Orofino to Hamilton

Friday 3rd June

What a difference a day makes!

We had a lazy start whilst we waited for the promised improvement in the weather.

Room Service brought the baggage down, all freshly laundered and dried (He makes a good maid). We set off just before 11am with the sun shining and allegedly some great roads to ride. Our planned route was along Highway 12 following the Clearwater River for 150 miles or so. For you history buffs this was part of the Lewis-Clarke expedition route which was tasked amongst other things to discover a water communication route across the continent

The sign says it all. Nirvana to motor cyclists.

Riding with the smell of pine and mountain water spray in glorious weather is hard to beat. We had the road pretty much to ourselves.....

but there were some other adrenaline junkies on the river.....

The route was pretty much uninhabited and it was around 4 o’clock before we came across a place where we could get a spot of lunch….

Four smiling faces says we're having a terrific day.

Not one to miss an opportunity, John quickly started to chat up the local talent…..

Don’t think you’ve got too much to worry about Julie (double click if you're unsure).

After lunch we started climbing to Lolo Pass (over 5000 ft so I‘m told). There was still a fair amount of snow at the top and from there we dropped down into the State of Montana and we eventually parked up for the night in Hamilton.