Tuesday 10th August 2004

From Lolo Hot Springs to Lowell, 3 rivers campground, a wonderful downhill 84 miles on route. We had breakfast in the cafe at Lolo Hot Springs, then headed up, initially, over the Lolo Pass. It's a short climb from the Hot Springs, though fairly steep. Then there was a wonderful downhill, in which we stayed on the same road, along the same river, for about 70 miles of downhill. Not many places in the UK give you 70+ miles of downhill. Anyway, it's a beautiful river - the Lochsa River, and although services are few, the valley is wooded, with a swift broad river flowing down it. We picked up food at Powell, and then there were no services at all, apart from water from campgrounds, for the rest of the day. The river is very swimmable - and the day being so hot, Steve swam in the river. It's not that cold surprisingly - just right to be wonderfully refreshing. Eventually we stopped at Lowell, in the 3 Rivers Campground. They sold Moose Drool Beer, so the day ended in a haze of food and good beer. Most pleasing. Guy looked out of the tent during the night and saw a herd of deer grazing nearby. 3381 Miles now completed - less than a 1000 to go!

There's a short mpeg video clip (video ogg available too, for those sensible enough to use linux and open source) for this stretch. We had lunch by a bridge over the river and Steve took a video clip. Works well in RealPlayer or in QuickTime, but be aware that Quicktime's default volume is usually too low and you'll most likely hear just squeaks unless you turn up the volume!