We started the day riding over the big hill we finished with to get to the park. It served as a good warmup. LoLo pass really starts in Lewiston. Although route 12 has very limited shoulder, the incline is so slight as to be unnoticable, even pulling one hundred pounds of junk. It is also beautiful.

We were in the mountains again. The rocks were more varied here. Lots of metamorphic and igneous rocks with shiny crystals throughout. Prettier than the black basalt of the gorge. The pine trees got thicker and thicker as we ascended. But these species never reached the height of those on the coast.

On this section of the trip we enjoyed the Nez Pierce National Historic sites. The Nez Pierce befriended the Lewis and Clarke expedition. Maintianing their horses, feeding and equiping them, and preventing them from starving. Later, the settlers instigated a war with this friendly tribe. The US Army chased the "rebel" indians from their home, over the Lolo pass, into Montana almost all the way to Canada. There the freezing and starving tribe gave in.

Today we saw the "Ant and Yellowjacket" site. A stone arch. Legend says that Coyote froze ant and yellowjacket here, eternally locked in battle. We also saw the heart of the monster, from which Coyote created the Nez Pierce people in the beginning of history.

We talked to a car tourist today. She told us that at mileposts 142 and 152 there are trails that lead to hot springs by the side of the road. We would definately have to check them out.

At Orofino we stopped to check out the town. We were worried about the pass ahead of us so we had gathered together another box of weight to mail home. The post office was closed for the holidays. fortunately we found out that the Auto Parts store could mail our stuff too.

My knee was in some serious pain today. We stopped at a fishing access along the river past Greer and camped. As we cooked dinner we watched a big storm float down the canyon towards us. It was a restless night. We stored our food about 200 feet away in case of bears. But being by a river near a berry tree we still worried. When Patti asked me if there were bears here I flat out lied, we both knew I did and why. The rainstorm made me fear flooding on the riverbank. I woke up and checked out the water level several times at night. Lastly, we found that my tent was not very waterproof. It was a miserable night. The sand we camped on permeated our belongings for a long while. To top it off I lost my gloves and my first pair of sunglasses here. Patti was on her third pair of shades by now, as she was continuously loosing them.