Concrete to Newhalem

Date: 5 June Tuesday Day 3
Starting Point: Concrete, WA
Ending Point: Newhalem, WA
Via: Van Horn, Rockport, Marblemount, Portage
Mileage: 35.3
Time: 3:36
Mph: 9.8
Terrain: hilly
Temperature High: 59
Temperature Low: 50
Cooks: Linda and Dave
Food: Clam Chowder, Beef Barley Soup, Macaroni and Cheese with tuna
Weather: rain
Lodging: Seattle City Light Bunkhouse Cumulative Mileage: 118.6
Miles to Go: 4,181.4

 

Shortly after starting out on a cloudy drizzly morning, I discovered a assembly problem with my bike that had escaped my notice. There is a skateboard wheel that acts to send the chain through a pathway to help with slack. I discovered that the wheel wasn’t rotating at all and I wasn’t sure who was responsible. At first I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do---at first I felt it was necessary to call my mechanic at Back Bay Bike in Portland. I thought I could wait for the rider who was right behind me; he had a cell phone that I could use. I was standing at the side of the road in a light rain and with each passing minute, I felt more and more desperate because I wasn’t sure what to do. I waited ten minutes and still no cell phone. So I was able to envision how the blasted thing should be installed. It was a flash of inspiration which I never have in the mechanical realm. The fix actually worked and I continued on to the next store to get something hot to drink. I certainly won’t count on another flash for at least a month.

There were three guys hanging around in front of the store in a sort of Maine style. I stood there with them for a few minutes under the edge of the roof that protected us from the rain. They were commenting on the various locals who were coming in for gas and groceries. The conversation went from personal commentary to the quality of old Pontiacs.

After a time, I decided it was time to continue on even though it was still raining. It was obvious that it wouldn’t stop anytime soon. Further on down the road in Newhalem, I came upon the group huddled in front of the store where we were to buy our groceries for the night. The plan was to continue on to our campground that had no shelter and no showers. In a constant rain there would be only one way to describe the setting: misery. Fortunately Tim had a good conversation with the store manager who allowed us to stay in the Seattle City Light Company bunkhouse. There were actual rooms, beds, hot water, kitchen, spring water dispenser, heat, laundry and showers. The only way to describe this setting in a rainstorm would be: paradise. The downside to staying there was that we would have to do 72 miles the next day to reach our rest day town (Winthrop). That ride would include 50 miles to the top of Washington Pass. So it was ecstatic paradise, but rather a pragmatic one.

The woods surrounding this area, where there was part of the hydroelectric system that provided power to the City of Seattle, were lush with cedars, birches, pines, ferns and lots of moss. The moss covered much of the horizontal trees even if they were still alive.