With a high mileage day in sight, it was a question of whether or not the team would make it to the stayover before sunset. We had many fun plans for the day, such as visiting a well-renowned restaurant, and exploring Craters of the Moon. We also weren’t in a rush to get to our stayover location for the night, since it happened to be another camping day, but with a twist.
quote of the day
“We have free will… and this is what we choose to do” - Nicole
Veronica: “What time is it?”
Jason: “Time is just a vibe”
Nicole: “It’s 11”
Sofia: “The vibe is 11pm”
ride overview
Mileage: 87.5 Miles
Elevation: 2,168 ft.
Points of Interest: Pickles Place, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, City Park (Fairfield, ID)
Ride Dedication Judy Henry
tales of the trail
We started our frigid morning by warming up at Pickles Place, a restaurant in Arco that was recommended to us by a host at a previous stayover. The restaurant lived up to our expectations, serving amazing food, along with many different souvenirs they had on display, where many chose to get motivational pickle pens and pins. We spent about two hours here, making our hopes of finishing the day on the bike not likely, considering the high mileage for the day, and the fact that we all wanted to explore Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.
When we made it to the Craters of the Moon, the groups wanted to visit some of the local caves and see some bats, but due to us visiting some caves earlier on our ride in our uniforms, we weren’t able to get permits to enter the caves since there was a risk of spreading white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease in bats that have resulted in a dramatic decrease of the bat population. Despite not being able to enter the cave systems, one group of riders decided to bike the 7-mile loop around Craters of the Moon, while the others took Gloria (our van), around the Preserve to explore. There was much to see as Craters of the Moon is a landscape that is dominated by basaltic lava flows and volcanic features, including lava rocks within craters. These lava rocks were interesting to hold as they look fragile with the amount of holes in them, but turn out to be very tough with a grainy texture.
Later in the day, groups biked through 2 miles of loose gravel due to construction. It made for funny moments with people almost slipping on the gravel, but we had no falls. One of the last stops for the day was at a diner, where plenty of us got some milkshakes. To our surprise, two out of the four groups of the day were able to make it to Fairfield, ID before sunset! The first two groups booked it to make it to our final location for the day before sunset, with the second team arriving exactly at 9:05 p.m. (time of the sunset)!! The other two groups had to be shuttled the last couple of miles of the day in order to not ride in the dark. Since Fairfield, ID is a fairly small town, we had a special stayover location for tonight. We were camping, but not at a campground! We set up our tents at City Park in Fairfield, ID (where we got permission from the mayor), and slept at the corner of Willow Ave W. and 2nd St W. It was a funny experience being able to set up our tents in a city park for the night to get some rest.
