Northern Tier Adventure part II: Seattle to St. Paul: Day 7: To Tonasket, WA

Tues., May 30, 2017
Stats: Today - 65 miles; 345 miles to date
Elevation climbed: 1362 ft; 10,809 feet to date
Temp. Low: low 60's, High: mid 90's
slight tailwind, sunny

We came north on Hwy 97 to get back on route.

Thank you everyone whose been writing comments to us. They've been very encouraging.

Going through the plains of the Methow valley, yesterday, the terrain started to change. Instead of the lush greenery in the Cascades, the forests are much more open and sparse. Today we were riding through a drier terrain. This part of the state does not get much precipatation. What we've learned through our riding and through people's comments is that Washington has a great diversity of ecosystems.

As we looped around the south side of of Loup Loup Pass and surrounding mountains, we entered the Okanogan Valley and rode through the Colville Indian Reservation toward Tonasket. Even though the temperature was into the 90's again, it did not seem so bad as it was a dry heat. As usual though, we lathered on the sunscreen and now the Blistex. Today's ride was similar to yesterday in that the minimal amount of climbing made for a less stressful ride. We even arrived at our destination at a good hour -- 4:15.

Our destination in Tonasket today was a Warm Showers host. Warmshowers.org is a website where touring bicyclists can find people that are interested in hosting them. A host may offer their backyard to set up a tent or a bed in the house. They may cook a meal for you or just let you use their kitchen.

Our hosts in Tonasket were Ben and Megan. We set up our tent in their back yard. Besides the warm shower, Ben grilled salmon and trout that he had caught in the Columbia River and we enjoyed the evening getting to know them. Most people that host touring cyclists have done their own touring; in this case only Megan had toured by bike.