Hidden Gem

This sign greeted us upon entering Idaho. Either someone has a great sense of humour or we’d be in for a nice surprise…

As you might have guessed, Idaho was quite the pleasant surprise. Pristine pine forests covered the eastern part of the state. We followed the Lochsa River for over 100 miles as it winded and meandered its way through beautiful woods. We camped in national forests and bathed in hot springs and rivers. Coming down from Lolo Pass we were faced by what we thought might be some easy miles – a descent over 200 miles long. What we found instead were cyclists cruising uphill faster than we were going down. The head winds were quite strong indeed.

The pine forests soon turned to giant wheat fields. We observed the harvest in Kansas and now we got to see it in Idaho as well. The golden wheat then turned to rolling hills of sparse vegetation. The landscape soon changed again to pine forests before finally settling into the more familiar sagebrush countryside of eastern Washington and Oregon. The famous potatoes of Idaho, however, have eluded us. We think we might have seen one on the side of the road but, in retrospect, it might have been a rock.

Have a look at the gallery below for our progression through the wonderful state of Idaho. Beside Missouri, Idaho is the other state I look forward to exploring more – maybe on my bike.