Oregon is behind us, and we are in Boise, Idaho tonight.
Our last day in Oregon led us along a part of the Oregon Trail, where it surmounted Keyes Pass in southeast Oregon. By the standards of the passes I have gone over the last few days, Keeney Pass wasn’t much, topping out at 2,458 feet, and the climb up it was gentle and aided by a nice tailwind.
The part of the Oregon Trail I rode along was open range land, and probably doesn’t look too much different than it did in the mid-19th century.
We entered Idaho without much fanfare. We were on back roads, and there wasn’t any sign indicating that we had passed the border, though the resurfacing project Oregon had underway abruptly ended at the border. Here was my last look back at Oregon.
Just before the Idaho border, I met up with the Snake River, which will be close to the route from here into Wyoming, and I crossed it several times today.
The agriculture of the Snake River Valley in western Idaho is decidedly larger scale than most of what I saw in Oregon. There were fields of what I assume were onions (based on the onion processing plants I saw).
There were also many references to beets (I assume for sugar) though none had surfaced yet. But the yellow garlic blossoms were in full bloom.
And there’s a prize for anyone who can tell me what is growing here.
Here’s today’s barn . . .
But honestly, this one is more representative of what I saw today.
There were more turns on the route today than in the last few days combined, and sometimes following the cue sheet was a little challenging, especially when we came to unmarked roads. But sometimes, our direction was clear.
We paused the ride for a couple hours to visit the Huston Vineyards. I would show you a picture of lovely grapevines in the Snake River Valley AVA, but I honestly saw none. The Huston Vineyards sources its fruit from several vineyards nearby, but my route did not take me by any of them.
After the winery visit, I headed south up the Snake River Valley to Walters Ferry, the last point on the route that is easily accessible to Boise. Toni picked me up and we drove into Boise, where we will be spending the next three nights, giving my legs a little rest and taking in Boise. Saturday morning we will drive back to Walters Ferry, and we will pick up the ride toward Jackson, Wyoming, our next resting point.
The technical stuff:
72.97 miles
2,451 feet of climbing
Average speed 16.8 miles per hour
Weather: Puffy clouds all day. Around 60 at the start and mid to high 80s to end. 15-20 mile per hour winds, mostly tail winds but crossing on the east-bound parts of the ride.
You can see the entire route to date here.