Day 9, Boise to Fairfield

What a long day. Jeff and Miriam cooked a wonderful breakfast for us and got us off just before 8:30. We had a nice 10-mile ride through Boise and then rode on the Interstate foe about 12 miles. Then we entered a cut-through that connected to US 20 without going to Mountain Home and staying on the Interstate. The cut-through quickly became a semi-maintained gravel road. Then we started to climb and climb some more. When we reached US 20 we climbed some more, finally cresting at 5,500 ft. I figure that we climbed most of the 60 miles with some stretches of level, some stretches of small incline, and too many stretches of steep climbs. Our route included portions of the Oregon Trail.

We rode 99.2 miles, including travels in Fairfield.

Here is a map of our general route: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/246980507. We actually rode on the Interstate from Memory Drive to Mayfield, but I could not figure out how to get MapMyRide to put us on the Interstate. The route shows that the starting, stopping, and maximum elevations were 2,778 ft., 5,326 ft., and 5,551 ft. We climbed 4,711 vertical ft. and had 1 class-2 climb, 1 class-4 climb, and 3 class-5 climbs. (I deleted 3 class three climbs that were not on the Interstate. Vertical feet is slightly overstated.)

We camped in the city park.

Ready to launch

Starting off

On the Interstate

The West

Gravel roads

The dry West

Views from a point where we ate lunch

The road ahead

A peak @ 5,527 ft.

Looking ahead

Trout fishing in Idaho

Picabo, ID