We left Missoula MT on highway 12 and took it all the way across Idaho to Lewiston. This road is somewhat like highway 64 that runs along the Ocoee River east of Cleveland, except that highway 12 goes for a little more than 200 miles. The Lochsa river is almost always in sight from the highway and most of the road is flanked by tall evergreen forests on mountainsides several hundred to a couple of thousand feet above the roadway. From Lewiston ID we took highway 129 which is very curvy, much like highway 129, aka Deal's Gap or Tail of the Dragon in northeastern Tennessee. This highway 129 aka Rattlesnake Pass, climbs a couple of thousand feet in the first few miles thanks to numerous switchbacks, and gives you a panoramic view of Clarkston WA and Lewiston ID separated by the Snake river. Then you travel a few miles across a high plateau which is used primarily for growing wheat. Then several more miles of switchbacks to get to the bottom of Hell's Canyon, travel through a small valley and then several more miles of switchbacks climbing out of the canyon and entering Oregon in the process. We had temperatures ranging from 50 to 77 degrees today and it was mostly sunny.
