Day Six – Joseph OR to Bonners Ferry ID
Miles: 342
Elapsed Time: 10:18
Sunday morning in Joseph OR found us at Cheyenne Cafe in the heart of downtown. This was a recommendation of some locals we talked to the night before. Although the service was slow due to the large turnout, the food was great and the price was even greater. We made a quick stop on the southern edge of Enterprise to view the Terminal Gravity Brewery. We felt this was appropriate since we enjoyed the greatly the night before at Embers Brewpub. We gassed up in Enterprise and headed north on OR3 or Enterprise-Lewiston Highway and into the Wallowa National Forest. We stopped at the Joseph Canyon Overlook and learned some more about the plight of the Nez Perce Indians. I can’t really remember much about it, something about their winter home, but I do remember the fabulous view. As we continued north the road just kept getting better. As OR3 approaches Washington the road begins at descent into the Grande Ronde River area. The road is carved into the side of the cliffs and makes for wonderful riding. This is a real can’t miss motorcycle road. Once across the river the road began climbing back up until it reaches Field Springs State Park. The road had changed from OR3 to WA129 but the quality of the asphalt nor the views changed. Some caution was necessary as in some areas there was fallen rock in the roadway. We stopped on the side of the road once we reached Washington and the views really couldn’t be adequately captured by a camera. We continued north into Clarkston WA and its sister city Lewiston ID where we caught the Old Spiral Highway. I saw this road in Google Earth and read some about it, but it was far better than anything I had hoped for. Going up the hill on a lonely Sunday late morning the conditions were perfect; no traffic, going uphill, and a recently paved surface, it was like a race track. Once on top we turned right and headed back down the hill on US95. It wasn’t a bad ride but did not come close to the ride up. We rode on US12 for a short time following the Clearwater River before turning north on ID3 and following the Potlatch River. The River cuts its way through the Western Idaho countryside and drops roughly 2,000 ft in 25 miles as it falls from the town of Deary down to the Clearwater River. ID3 is really nice motorcycle road with many sweepers and a good road surface. In Deary we caught ID9 and continued north towards Lake Couer d’Alene. Just above Deary ID9 dead ends into ID6 and soon we were in the White Pines area. This area is nothing but White Pines as far as the eye can see, and the road is also very nice. Soon we caught back up with ID3 began following the St Maries River through some minor canyons it had carved and into St Maries. This was a nice road and the good scenery continued as we rode up the East side of Lake Couer d’Alene. The ride along the lake was pleasant and there were many vacation homes so we had to keep the speed in check. We made one stop at Pugh Point to take some pics, but mostly we just rode slow and soaked in the scenery. The road drops down into Beauty Bay with a number of switchbacks winding around Wolf Lodge Bay and finally connecting with I-90. The I-90 and up US95 was a rather boring stretch but we stopped in Sandpoint for a pint at Mickduff’s Brewing Company. We both went with the Storm Hammer IPA and was rather tasty. An IBU of 100 told us all we needed to know, and the fact that it won the best English IPA award in the 2010 North American Beer Awards was icing on the cake. We continued north on US95 and reached our motel around 7:00. The Hotel/Casino was right on the Kootenai River and we wasted no time checking in and heading out to dinner. We went to the Kootenai Brewing Company for dinner. The food wasn’t that great but the beer was really good, we had the IPA. The place is nice on the inside and is very clean and it looks brand new. We enjoyed our day and reminisced about the Reds game we had heard earlier in the day while riding. The Reds scored two runs in the third inning, which was just enough for starter Johnny Cueto, who allowed one run over seven innings, and the bullpen against the Brewers. The Reds won their fourth in a row while completing the three-game sweep of the Brew Crew. We went back to the hotel stoping at the casino, but with only slot machines we didn’t stay at it long.
