The forecast for today and tomorrow were fairly poor with heavy rain coming in today and staying around until some time tomorrow, so we're exploring Republic before the rain arrives and then taking shelter when it does. We want to do the upcoming climbs (we have about four major passes in the Cascades still to do) in good sunny weather. There's a dedicated bike route from where we are camping all the three miles to Republic (originally called Eureka). We are the only campers of any sort, our little tent a haven as the rain pours down. The town of Republic was originally a gold mining centre, and gold is still mined in the vicinity. About 250 tons of gold have been mined here which sounds significant. The town looks quite quaint with several buildings from its early history - in varying states of repair. The photo shows one quaintly down at heel building. There's also a fossil centre / shop which where you can dig around for your own fossil. This whole area being a warm sea in the Eocene period - say 40 million years ago - it's great for anything that fell in the water and ended up becoming sedimentary. I saw the fossil of a leaf from that time. I am reluctant to carry a piece of stone on my bike though. One mountain near the town is called Molybdenite Mountain so I'm sure that was mined too.
We cycled back along the cycle route, called the Golden Tiger Trail, which is an old rail track bed. It has small gulches that make me think of that classic oft repeated scene from old cowboy movies where a train goes through a gulch and a Red Indian jumps off a rock onto the train and overwhelms the driver or suchlike. Casey Jones usually saves the day by fighting off the usurpers. Since the first rain arrived we have been reading like crazy - I've finished my Beekeeper's Lament - which I'd highly recommend and gives a good picture of beekeeping culture, especially in the USA, and the serious problems faced by bees. In particular the dangers of neonicotinoids - the pesticide that's been regularly in the news and should, of course, be banned. The problem of the varroa mite for bees has been around longer - but it is not really solved - I myself, in my brief beekeeping career, have had to treat bees with a dilute but still poisonous oxalic acid knowing that it was one of the less bad options for reducing mite infection of the hive before the hive hunkered down for the winter. The Beekeeper's Lament is though as much picture of America as of beekeeping and well worth reading on either score. I am now reading Plainsong, a interwoven tale of characters in a small Colorado town. It's a bit like a chunk of the Archers but rather more challenging. The rain patters down, the pages turn.... We are still here.