... yet alone be using their computers at the library ...
... but, here I am. I don't know t the actual distance I've ridden (I'll try to sort that out in the coming months) but Google Maps says it would be 782 miles to drive. The shocking part of that web page is that The Goog suggests that it would only take 11 hours to get here from Thornton ...
... it has taken me 22 days on a 26" mountain bike with some driving assistance in Steamboat Springs, Pinedale and Moran Junction.
I need to pick up the pace!
So, what's been happening in the past couple days?
Well, it's the continuing story of slogging up hills then flying down the backside. It took me nearly 45 minutes just to climb out of Butte, Montana, the San Francisco of the Mountain West(TM). After the climb, though, it was a short downhill then an unbelievably pleasant ride up a picturesque valley, following a burbling creek the whole way. Aspens, pine trees, rolling hills, the works.
Except ...
... I was in the wrong watershed. I had missed a turn just out of Butte and, 10 miles later, I finally realized that the map and GPS were not happy. I confirmed this with a family that happened to be enjoying the creek nearby. I politely thanked them for verifying that I was in the wrong place, but you didn't want to hear the vitriol that was going on in my head while smiling at the family. See, the thing is, it's all about "seat time" and I had just blown 2 hours of seat time. OK, yes, it was a lovely valley, but it did NOT get me any closer to Canada. I want Canada. Now!
The only good thing about the return trip to fix my blunder was that it was downhill. Ironically, the wind was in my face ...
Back at "the" turn, I ate lunch and repeated my "It is what it is" mantra to try to calm down. There's a reason for everything, right?
Back up the correct watershed, the results were similar in that I was following a stream all the way to the Continental Divide. Aspens, pine trees, rolling hills, the works EXCEPT this route was MUCH steeper. As is my usual reaction, I just drop down to sub Granny 1 gear (i.e. I'm in the lowest gear, but pedaling slower ...), don't look up the hill, pray that the pain will be over soon. You can imagine my relief when I reached the Continental Divide and saw the CDT Blaze for the trail that crossed the road. I thought it was very cool that my path was crossing this path where so many others had hiked the CDT.
For every climb, there is a decent ...
Nice ride down through the aspens, pine trees, rolling hills, the works, following a different stream (this one heading to the Atlantic ...). I went by an old mine and, realistically, there was a mile of tailings spewed out along the road. A lot of mining was done in this area, but I sure didn't see many places where the men might have stayed.
I reached Morman Gulch Campground "early" in that it was only 4 PM and I could have ridden 2 more hours, but the next campground was beyond reach. The wind was howling as I rode up the steep, narrow valley where the campground was located.
It was like a ghost town. There was no sign for the campground at the road entrance and it looked like the campground hadn't been tended to in years with picnic tables half destroyed, weeds/grasses growing up everywhere. With the wind roaring through the narrow valley, various parts of the 3 outhouses creaked and moaned. The door on one actually banged in the winds, just like an old west movie.
I had stopped there, figuring that I would be joined by other campers who would be the bear bait while I slept peacefully, but, turns out, no one else wanted to stay in a ghost town campground: it was just me, the birds, the howling wind and the howling coyotes.
The tent had some moisture on it from the Butte dew and water that a body gives off so I just held each damp piece in the wind and they flapped like a flag, drying out in certainly less than a minute. If only there had been water at the site, I would have washed my clothes, but it was bone dry and there wasn't a pump.
I put my gear in the men's pit toilet (not in the toilet!), hoping that the suffocating odor of that thing that hadn't been tended to in decades would mask the delicious odors of the meat sandwich I bought at the Safeway in Butte earlier that day.
I hit the hay early after not sleeping well under the security lamp at the Butte KOA, hoping to get recharged for the next day (that would be today) on the challenging and confusing climb to Park Lake then on to Helena. The wind finally died down and it was dead silent, save for the gurgling of my stomach and the distant howling of the coyotes. Just keep your distance, boys, I've got a small knife ready for any eventuality.
I was surprised when I woke and the sky was glowing softly in the east: I had "slept in" until about 6:45, one of the latest mornings of the trip. I'm happy to announce that no one ate my Safeway sandwich. I was on the road at 7:30 under skies that were completely covered with high clouds, first time in a while to have that much cloud cover in the morning.
This was my potential nightmare day. Why? Because for all of the "rehearsal" I had done for this section, reviewing the route on Google Maps, following the guides from the Adventure Cycling Association, I still wasn't sure that I knew which way to go. Demonstrating this point, as I climbed out of Basin (thriving mining ghost town), I actually rode up someone's driveway.
This isn't going very well ... already.
But just as I started on the correct road, I ran into Stephan from France who advised me that there were blazes on the trees that marked the main route. Sure enough, here and there, tacked to trees was a yellow blaze with a red box in the middle. At least I wouldn't get off the main road.
The climb up Cataract Creek was difficult because the creek dropped dramatically over the course of its run. I changed from my "get up in the morning and it's cold" ensemble (down jacket, thick jersey, poly pro face mask, poly pro gloves, leg warmers) to my "damn, it's too hot to bicycle today" ensemble (light jersey, fingerless biking gloves) before it was even 9 o'clock because I got so hot on the climb.
That's the way, a huh, a huh, I like it ... I'd rather get too hot on a climb early in the morning than freeze to death on a fast downhill run before the sun has heated the chilled morning air.
I ran into a Swiss trio who gave me some more advice and, before I was ready, I had reached the route of confusion and realized why all my rehearsal was for naught: this route didn't really follow maintained roads. Rather, it seemed to follow a short cut over to the Lava Mountain Trail which was not a road either. I had been warned that the Lava Mountain Trail was impossible to ride, but, guess what?, it was only the second real mountain biking I had encountered on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. There were just a couple of steep uphill sections that I couldn't ride (one of them took me 5 minutes to go 50 feet up the trail and I was exhausted ... how did my bike get so heavy????) and I rode all of the downhill. I had a fun time zipping through the trees on a badly rutted and lined with roots trail. Some of the southbounders had complained about this trail, but it was fun in my direction!!!
The map descriptions and the GPS way points just didn't match up with the real trail, so I figured I would just follow the bike trails in the dust of the route, assuming they came from the southbound riders. Eventually I got spit out to a real road and, sure enough, I was back on track again.
I HADN'T GOT LOST!!!!!!!!
I rode by Park Lake, a beautiful high alpine lake in a bowl, where I had wanted to camp the previous night but couldn't reach yesterday. Damn that missed turn yesterday morning ...
It was still a climb out to a high point before the delicious downhill to Helena. I followed Travis Creek up and up and up and up. How long is this creek???? Look, I like riding next to creeks, especially when you can hear them babble and burble, but do you really have to be so long????
Reached the crest, followed another creek down to Helena. No pedaling required ...
I was surprised when Helena just suddenly appeared. I didn't think about it, but the narrow canyon I was riding down prevented me from seeing the capital city.
I went right by the library so I stopped in to use the computer. The woman at the desk gave me an hour and has been sneaking in extra half hour segments ... I'm on hour two with 2 minutes left ...
All in all, a very good two days!
Just some general comments and I will go before my last half hour is used up ...
The weather has been fantastic. I think the last time I got wet was in the sleet storm up on Union pass a long, long time ago. The past couple days in fact in might have been just a smidge too warm on the climbs. That being said, 40% chance of rain tomorrow. If it's bad, I may "Hole Up in Helena" (if it's not a country western song, it should be) for another day. Staying at the Super Duper 8 tonight ...
My gear has been doing a great job. Ever since the tire and tube change in Jackson, Wyoming, I haven't had a flat so that seems to be under control. I did break a derailleur cable (did I mention that?) and did a roadside repair. I had failed to lube the cable (bad bike technician) so that evening I flipped the bike over and poured oil into the end of the cable housing; this seems to have improved the rear derailleur shifting.
Tent is fantastic! Thanks, Matt! There is a lot of room in there for everything I take to bed with me (sweatpants if too cold, the "get up in the morning and it's cold" ensemble, maps packet, headlamp, bear fighting knife, Camelbak (a man's gotta drink, doesn't he?)). I can sit up to dress/undress which is orders of magnitude better than a bivy sack. Good decision to use the tent.
As of yesterday, I had 417 miles left to go. I should be under 400 when I "run the numbers" tonight. At 50 miles/day, my end date will be 9/21. The plan is to hitch a ride back to Kalispell, ship bike, fly body back to Thornton.
Another long update ... don't give me a keyboard and limited library time ... I may never stop typing ...
I'll send a plan update later from the luxurious Super Duper 8!
Now I'm gonna get me some of that popcorn chicken ...
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