Baker City, Oregon to Kamiah, Idaho

Day 2 - July 20 - 267 miles

Day 2 map

I wanted to take highway 12 along the Lochsa river on my way to Glacier National Park. The plan for the day was to ride north on 95 and see what sort of progress I could make with this route and also make sure I had a place to spend the night. The Lochsa Lodge is a great place but that would be quite a push for the day, especially as I would want to make a lot of stops on Highway 12 for photos.

I had breakfast at the restaurant next door to the Oregon Trail Motel and then headed for the gas station a block away. It was late enough when I arrived the night before that I did not want to add extra time getting fuel then and figured I would just add a little extra time to my next morning's departure. I found a couple fellow motorcyclists at the gas station. She said that she traded two wheels for three and is enjoying this quite a bit.



I got back on I-84 for a bit so made some good time to start my day. I had a rough route typed on paper visible in the map pocket of my tank bag. I also had the GPS programmed for one of the towns on Highway 95. I wanted to take Highway 201 along the Snake River cutting off of I-84 and connecting to Highway 95. This not being the fastest way to make the trip my GPS was telling me to continue on I-84 so I passed the sign to Highway 201. I continued on I-84 until the next off ramp so that I could consult a map. I made a U-Turn and headed back to the exit for 201. That dry, brown terrain was to follow me the entire day.

I took the turn off on Highway 201 and stopped at a turn out for a photo. Finally I was getting on the smaller roads. I was also trying a new bluetooth remote for my phone for the first time. I found that it really wanted to take pictures in "burst mode" meaning that getting one photo is hard but getting 50 identical photos is quite easy. One more attempt with that remote would be my last for the trip.

Before I finally crossed the Snake River into Idaho I stopped to take another photo beside my first big expanse of green for the day (a field of corn). Just a few seconds after shutting off the bike I heard the roar of an airplane over head. Close over head. Then he came back for a pass toward me. A crop duster!







Shortly after that stop I crossed the Oregon/Idaho border which at this location is the Snake River.


A boater on the Salmon River along Highway 95 just south of the small town of White Bird.




Highway 95 shifts to the east of the Salmon River and climbs some hills not too far south of Grangeville. For future reference I should have taken Old Highway 95 at White Bird. This is a very twisty road that runs to the west of 95 for a bit and then rejoins 95. I did not spot it until looking at a map with this picture location after the trip. Next time.


The landscape is quite dry and the temperature was hot. Not surprising that recreation draws people to the rivers.


I continued on 95 north to Grangevill then made a brief jog east on 13 which then turns north to Kooskia where Highway 13 ends. At Kooskia Highway 12 runs east to Montana and west to Lewiston and beyond. I wanted to take Highway 12 and the Lochsa Lodge would have been a great place to spend the evening but to make it by dark I would have had to limit my picture taking along Highway 12 and it is far too beautiful to do that when you don't get to ride it often. I only saw one motel in Kooskia and services seemed a bit limited as well as no cell service. The town of Kamiah was not far out of the way, just another 8 miles north on Highway 12 so I decided on a slight detour there. This was a good choice as there are a couple small motels and places to eat as well as cell service. I got a room at the Kamiah Inn Motel and found one truck in the parking lot and one motorcycle - a Red BMW R1200RT, the same model bike as I was riding.


The Red BMW belonged to a rider named Brian with whom I had a nice visit. Brian lives in Vancouver, Washington and was on a return trip from the BMW rally held in Salt Lake City, Utah this year. Brian mentioned that he had dinner at the Kamiah Hotel Bar and Grill and gave it a thumbs up so I headed there as it is a very short walk from the motel. I found it not very crowded although a few more people did show up later in the evening.


Link to next day, July 21.
Back to trip overview.