Up the Canyon

About a mile after I left the roadwork I entered this canyon. It runs through the Helena National Forest and it's beautiful. But hard to enjoy. I've been climbing for days. I've been well over 2000 feet since I left Spokane a week ago, and I was expecting a flat day for a change. (The bike lady said so.)
When I see the word ''Pass'' on the map, I know there's going to be a climb. An up and a down.
What didn't occur to me until after the first five miles through this canyon was that, geologically, it was carved out by the stream that I was following. The stream that was flowing toward me. This was no pass. The canyon would only end when I got to the source of the stream. And the stream, on the map, was long.
But there's such balance in nature. The storm chasing me was actually keeping me out of it's own grasp. The gusting winds were blowing me right through (and up) the canyon. There was almost no trafffic, so I owned the road as well.