Advertisement
Published: July 27th 2015
Edit Blog Post
Fi on the forest road between Seeley Lake and Ovando, MT
This was taken before we realized that we'd soon be taking an unplanned detour of 8 miles up a pretty steep mountain road, deep into Grizzly territory; we weren't smiling much then. Greetings folks... Ken here.
Today we're in Lincoln, MT; we've ridden about 175 miles since Bigfork, 225 miles since Whitefish. The conditions have been pretty hot, and riding upwards on dirt/gravel roads is a real grind, We're holding up pretty well, although we're not exactly setting a blazing pace. At this rate, we figure that we'll make it to the US-Mexico border in about 3 years!!
We've been talking about adapting our route plan to incorporate more paved roads from time to time, deviating from the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route occasionally. It's been hard so far, but we're still enjoying the experience, and have been meeting some really friendly and interesting folks.
One such encounter was a few days ago after we had clawed our way up a big climb, and descended the following 5 miles on a dirt forest road to find a work crew rebuilding a washed out bridge - the bridge we had intended to cross to get out of the woods. Sensing that we were soon to be told by the site foreman to turn around and head back up over the mountain to the highway (the same one that we wanted to
afternoon swim
We had just descended from a pretty tough climb over a mountain pass between Bigfork and Condon. It was pretty hot, so finding this river was a welcome sight. avoid), I could also sense an oncoming screaming, crying, hissing tantrum of protest (me, not Fi). However these guys not only moved their machines back for us to pass, but helped lug our bike monsters down the 20-ft birm, accross the creek, and up the other side, all with a smile. Try getting that kind of response from a road crew on the Jersey Turnpike! We're finding that that's the way folks out here are: friendly, empathetic, and never too busy to help someone out. We've really enjoyed our contact with folks we've met thus far.
A day or two later, we found our way to the tiny town of Ovando, where we slept in the town teepee. Neither of us have ever slept in a teepee, so thought that would be pretty cool, and it was. The town folks also offer two other accommodation options, each for $5: an old horse-drawn chuck wagon (too hot inside for me),and an old jail house (sounded like a clever trap!), so we chose the teepee. While we were settling into camp for the night we ran into Jay, a long distance bike packer who happened to roll in at about 7:30
Fi by Yew River
We're finding that in Montana, you're never far from a scenic river, or a swarm of flies. pm, on his way back to his home in Colorado; a trip distance of ~800 miles. He stayed in the wagon next to our teepee, and we chatted over our camp dinners. Jay, who struck us as a very thoughtful, engaging, and bright guy, is also pretty tough. He's done a lot of backcountry mountain bike touring, over 5000 miles of seakayaking, mountain trekking/climbing, etc. Oh, did I mention that he's in his 60s?! Anyway, we enjoyed meeting and riding with him the next day for a bit. He was going a little faster than us, so I suspect he's quite a ways down the road by now.
Yesterday's ride took us from Ovando to Lincoln over a 6000-ft mountain pass, through some beautiful scenery (including a picturesque mountain lake with crystal clear water where we ate lunch and had a dip), and down a 10-mile descent back towards civilization. So today has been a much-needed rest day; tomorrow will be a big ride into Helena, about 55-miles from here, and over. 7000-ft pass across the Continental Divide. We're already anxious to get back onto the trail!
Thanks for checking us out. We'll post another entry in about
camping by Swan River
Our first night out of Bigfork. Fortunately, we were not visited by any big, furry critters that evening. a week or so.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.049s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0301s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Sarah HH
non-member comment
wow
Wow! What adventures. Looking forward to next installment, when's Fi going to tell her side of the story?