula. 

We’ll go into town to see what we can find to do and then get some dinner. Not sure what tomorrow holds yet. Baker City is the end of Map 2 (Yay!!!) and I’ve yet to look ahead to Map 3–I’ll have to do that tonight. 

Thanks for your prayers and thanks for following. 

Until nex time… 🙂