The first 35 miles for today were a slow but steady climb. After that slight descent and down to Baker City. Overall, I am ~1400ft higher than when I started this morning. I’m happy I made a rest day in Ontario because this climb would have been more difficult with a strong headwind. However, overall it wasn’t particularly difficult, just a bit slow. The weather also cooperated, starting around 50F and never getting much over 60F all day. However it was dry and not much wind.

Picture this morning as I left Huntington. The railroad tracks were along the route for the entire distance to Baker City. The first 21 miles were following the Burnt River through a set of winding canyons. After that it became a little steeper as it climbed. The first miles to Lime were on this smaller road and then I had approximately 15 miles of riding on shoulder of the interstate. Noisy but otherwise fine.

Small road but not much traffic.

Time to ride on the interstate for a while…

The canyon becomes more narrow.

Large cement plant. At Cement Plant road, a little before Durkee, I was back to Old Highway 30 and could follow this all the way to Baker City.

This road was very quiet. Also not much in the way of trees.

Joseph was walking across America, starting in the west coast and headed eastwards. However, first going further south to New Mexico for the winter. We traded information about the road ahead.

Congestion…

The road crossed the interstate, giving a good chance to look back and see how I had climbed.

Near the summit, it all opened up. It was a gradual summit and then a gradual descent on the other side.

Baker City. A few miles to the real town. Baker City has a nice historic downtown area and several motels. Looks like a nice place to stop through. Overall, it was a slow day of cycling but not a particularly far distance and a much better day to ride than if it had been windy. I am now a little higher and the mornings will be colder until I get over to the Columbia River.