Lincoln Highway
Day 22
I have decided Idaho wins for being the most beautiful state on our trip.
This morning we had a choice to go north to Coeur d’ Alene then take the freeway the rest of the way to Butte, MT or go through the Clearwater mountains on highway 12, also known as the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway. We made the right choice and drove the Scenic Byway.
.As we left Lewiston we passed a few small towns and after about 60 miles we saw a sign that read, 99 miles of winding road. What we didn’t know was that the next 99 miles was one of the most scenic drives we could have taken.
The Scenic Byway stretches from Lewiston, ID to Lolo Pass and the Idaho-Montana state-line. The narrow, 2 lane highway is followed by the entire length of the Clearwater River and it also cuts through the Nez Perce Reservation. Because the road ran along the river we weren’t climbing up and down the mountain which was easier driving. But, because it was a winding road Steve felt like he was driving on a race track and got cramps in his forearms from gripping the wheel.
The Clearwater River was beautiful shimmering in the sun. It’s a shallow river and it was easy to see the rocky bottom as the water rushed over large rocks making rapids along the way. It was also a perfect river for fly fishermen, which we saw a few of them.
Along the Byway there were pull offs for photos, hiking or whatever. One such spot there was a long foot bridge over the river that I told Steve to stop at, but I was too late and he drove on. At the Visitor Center, that we did stop at, I found out that that foot bridge took you to a hot springs. How disappointing, I would have loved doing that.
The Visitor Center was a nice building with lots of information on the area, a gift shop and a small museum. I spoke to one of the rangers and she said there had been only a 1 lane dirt road or even just a path through the mountains until the 1960’s when the bypass was put in .
While we were at the Visitor Center we met 3 college students from Marquette, MI. They were traveling the western part of the U.S. and were on their way home. They came over to talk to us about our car and later we shared a picnic table when we ate lunch. They were really friendly and we talked to them about Marquette, where we had been to a Model A Convention in 2012.
Our traveling on the winding road was done and we entered into Montana. The road gradually straightened out and soon we saw cattle and horses grazing in the grasslands. The city of Missoula was just ahead and it was there we hopped onto the freeway for the first time that day.
Surprisingly, the freeway wasn’t bad to drive on and the traffic was light. We had a couple of semi’s honk their horns at us. We could sure hear them, but I’m not sure if they heard our horn return the greeting.
Today turned out to be quite different than I thought it would. Even though, we only stopped once, the scenery was so captivating I wasn’t bored. The weather was cooler and in Butte it’s down right cold at 70 degrees compared to the 99 of yesterday. So that means my feet weren’t hot today!
I’m not sure where our destination for tomorrow will end, but we are heading towards Yellowstone. We’re now on Mountain time so we’ve gained an hour, too.
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