Colville to Bear Paw, Wa.

Miles 81.3
Ride time 5:55
Elevation gain 3156'
Today we left Colville under already warm weather. We turned right up a small road away from the downtown area and had the shock of an uphill climb! What, no warm up? How cruel to legs that are now on the 4th consecutive day of riding. We made our way up rode through some very nice farm country, with of course, some very nice horses. I have seen more bueatiful, healthy horses on this trip that I have ever seen in my whole life. It has been a feast for the eyes.
We were in quite a rural area today, with food and drink in short supply as far as stores or towns. The Sag was our lifeline with all kinds of great snacks and water for our bottles. We had one sag stop at a place called Crystal Falls. The falls were amazing, and the sunlight was perfect as it highlighted the water cascading down the rocks. It was a nice place to stop.
We stopes at a place at mile 40 to get get some food, as this ws going to be the last place we could get anything before we got to our stop for the night, which is a summer cabin camp that was remote and had few facilities. We had a great breakfast at the Cabin Grill. I ordered a sandwich to go was able to put it in the cooler in the van for later.
We rode out and soon we turned off onto a road that headed right into the increasing wind. We were all tired and decided we would take turns pace lining in. At this point it was me, Jennifer and Amy. It was great to get a rest at the back after taking on the work at the front. Along the way, we picked up Kathryn, who was battling the wind alone. We put her in the midlle and freight trained our way in, each of us taking a 5 mile turn at the front. It has been said that the work at the back of the line is decreased by 30%. It helped all of us get in. We finally saw our turnoff for Bear Paw Camp. We had a half mile bumpy ride into camp on a dirt road, but we happy to get off the bike as it had been a long day.
We picked up our garbage bag that held a pillow, sheets and towel and picked out our cabin for the night. Each cabin had bunk beds that looked like they were from WW II. The bathrooms were located in an adjacent building. They had a sauna and an outdoor pool. Even though it was somewhat primitive, it was a beautiful place. It had by far the nicest pool. The sauna was nice, too. We ate indoors in the dining area. It was a really pretty place, right next to the river, with it's own dock and everything. The spirits of thousands of children floating all over!