Day 86, August 14^th, Omak, WA to Winthrop, WA.  This was the 3^rd day in a row with a big climb.  Today was the Loup Loup Pass.  I got an early start with Tom and Paula, but the day was already warm in the Okanogan River valley.  We gave up all the elevation from yesterday and left Omak at about 1000 feet.  The route followed the river to the county seat of Okanogan which had an interesting Court House building.  The area is very dry but everything gets irrigated so there is a stark contrast of brown hills and green fields.  The area is also filled with orchards and we stopped for some cherries for lunch.  The route then turned up toward the pass and the climb was quite steep for a couple of miles.  We pass other orchards and one of the workers gave us some peaches.  Every time the road seemed to be ready to level out, we turned a corner and climbed some more.  About halfway up, we lost most of our elevation gain on a big downhill to Loup Loup Creek.  It was back to the climbing.  We finally reached the pass at the 27 mile mark.  It was warm but not hot, but we were all pretty tired.  The downhill to the next town, Twisp, was very steep and lasted 11 miles.  As we descended, a blast of hot air hit us.  It was almost 100 degrees in the valley.  We ate lunch in Twisp and then road the last 10 miles to Winthrop and a motel to get out of the heat.  There is a green wear strip showing on my back tire so I am going to take a day off and visit a bike shop in town to get a new tire.  The tire lasted from Washington DC so it has probably 4000 miles on it.  Next on the route is Washington Pass at over 5500 feet.  The weather on the other side of the Cascades will be cooler.  Mileage for the day was 48.27.

View on the way down to Twisp.  Ahead is the North Cascades area.