I put on a lot of miles this year. Here are some of the highlights.

The climb starts immediately when leaving the Ferry County fairground and stays at a very steady 6% for the 15 miles to Sherman Pass. It was nicely wooded the whole way until I got to the area burned in the White Mountain forest fire of 1988. Still lots of dead trees standing but much of the area had very healthy looking re-growth.
 

Got on the road by 5:00, a new record for me. The road started climbing right away. It follows Bonaparte Creek up a steep canyon. Pretty soon it was quite green. The couple I talked to in Tonasket said the road to Wauconda had no trees, so I was glad to see more and more pines the higher I got. Indeed soon I was in a mixed forest of pine, for, and tamarack. My spirits were greatly improved. I'm just not a fan of barren landscapes.

It was too far, and too hot, to consider pushing on to Wauconda pass today so I took a short day and spent it in Tonasket. Met Wes and Shawn from Detroit who are doing Portland to Portland. Wes just retired and didn't waste any time getting out on tour.
Tonasket has a nice feel about. There was a big influx of hippies to this area in the 1970's and you can see the influence in the conservation and land and wildlife protection that is big here.