The Continental Divide is the mountainous divide of the Americas that separates the river systems that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those that drain into the Atlantic Ocean: Rivers west of the Divide drain into the Pacific, while those east of the divide drain into the Atlantic. In the United States, it travels through the Rocky Mountains in Montana in the north, continuing through Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.
We began our gradual ascent up to the Divide on Sunday, May 9. We crossed the beautiful cable bridge out of Kennewick, WA at an elevation of 350 feet. During all of Sunday and Monday, we went up and down rolling hills, but each up was a little higher than the previous down, so we gradually gained altitude. Our destination town on Sunday – Connell, WA – was at 850 feet, and Monday brought us to Ritzville, WA, at an elevation of 1800 feet. We will continue this gradual ascent until we cross the Divide on Thursday, May 20 in Montana.
During most of our Sunday and Monday rides, we rode on quiet roads through farm and ranch country. We were generally surrounded by massive fields stretching for miles in every direction around us, on roads in which a car or truck would pass every half hour or so. While we like to eat well (and a lot) on our bike trips, ideally finding a nice restaurant for lunch and then again for dinner, the desolate nature of our route made finding lunch stops out of the question, so we had to carry food with us.
The beautiful cable bridge leaving Kennewick, WA
Endless fields, desolate roads
No fancy restaurants to be found, so this bench had to suffice
