The best ride yet -- III (IV? I've lost track)

WED 7/28 -- Powell Campground to Syringa (72)
A simply beautiful ride, a feast for the eyes, all day long. Why?
Beautiful surroundings (rushing river(s), with rocks, cliffs,
mountains, and forests(*) all around), smooth, low-traffic road, blue
skies, tailwind (if any), and -- get this -- gently downhill for the
entire 72 miles. 72 miles of downhill through awe-inspiring natural
beauty, people, on a perfect summer day! For most of the ride we were
alongside the Lochsa River, until, about 10 miles from our
destination, it fed into the Clearwater. Both are wild and rapid-y and
gorgeous to look at. The only thing lacking was wildlife -- I wanted a
bear, I wanted an eagle, I got nothing. (Maybe an osprey, but I didn't
get a good enough look to be certain.) Today was one of the only days
in my life when I wished I had a good camera -- there was stunning
beauty around every curve, which I tried a few times to capture with
the iPhone's camera, but it's just not up to the task(**). Or maybe it
was operator error -- that's always a good bet when I'm behind the
lens. Whatever, the few pictures I took are such pale representations
of what was in front of my eyes that they're not worth posting.
[Brother, you would have taken so many shots you would have had to
hose down your shutter to keep it from overheating -- wish you'd been
there to give it a go, though.] So there's no photographic evidence;
you'll just have to take my word for it.

We stayed in a double cabin at the Riverdance Lodge(***) -- pretty
nice accomodations, and nice to be indoors, since rain moved in late
on the afternoon, and several times through the evening.

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(*) Mostly old growth, I think -- much of the terrain is simply too
steep and too hard to access to have ever been logged.

(**) Something else wasn't quite up to the task, and that was the
cherry pie at the Wild River Cafe in Lowell ID. Pretty tame, but at
least it wasn't touted as something it wasn't -- i.e., made from fresh
fruit. BTW, a sign outside the cafe showed the town's population as
23, with "24" X'd out. Hugh inquired, and was told that they just
didn't like the guy, so they booted him out.

(***) "Idaho's Outdoor Adventure Resort" -- I'm kind of surprised
there's only one. The manager is from the Czech Republic. Wonder how
that happened? Hugh would have gotten the full story by now, but, try
as he might, he doesn't have time to talk to everyone, I guess.

(Sent from my iPhone)