Seeing as some one needed to document it, I bravely stood where I was and filmed the whole thing. For some reason the other two didn't quite see it the same way. I went next and I must admit I was pretty nervous, but if you stay left it's pretty dramatic with the water splashing, but not really hard at all. Dave also made it through without issues. We sat and got things dried off (for Tim and Dave) and shed clothing since it was getting warm. Dave got water in his boots when he waded in to help Tim push the bike out. After a bit, two guys on a KTM 1190 Adventure and an Africa Twin running the route north to south came by. They were from Darby, Montana and we chatted for a bit with them (one of their names was Colby Brown who later contacted me for the video). I think we entertained them a bit with our razzing each other. I videoed their crossing and then we got back on our bikes and continued on the route. On our way up the next hill we ran across Glenn and Janet. They were taking their time which is the way to do the route – at whatever pace you want. We chatted for a bit and then continued on, heading toward Yellow Pine. That last bit was pretty flat and therefore fast.
We had skipped lunch and aside from a snack break at Dworshak Reservoir's campground we were a bit hungry by the time we got to town. Glenn and Janet eventually caught up and we had dinner together at the little restaurant in town. There was a small group on big KTMs that were gassing up when we got there and left shortly. Another couple riding older KTMs (990's I think) came by, did the same and left. Just after we rode in and stopped, a young woman in dirtbike riding gear came by and asked me if she could take some pictures of my bike and luggage. Turns out she knows Ashley Myhre of Mosko Moto. We chatted for a bit more about what they'd been seeing. They were clearing trails that were somewhat closed by the wind storm of the previous week. Her riding partner had a chainsaw. I wish I had caught their names and/or took a picture.
Yellow Pine is just chock full of characters. Janet had told Dave of the trick of stuffing newspaper in your boots to suck out the moisture. So he walked over to ask the town's citizens gathered sitting in a circle in front of the store if they had any newspaper. "Honey", said an old white-haired lady, "we are the news!" Eventually he told them why he was looking for it. Another old guy in the circle named Willy asked Dave if he'd like to use his boot dryer. "Yes, but don't tell my buddy about it." So Dave went off and got his boots on the dryer while Tim gathered up enough newspaper to dry out his boots. Dave was hoping to have Tim ask where his boots were, but that never happened.
We headed down the road a bit to the Yellow Pine campground and camped at a really nice spot by Johnsin Creek that went right past the campground. Tim and Dave decided they needed some cleaning off and headed to the creek. A little later I heard some screaming which told me they found the water. We got camp set up and since we weren't having to cook dinner just had a nice time chatting by the fire. Glenn and Janet camped next door and we all had a nice time together. Glenn showed me his new Garmin XT GPS. Very nice - makes me want to upgrade. Janet came over and talked our ear off (she's a lot of fun!), but eventually we called it a night. We did a 109 miles for the day.
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.
