It's late so I'll keep this update relatively short...
After leaving Lima at 7AM I was pretty discouraged that it was cold, windy and the road was a gravel filled washboard.
Then, a miracle happened (Mountain Dew kicked in?) and biking up Big Sheep Creek was fantastic: following the rapidly flowing steam, huge scree covered hills rising from the river bed, the sun warming me, the wind stilled, the trees burst forth in pine green and aspen orange. One of the best mornings on the trip.
But the afternoon was back to sage and grasses very similar to the Great Basin on Wyoming. Enough sage already!
In spite of my recent bear scare, that night I camped solo with only one incident: I thought I heard a huge growl from the bushes!!! Turns out, it was just the guy in my tent snoring.
Next day dawned clear and sunny and cold. I rode through a wide valley with irrigated fields of hay growing bright green, abutted against the arid sage landscape. With enough distance behind me, that afternoon I finally returned to the high country forests which psychologically for me is much more enjoyable than the near desert isolation that is sage country.
But, man, what a climb into the hills. At one steep point I stopped and chatted with a 12 year old boy who very sagely advised me that I could go faster if I would switch to a higher gear. I explained to him that if I did that I would bog down and start crying.
For the first time on the trip, I could smell smoke from forest fires...
I finally cleared the crest after an hour of slogging and suddenly biking was fun again as I raced downhill, reaching my 50+ miles for the day campground in no time. I was joined by a nice local couple in an RV who tried to scare the **** out of me with bear stories. I asked them to refrain: the wife stopped, the husband just had to throw in a few more stories.
I put all of my bags in the pit toilet rest room to keep them from attracting bears to my camp. It worked, but I did notice that the bears used a lot of toilet paper last night.
I was up early today and froze everything as I continued to follow the drainage downhill: the windchill factor is pretty high going 30+ MPH on paved roads.
To my great relief I opted NOT to try Fleecer Ridge, one of the hardest sections of the route. The southbounders all suggested it would be suicide for a northbounder. So I took the official alternate route, still on pavement, following the river as it grew ever wider. Very picturesque and very easy, downhill riding.
Somehow I missed a turn and ended up riding *on* I-15 rather than the frontage road as suggested. Wasn't any worse than biking US-20 in Idaho. The highlight of that segment was getting psyched to use the restroom only to crest the hill and find it was completely torn up and being rebuilt. Being a biker, though, I slipped around the closed signs and found the inevitable construction porta-potties. OK, not as nice as a real rest stop, but at least I didn't have to flush.
The 2500' climb from the I-15 valley to the divide before Butte was one of the toughest yet. If I looked up the road I just freaked out at the long, long, and longer steep climb on very poor, rutted dirt roads. When I'd crest a section, thinking that, aha! I've finished the climb, there would be yet more steep hill just around the bend. Ultimately, I just lowered the brim of my hat so I could only see 10 feet ahead of me and tried to sneak in a miniscule pause on each power stroke of the pedal to allow my muscles to get some tiny amount of recharge. While I had to stop numerous times before I reached the top, I only walked 30' of the 5+ mile climb.
The climb took me from sage on I-15 back to alpine meadows in full fall regalia at over 7000 feet. Numerous high hills enclosed this park. Very rugged country.
When I reached the divide, I once again turned it loose on the downhill. You'll be surprised to learn that I don't hold the handlebars very tightly when downhilling on washboard, dirt roads; rather, I let the bike "float" over the ragged surface, steering away from the holes and letting the shocks and my legs absorb the chatter from the stones and washboarding. My head is amazingly still through the whole process.
When the road finally flattened out for the final approach to Butte, the SW wind I was counting on shifted to the NW and, riding north, I was, once again, fighting the wind. I can't seem to catch a (wind) break.
Oh, and I missed my turn to go directly to this KOA Campground (45.99356 , -112.53181) , doing a 5 mile tour of the greater Butte metroplex. And, very disappointingly, this KOA is next to the highway AND there's an orange security light 30' away from the tent. Quite the contrast to the previous night's isolation.
It will probably take more than a couple days to get to Helena before I can send another update. Tomorrow is Day 21, about 10 more days left in the tour.
One more thing: I figured out why my phone is reading 1% battery in the morning. It's frozen! If I let it warm up, the battery level is restored. I guess I'm going to have to put the phone in the sleeping bag with me...
Well, time to hit the hay with all of the 18 wheelers rolling by.
I hope all is going well for you and your loved ones.
JK
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