Day 72 - Day off in Missoula, MT

a great morning hike above Missoula with Dana's friends Dave and Doug Miller

Thomas having a tough time hanging with us late into the evening. ahhh, youth....

Day 71 - Missoula, MT

At the home office of  Adventure Cycling Assoc.

With Jim Sayer, President of ACA

At the Iron Horse for Happy Hour with Dana, her friends and our hosts Dave and Doug Miller, Thomas (a young Swiss tourist who happened upon our group earlier in the week...), Josh and me.

At Doug's backyard, our camp site for a night or two. Happy Hour continues.....

Day 71 - Missoula, MT

a rather nice day for a ride. we had agreed to wake up early and be on the road by 8 AM so we would be sure to get to Missoula in time to get to the ACA (Adventure Cycling Association) office before they closed. something of a ritual, get logged as a touring cyclist passing thru, get photos, ice-cream, just cool to drop by.  we actually got going on time, so we motored on flat terrain towards Missoula. Made good time, found our way for a good stretch of bike path.  encountered another gruff old fellow, but we won't get into that .... :)
as is becoming the normal, rain clouds moved in and hammered us for fun before clearing as we entered Missoula. A fun-looking small town with noticably ubiquitous bike lanes. we made our way to the ACA office, did the to-dos... Dana has long-time friends here, brothers Dave and Doug, who met us for a great happy hour. a micro-brewery stop on our bikes on the way to Doug's, where we would camp and hang out, and we were on our way to a great weekend. the weather outlook is awesome, sunny and clear days coming up. we continued the happy hour and went into town for a walk-about. back to Doug's for an amazing tent camp night.  day off tomorrow to play.

today: 75 miles
to date: 3888

Bitteroot River, on the way into Missoula, MT

Day 70 - Darby, MT

awoke after a monster sleep outside to a sweetly sunny and chilly morning, upper 30s.  had coffee and toast and muffins inside the lodge, and we got rolling, on the late side though... thomas had packed and gone on ahead. as josh, dana, and i headed out, the nice conditions quickly turned into rainy and windy (and chilly) condtions. amazing. we dashed toward Wisdom, our previous day's destination. we waited out the rain to a pre-happy hour beer and pizza. there was another high pass to cross, Chief Joseph Pass (elevation 7241'), and locals in the bar were syaing it was SNOWING at the summit ! we all debated whether we were up for another day like the cold climb over Togwatee in the Tetons. Josh decided to press on and Dana and I decided to avail ourselves of an offer for a ride over the pass closer to our destination. we took a ride on a long dirt road thru very remote Montana national forest land, very sweet !  i rode in the back of the truck, with the bikes, in my rain gear getting SLEETED on, in JUNE !!!   we finally got to Sula, and we rode our bikes back up to meet Josh coming our way, and to get some more miles, because we now felt guilty for sagging ! never did see him, and the hour was getting on, so dana and i headed to Darby, the goal for the day. we pulled into town, did a look-about and found our camping area. then josh pulled right in, so all was good.  the camping area was nice, and had a small bunkhouse with a shower, washer and dryer (we availed ourselves of them ..), and a small kitchen area. we cooked our meal outside on our stoves, pasta with tomatos and tuna. simple but excellent.  an after-dinner walk into town for a late happy hour beer and another excellent evening and ending to a strange day.

random wildlife shot near Darby....


today: 53
to date: 3813

Day 69 - Jackson, MT

after our usual morning ritual of coffee and some version of breakast, we packed up from this wonderful abode that Twin Bridges had constructed for touring cyclists; shelter, shower, john, bike pump, outdoor sink, a really sweet setup. right along the river.

we headed out with fine weather, a very light wnd. planned a 90+  mile ride to Wisdom, MT. made an easy ride for 30 miles to Dillon. after a few confused turns about thru town, we headed up towards the first of two long climbs today, this one over Badger Pass (elevation 6760'); it seems the touring gods decided to yank back that nice meaty bone from yesterday's sweet ride and toss us some chicken wing scraps instead. headwinds cranked up again and made the climb a tough one. the descent on the other side was out in an open valley where the wind now had unfettered access to us to play with. more chicken bones. pedaling hard downhill to maintain speed. easily reminiscent of the recent Dubois debacle.  there was another climb down the road, and after grinding 10 miles to get at that point, i waited for josh as dana pressed on ahead.  not looking forward to another unpleasant day like Dubois,  he offered inspiration which was a crucial HTFU moment for me ( that would be 'Harden the Fuck Up' ).  Josh and I pressed onward and found the ascent up and over Big Hole Pass (elevation 7360') wasn't as bad as the elevation profile suggested. again, we had to work the descent down a bit, but the wind was more left-to-right cross now, and the landcape opened up into some nice green meadows. a really nice ride into Jackson, population 59, where we had decided would have to be the destination this day. there was a nice lodge there with a nice bar and menu, and a hot springs pool outside. sweet. the pool was a perfect 104°, not the scalding stuff in Saratoga, WY (which was nice, btw...)... after my customary post-ride chocolate milk, time for a happy hour with josh, dana, a new rider named Thomas from Switzerland, and some others in the lodge. sweet camping area out back, so a very fine ending to the day, indeed.


today: 77
to date: 3760

Day 68 - Twin Bridges, Montana

the bike touring gods FINALLY decided to throw us a meaty bone and gave us our first sunny, warming day in what seemed like weeks, with winds at our back. we took advantage of the great weather and made a long day of it, making over 100 miles (my first century of the tour...). it was nice to be able to enjoy the beautiful Montana viewscapes. the ride started flat to slightly descending until reaching the pleasant town of Ennis for a quick water bottle refill stop. proceeded on toward a fairly stiff climb; it twisted its way up, offering an excellent view going up of the climb behind me. the climb wasn't named on our maps, and since josh and i agreed that its difficulty warranted recognition, we decided to name it :

The Climb of the Unknowns















on the descent, i was the first to stop in Virginia City, our first designated destination option. my preliminary scouting of the town, while pleasingly quaint with its historical wild-west flavor, was not favorable with camping options. dana arrived and we had a pre-happy hour beer and peanut stop while waiting for Josh. then, we proceeded to, and past, Sheridan, and still feeling good, on to where  we landed in Twin Bridges. we  expected to camp at the town fairgrounds, but it turns out there was a cyclists' only facility there that our ACA map/addendum didn't mention right across the street from the fairgrounds. in fact, a man walking along the road as we entered town waved us down to tell us about it.   so that was a welcome surprise.  a fine day !!

today: 101 miles
to date: 3683

Day 67 - West Yellowstone, Montana

not quite a full day off today. my lower back was really tight and painful, today, making it hard sometimes just to walk about. not good. took the time to do laundry, hit the bike shop for new brake pads and waterproof gloves. Josh and I took in an IMAX film about Yellowstone Park, that was cool. we all decided to head that afternoon to a campground about 25+ miles out just to get out of West Yellowstone. about 15 miles out, decent skies turned into dark clouds and lightning. we took refuge under the porch of a house under construction. the skies cleared quickly and presented a rare display of twin rainbows, very cool. as we continued on the bikes, it began to cloud up again with more severe conditions looming ahead. we came upon some lodging with a bar (with one patron) along the lake but were turned away from pitching our tents there; more of that 'high bear activity'. we came upon the Longhorn Saloon, which had it going on with a good crowd and a horseshoe tournament. feeling desperate with the late hour and bad weather coming within minutes, the owners Chip and Amber were very kind and hospitable. we joined the party with their welcome to let us pitch our tents there. yet another gesture of kindness and unexpected good ending to an otherwise precarious scenario.  we ended up closing the place, and I set out sleeping apparatus on the porch out of the (now cleared) weather. a great ending to the day !!!

today: 24 miles
to date: 3582

An awesome rainbow while waiting out a late storm under the porch of a house under construction on the way out of West Yellowstone. while we waited, Josh made Best Westerns with my leatherman.... the rainbow became two shortly after these pics ...

Day 66 - West Yellowstone, Montanta

Welcome to Montana !

Today's ride from Grant Village brought rainy and chilly conditions once again. fabulous. lower back was still talking to me, but still not too bad. we never did see any of that 'high bear activity', not a single bear sighting. lots of elk and deer, though. ventured up and down on the way to old faithful, crossing the continental divide twice on the way. the descent after the second was not quite as cold as the trip across Togwatee Pass, but it came close. my main concern was how my brakes would hold up; I knew I could get new pads in West Yellowstone, but I needed to get there safely. I did make the descent in good shape, so no worries. pulled into old faithful and met up with Josh and Dana at the geyser. timed it just right as we only had to wait a few minutes before the eruption. the poor weather forced us to pass on our anticipated down time to hike around the thermals of the area around old faithful, a big disappointment. so, after some time inside the lodge to warm up, we continued on towards West Yellowstone, Montana. thankfully, the rain stopped and the remaining route was all descending in elevation, so we got there in short order.

we found the campground we wanted to stay that night, but an extremely surly and rude ground owner, a true asshole, made it easy to move on from there and take a cabin elsewhere for the night. an awesome pizza and some beers made a good ending to the day.

notable beer-induced quotes at the pizza joint by ian:
"life is escalation of knowledge"
"music comforts the level of life"

today: 56 miles
to date: 3558

close ups of bison on the way thru Yellowstone National Park

Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Yet another Continental Divide crossing, 2nd time today.

Crossing the Continental Divide (again)..