Bookend Climbs

Monday, September 11.  Clarkston, WA to Dayton, WA

 

As soon as we left Clarkston, the uphill climb began.  At first, a gentle slope, a nice warm-up for a beautiful early fall morning.  At about 15 miles into the ride, the climbing began in earnest, and at 20 miles, we reached the summit of Alpowa Pass.  The day was now hot; I haven't sweated like this since Kansas!  Now, when I climb for 20 miles, I expect to have a 20-mile descent.  And for the next 10 miles we rode downhill ride into Pomeroy, where we stopped to have lunch.  Fortified with carbohydrates, we began the second half of the trip by riding 10 miles downhill to Delaney, and then another 10 mile descent beyond that.  At about the 50-mile mark we began the last climb of the day, on our way to Dayton, WA.  The smoke haze from the Columbia Complex fire that is burning near Dayton burned our eyes and throat, making me wonder what we'd find once we reached town. 

 

This part of Eastern Washington is farm country; a lot of grain is grown around here.  The area is hilly, but not mountainous.  Even so, it's wild to see that the grain crops are planted on the hillsides, and harvested by driving around the hillsides' contour lines.  The farmers plant several different crops in an area, a practice called "Strip Cropping", which helps to prevent soil erosion from wind and water.  Because the crops are different colors, it creates an interesting landscape.  At this time of year, the crops have been harvested, leaving furrows in the hillsides where the long grains have been cut off. 

 

The wind today was sporadic, and between the noise of the wind and the haze in the air, conversations were almost impossible.  The road we were on alternated between new, smooth asphalt and new, shake-n-bake asphalt.  Fortunately, the majority of the first 5-mile climb had been on smooth asphalt with a 4-foot wide shoulder.  There were a couple of times when I felt surrounded by quiet.  No traffic noise, just the sound of my own tires.  It took me more than a little while to realize that it was the absence of wind that was causing all that quiet! 

 

Ten miles outside of Delaney we finally summited what we thought was our last peak, and began a quick downhill roll.  Just around the corner, though, the road took a sharp turn upward, and we had a short scramble to the top.  After that, a 5-mile downhill ride took us into Dayton.  It was on this downhill that we had a close call.  The road was smooth with very wide shoulders, of which we took full advantage.  Matthew was ahead of me on the descent, and had just turned the corner around a hill.  A pickup truck with a "Wide Load" banner passed me, and in my mirror I could see the flatbed behind him carrying an enormous piece of farm machinery.  What I could see, that the flatbed driver couldn't, was a semi approaching us in the other lane.  The wide load gave me a wide berth, and I hugged the far edge of the shoulder, but I couldn't do anything about the oncoming traffic.  The wide load saw him as he came around the curve, and swerved back into his own lane.  I was behind him at this point, but he came within a foot of swiping Matthew.  Fortunately, Matthew had seen what was developing, and was watching out for himself.

 

Because Dayton sits in a little valley, the air was actually clearer there than it had been anywhere else.  The town's businesses all had banners posted on their windows, thanking the fire crews for their work on the Columbia Complex fire.  Burning since August 21, the fire has consumed 103,000 acres in the Dayton area.  About 1500 firefighters are working the blaze, which is now about 80% contained.

 

Matthew had called ahead to the Weinhart hotel, and we checked into the historic, refurbished hotel right around 6:30pm.  Jacob Weinhart was a well-known, well-to-do resident of Dayton in the late 1800's.  He had finished his apprentice work at a brewery in Portland, OR, owned by his uncle, Henry Weinhart, and came to Dayton to seek his fortunes.  He soon took over ownership of the local brewery, and it became well-known throughout the area.  

 

We'd had our first taste of Henry Weinhart's back in Walden, CO.  About the only carbonated drinks that I like are ones that are orange-flavored, and I loved the Weinhart Orange Cream Soda served at the Moose Cookhouse in Walden.  Matthew had a Weinhart Root Beer, and just the smell of it made me want to taste it.  I had enjoyed root beer as a kid, but thought I had lost the taste for it.  Weinhart's Root Beer had the exact taste that I had loved as a kid--smooth and creamy, no bitter taste.  Made me want to have a root beer float.

 

Anyway, Jacob Weinhart apparently just made regular beer, no sodas.  According to Shelly, the hotel's hostess, Jacob had no one to leave his brewery to.  His son left the area and became a cattle rancher; Jacob forbade his three daughters to marry.  (One of them did, but she had to wait until Jacob died, by which time she was in her 40's)  So there is no real legacy in Dayton of Jacob Weinhart.  He owned 6 different businesses in town, but only the hotel remains today. 

 

The Columbia County Fair just ended Sunday, and most businesses in town aren't open on Mondays, anyway.  The new and highly recommended Manilla Bay restaurant in town was closed by the time we arrived at 7:30pm, so we had to make do with bar food from Woody's.  Not bad, but we had already smelled the garlic and ginger aromas emanating from Manilla Bay.  We just beat the crush of firefighters to the bar, and finished up the evening at the coffee shop attached to the hotel.  Shelly told us a story about the enormous elk head mounted in the hotel's lobby:  There was a group staying at the hotel from the magazine "CEO", and they were enjoying some coffee in the lobby.  One of them said "Isn't that moose head huge?"  His co-worker replied "That's not a moose--think Rocky and Bullwinkle".  To which the first one replied "That doesn't look anything like a squirrel".