Saturday 1 July 2017

Pollock, ID

Today was not one of the best days on the trip. Firstly it was hot, even in the morning. It took me all day to make 40miles (although I did stop for a couple of hours at midday). The last 10miles were against a strong headwind.

I followed the Salmon River gently upstream along the floor of the aptly named Salmon River Canyon. I saw my first rafters, it looked more fun than cycling in the heat. There was little shade. When I reached Pollock campground at 5:00 it was 34C in the shade.

I changed time zones again today. I was in a Pacific time, now back in mountain time. When I get to Oregon I will go back to Pacific time. It must be confusing to live round here!

I woke up to a loud crack. One of my back tent poles had snapped. When I put the tent up at the campsite in the evening I thought I could manage but then one of the front ones snapped, I guess from the extra weight. The tent was unusable. This was quite a blow - my tent has began to feel like my home and I felt lost and alone without it. I was also concerned as it is July 4th weekend and so many motels etc may be booked up. I started to think about options.

Here are some good things about the day:-

Around 11 I can across an unexpected farm shop. The owner let me eat as many cherries, peaches and nectarines as I could as they were going off faster than he could sell them. I was tempted by huckleberry pie but the heat made me go for a lovely fresh strawberry sundae instead.


I stopped in a town called Riggins for lunch and a huckleberry iced tea to get my huckleberry fix. For those uninitiated in the way of the huckleberry this is the state fruit of Idaho! It is like a blueberry but more purple and tastes (to me) like a blueberry/raspberry cross. It is part of the bilberry family.


I also spent a long time in the library at Riggins enjoying the wifi and air-con. I've popped into a few small town libraries now. They are invariably staffed by kind people, who usually want to hear all about my trip, and have free internet.

The campsite owners kindly lent me their 4 person tent to stay in. I had more room than I knew what to do with and could even stand up in it! They also gave me a children's 'play tent' they had won in a raffle and never used. It was kind of them but will be a last resort as it won't stand up to any wind or rain!






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