Deer Flat Campground to North Shore Lodge

Although it did rain overnight, we awoke to sunny skies and cool temperatures, a perfect way to start a bike ride. We rolled about five miles until we stopped at an intersection for a snack. While stopped, a guy came out of the woods to tell us his car needed a jump start. Since we lacked jumper cables and a motorized vehicle, we couldn’t offer much help, but we did agree to stop by the Deadwood Lodge, which was on our way, to ask if someone could help the guy out.

After talking with the lady at the lodge, we approached our first climb of the day, Deadwood Summit, which was kind of steep in some sections but short enough to go by quickly. Between Deadwood Summit and Warm Lake Summit we passed by Tyndall Meadows, which was filled with wild flowers and a small, meandering creek. Combined with some puffy clouds, the view was beautiful.

As we approached Warm Lake Summit the road suddenly became paved. I’m not sure why Idaho decided to pave this one stretch of wilderness road, but I certainly appreciate it because the climb to Warm Lake Summit was relatively steep. The pavement also made the descent to North Shore Lodge a whole lot of fun.

We arrived at the lodge and immediately enjoyed some ice cream. After that we found a nice campsite at the Picnic Point Campground just up the hill from the lodge. We then did dome swimming in Warm Lake. I swam about 100 feet out to a small floating dock and nearly drowned. Swimming is a lot harder than cycling. Definitely no triathlons in my future.

After an exhausting swim, it was time to head to the bar. At the bar we ran into Jay, the guy we met on our first day out from Boise, and Harry, who we met in Ketchum. Harry started in Ketchum the day after us, as he was waiting for friends from England and Montana to arrive to join in the adventure. Harry invited us to join himself, Jay, and his friend from Montana to dine with them at the next day’s campsite, where another of Harry’s friends is planning to meet us in his truck, fully stocked with beer and food. How could we say no to that?