Day 4 - Grandforks to Greenwood 38 km

The land of the midnight sun

Leaving Grandforks, the trail was soft with a deep covering of black sandy soil. This was a new challenge. We made slow progress for the first 5 km. I found this surface particularly hard going. M.J. had powerful little legs and was patient with my whiny progress. We were climbing above the valley and there were beautiful views of the Kettle River.

Contoured fields along the Kettle River

Just before the first tunnel, a tuscan red shed has been restored as a trail reststop. Although there was a haze over the mountains because of fires in the Boundary district, the view was spectacular. Below us the dry but wooded mountains surrounded the green valley where the river twisted back and forth, winding its way through the distinctly contoured fields. We paused to take in the unique vantage point and felt rewarded after the tiring climb up the loose trail surface.

The view of the valley from the tuscan red shed

It was about 35ºC when stopped on the trail after the second tunnel. Dripping with sweat I said, "I'm so hot I feel like taking off my shirt." M.J. looked at me and nodded. We took off our shirts and sat on the trail in our bras. Hearing a noise, I blurted out the highly unlikely statement, considering the fact that we were 20 km from anywhere, "What if someone comes along?" The noise was more likely to be a bear than a person. We got the giggles. Again we carried on a loud one-sided conversation with "Yogi" warning him to stay clear of two ladies in a state of undress.

At Eholt Station there was a sign indicating a 1 km trail to a recreation area on Lake Willgress. A lake! A swim sounded really good. We stashed our bikes in the woods and set off for the lake. We followed an overgrown depression along the side of Hwy 3. Once in a while you could spot some red ribbons tied to the trees to mark the indiscernible trail. The sun was high in the sky and the rough trail was covered in wildflowers and tall grass that caught in your legs. The trail seemed to go on and on. We thought of turning back but the promise of a swim was enticing.

Finally we arrived at what was a highway reststop. There were upscale "pit toilets" and some picnic tables under some trees. Lake Willgress is marshy with reeds along its edge and there is definitely no swimming. We felt a little cheated. Well, I knew what I would do. I would have a nap. I promptly claimed a picnic table, stretched out on its hard surface and fell asleep.

After replenishing our strength with a rest, we set off again in the hot afternoon sun. We could see grey clouds in the distance. By the time we got back to our bikes, the sky was promising some rain. After the day's heat, a shower might cool us off.

The trail had climbed all morning to Eholt where it started to descend towards Greenwood. The weather began to look more threatening. Grey rain clouds rolled in and hung low over the hills that surrounded the trail. Some of the smaller wispy clouds seemed so close it looked like you could reach over and touch them. We continued in hopes of outrunning the inclement weather.

It started to rain with an increasing tempo. We looked around eagerly for some trees that would offer us some shelter. We were out of luck. There were only scrubby pine trees. So I took out my tarp and quickly threw it over us. It was just large enough to cover the two of us as we stood over our bikes. We held up our shelter, laughing as we enjoyed the freshness the rain brought. In half an hour the rain had eased enough for us to put on some rain gear and we continued on our way to Greenwood.

A tarp-side view of the rain

We could see how the area had been named. It was lovely countryside, the trees lush and green after the rain. The trail was overgrown into pretty much a single track and ran through stands of small trees. It was beautiful. We saw lots of deer, including a doe and her spotted twins. Sometimes they appeared on the trail and bounded along in front of us. We enjoyed the ride and remarked on the contrasts that we had seen in the last four days: the heavily wooded mountains, the rolling fields of golden wheat along the Kettle River and now this picture perfect trail in the "green woods".

We enjoyed the freshness of the "green woods" after the rain

Arriving in Greenwood, we headed for the San Piedro Island Inn for some supper. The turn-of-the-century mining town still retains its original buildings. It was easy to imagine miners and horses on the town's wide main street. We wondered at how the "Inn" got a name that included the word "Island" in such a landlocked place.

At the community park and campground, we chose a site not too far from the picnic shelter in case it rained again. The campground attendant arrived to collect our fee, five dollars for the night for the two tents. As we were setting up, a gentleman camping opposite us came over and chatted. Our fellow campers always seemed to be friendly people interested in our adventure and our Bob trailers.

That evening in my tent, I suddenly noticed that it was as bright as daylight. My yellow tent glowed as if the morning sun was shining. I looked outside. We had chosen to pitch our tents by the only street lamp in the campground. In fact M.J.'s tent was directly under it. I didn't hear any groaning or complaining coming from M.J..The next day she confessed that she had been too tired to even comment.

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