With temperatures set to climb even higher as we headed towards Idaho, we decided to get up and going earlier than we’d achieved up to that point. Best intentions and all that – it was a leisurely start before leaving at nine. A short section on the highway first up, that then crossed the river to leave us on on a deserted road all the way to Libby. As the day warmed, the only other contact we had was people out picking wild chokecherries roadside. I tasted a few – just as well they improve with cooking, they deserved their name.

Following the Kootenai River down, it was strange to see hills with a bit of grass (however brown) on them.

Having heard many trains for days, but seeing few – I finally spied the head of one of the elusive long cargo-carrying beasts as we gently rolled into Libby.

Libby seemed rather down on its heels and was the place I really started to notice yards crammed with junk pick-ups, snowmobiles and other rusting vehicles long past their prime. Getting rather hot, we headed straight for a cavernous diner and proceeded to devour second breakfast. More route planning ensued – after heading down the Kootenai Valley towards Troy would we continue to Sandpoint down low and do a big arc, or strike west through wilderness and over hills?

Three trips to the grocery store, one to the hardware store (back to trusty safety glasses as my sunglasses were slowly crushing the side of my head – well, giving me headaches at any rate), much food and procrastination later we set off into the heat. Already above 35ºC, it wasn’t the best time for a little miscommunication and poor navigating on my part. Nonetheless, the quiet road down the right bank of the river didn’t connect and we had to backtrack forty minutes and take the highway west. This required a gas station stop for litres of cold water. Eventually we were on the noisy highway out of town – thankfully the shoulder was mostly generous.

Thanks Smokey. The wildfire smoke seemed to roll in more in the afternoons, at least for a few days.

Mid-afternoon we reached the Kootenai Falls lookout walk; it was time for a break. The small shop and huckleberry ice cream had nothing to do with our need to stop. Monopolising a picnic table in the shade of the busy area for too long, the rest was well deserved. There was some denser shade, so while Megan walked down to the falls I watched the bikes, napped on a bench and soaked my feet in a cold stream. Bliss.

Kootenai Falls

A fraction of the heat gone out of the day, it was not long down the valley before we took the turn and headed up Lake Creek heading for the hills and the more direct route to Sandpoint. Still stinking hot, we filled up water bottles, crossed the creek and tried to find somewhere shady to rest for a while. The woods seemed rather different, but this was by the road – open, with plenty of small trees. Another big rest stop ensued to manage with the heat. Perhaps I was at a disadvantage having come from winter and not having grown up in rural NSW? Rather, I’ve always been susceptible to heat stroke and only very slowly learnt to manage that better.

Leaving Lake Creek behind, the climbing kicked up a bit. The trees got denser, the smoke thicker and the heat slightly dissipated. Seemingly now in the middle of nowhere, we were puzzled by there, for the most part, being a sealed road to ride on. It was rather old, but in good condition on the whole. Not a single vehicle passed us as we climbed and climbed.

It was to be over a thousand metres of climbing to the top and we were wondering if we’d make it by nightfall. Should we camp at the top, or try to drop down? As it happened, we stopped to refill bottles at a creek and found a mama and two young moose with similar thirst quenching ideas. They didn’t notice us for a while, we watched. Eventually they clocked us and ran up the road a bit. Curious, there was no way they were getting off the road. Moose are big and not altogether not-scary; we called it a day at nine o’clock and slowly retreated down the road.

None shall pass. That’s OK, we weren’t really going that way anyway.

Setting up camp beside the deserted (apart from moose) road, there were no food lockers – so a first for both of us, throwing rope up to hang all our food and toiletries up a tree. We weren’t sure if there were bears around (we were close to Bear Mountain), but it seemed reasonable to think there might be and they might like our honey and mustard pretzel pieces. Still warm, it was a glorious night to be fall asleep staring up at a big Montana sky filled with stars. We may not have covered a lot of ground (and some of that was my poor routing), but it was a very hot day – definitely a day of riding I wasn’t really used to; different, but excellent all the same.