Purple Mountain Majesty

The crisp clear mountain air was a pleasure to wake to. With the sun rising in the east, no shadows hid the peaks to the west.
The Moores from Wabasha had offered to percolate coffee for us so we did everything we normally would, except make coffee, which we enjoyed at their site. After that we rode west on the Going To The Sun Highway. Today the mountains were spectacular, with nary a cloud to obscure them. There was some traffic and construction.

From Glacier NP we had planned to go north and spend a day hiking at lake louise. However, the forecast indicated clouds which means we wouldn't be able to see much. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain there, and we had planned a hike, so that would have been a wash. Besides, Paul still has blisters and my muscles are still sore from yesterday's six hour hike.
Therefore we went south instead. First along the western shore of Flathead lake, then south on 93, with the Mission Mountains as backdrop the entire way.
When Lewis Clark crossed Idaho they followed the Clearwater river. So did we. Whereas they sought the Pacific Passage with a mandate from president Thomas Jefferson, 200 years later we sought scenery and twisty roads. They did not succeed; we did.

Highway 12 starts south of Missoula, Montana and follows the Clearwater river nearly all the way across Idaho. On the Montana side of Lolo pass the road is steep, curvey and the speed limit is 70 mph. The only detriment is that it was freshly chipsealed. The chipseal does not continue on the Idaho side of the pass, and neither does the speed limit (it goes down to 50mph). This continues for 99 miles!
But we needed to shower, and the only campgrounds are national forest service which means they don't have showers. However, the lolo pass campground is next to Lochsa Lodge where we paid a small fee for showers. We also had beer and cooked up chili, broke bread, and polished it off with Norwegian candy (seigmenn) sent along by mother.
The mosquitoes fierce so we retired (ie. wimped out) early to our tents. Not long after, a thunderstorm passed overhead, dropping copious amounts of water as I fell asleep.