So after a 40 minute snack break we got back on our bikes and continued up the road. The rest of the road down the mountain was pretty uneventful and arrived in Avery on the St. Joe River at 2:30pm. We were not the only riders there. The three Mormons on KTMs were there, as well as our two other KTM guys we met at Lochsa Lodge. There was also a Mormon family of seven brothers, plus their dad. Now this group was more like us – smaller, less expensive bikes and definitely doing it on the cheap. Two of the guys had literal suitcase luggage strapped to the back of the bike. The dad was driving a truck and one of the bikes was in the back with an electrical problem. Nice folks. We refueled, stood around talking for awhile, then after 45 minutes got headed up the road again.
There's two options when leaving Avery. You can take a dirt road to the east of the North Fork of the St. Joe, or the west side which takes you through three tunnels. We chose the tunnels. About 3 minutes up the road, Dave stopped and had to go back to the gas station where he had left something. The three Mormon KTM guys passed us. Dave caught back up and we continued, but before we had got very far, we ran into the three guys again, but this time it was they with the problem. The guy on the 500 EXC hadn't packed his jacket on the back very well and it got loose and wrapped itself around the rear axle. He was cutting it away when we stopped to make sure they were okay.
Bummer.
The tunnels were fun – pitch black and cool. I missed a turn after them and crossed a cool bridge by accident. The road into Wallace after that was just a plain old dirt road. If we'd had more time we might have spent more time in Wallace, maybe got a shake at the Red Light Inn which makes great burgers and shakes, but it was about 5pm and we needed to camp somewhere. We chatted about it and decided to shoot for Lower Glidden Lake, which was where Tim and our friend Ken White had camped many years before.
But it was a lot further than we thought – 13 miles from Wallace to be precise. But we eventually got there and found it beautiful and deserted. So we picked a spot, set up camp and proceeded to heat up the leftover mac and spaghetti from yesterday. It had just getting heated up when Tim spilled it half of it on the ground. Undeterred, he ate what he could off the ground, and also ate the mashed potatoes that I cooked up. Maybe not the most nutritious, but it was filling. We rode 140 miles this day and were tired, so we turned in around 8:45pm.
You'd think that was the end of the day, but it wasn't. Around 11:30pm we awoke to loud music and some vehicle of some sort coming up the road right to our campsite. All of us were awake and Tim was out of his tent. I was making my way up to get out when I saw the truck lights turn around and head back down, so I figured the excitement was over. The three of us chatted a bit, then went back to sleep.
Friday, September 18, 2020
The elevation at the lake was around 5500 feet, but it wasn't cold at all that night. The rednecks had camped further down the lake and were gone by the time we pulled up stakes and headed back toward Wallace. We passed their van though – it was pretty much what I thought it would look like: some old used plumber's van, beat up, bad paint, missing teeth on the guy and gal. People make weird choices.
Tom Clark
I'm a Senior Software Engineer at Intellitect, living in Spokane, Washington. I also do a little development work on the side. And I love riding motorcycles all over the country with my friends.
