Pictures and Stories About Bicycle Tour Adventures
Butte, Divide Creek, Wise River, Elkhorn Hot Springs, Polaris,
Bannack State Park, to Grant, Montana; June, 2012;
Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in the
Pioneer Mountain Range of the Rocky Mountains;
Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR - Segment)
- Cycling Summary -
Goal: Completely Ride Adventure Cycling's 'Great Divide Mountain Bike Route'.
Objective:
Ride as much as allowed by Circumstances for a 8 Day Vacation/Holiday (4 Auto Driving, 4 Bike Touring).
Highlights
Foremost, we had a great time and we met the most Bicycle Tour Travelers on the GDMBR that we have ever met in one trip. John and Ava, if you see this, Hello from Colorado Springs!
The Environment was such that NM, CO, and WY had Forest Fires. Montana had rains to the north and was warm and dry to the south. We elected to bicycle the GDMBR in southern Montana (no rain, no fires).
Upon our arrival and during most of the adventure, Montana had uncharacteristic daily temperatures in the 90s F/30s C in the shade and Montana was having unusually strong winds from the South (the direction in which we were traveling, of course - more adventure for us, bad for fire fighters).
The (daVinci) Touring Tandem, 'the Bee', performed admirably. It is always good when a bicycle functions as expected. We ran with a 1.5" wide front road tire and a 2.2" wide and thick off-road rear tire, a combination that produced NO flats for our short runs of 30-50 miles a day (with a tour load and 2 riders).
We over-extended ourselves on Day 1 with a late start and head winds. Dennis had to hitch a ride with a kindly Montana Rancher family to reach the support vehicle. Our Day 1 plan became the plan for Days 1 and 2. (We were stuck with a motor vehicle and we could not find separate car shuttle support - auto mgt, always a problem.)
Day 2 contained the toughest day ever in terms of technical challenge. We had to 'walk' our bike a mile downhill on a 25%-35% grade and the steepest slip rock double track ever witnessed by either of us.
We saw plenty of deer, elk, hawks, golden eagles, and we saw one teenage moose. We actually have pictures of most of these animals!
We stayed at the Wise River Lodge (Wise River, Montana) for two nights and we were treated like family there. The Great Divide Racers (N-S) came through a week earlier and didn't linger and our hosts had some questions, which we gladly answered. We got to meet a few of the trailing (means enjoying themselves) Great Divide Reverse Racers (S-N) traveling from Antelope Wells, NM, to Roosville, MT.
We had a tour-ending flat tire on the support vehicle on Day 4 near Medicine Lodge, MT. There was not enough time to drive anywhere and get the tire fixed that late in the day. The logistics involved for gaining just a few hours of cycling time on the next day, the last day, were not justifiable.
Learning Lesson: From Now On, we are going to Carry 'Two (2) Spare Transport Vehicle Tires'. This was the second time that we've had a trip ending flat tire on a GDMBR Bicycle Tour. The previous flat tire occurred during a Labor Day Holiday Weekend and all of the Tire Repair Centers in Southern Wyoming were closed; for the record, the Transport Vehicle had very good tires with plenty of tread for each flat tire incident.
Day 1 - Butte, Montana to Divide Creek Road
By Way of GDMBR Continental Divide Crossing #5
Above Left: Montana border at 5pm near Sheridan, Wyoming (Sat, 23 June, by motor vehicle); 7 hrs still to go. Butte Hotel check-in at 2400 hrs.
We used the Bicycle Touring Checklist (created by moi).
Even with a checklist, I managed to drive away leaving Two (2) Notebook Computers and a Day Timer on the dining room table. The action turned out to be a non issue, but sometimes we humans are just so hapless.
Above Center: Up at 0500 (Sun, 24 June, 5 hrs Sleep), drop-off shuttle vehicle, return by 0930, pedaling east bound in Up-Town Butte, MT, on Floral Blvd at 1000 hrs.
We met fellow south bound GDMBR travelers John and Ava and our paths would criss-cross for three more days - They had a nasty time of it the day before, coming down from the Helena area (reputed roughest stretch of the GDMBR) facing stiff headwinds, a flat and tire pressure problems (and they finished the stretch).
Above Right: We're heading south on Continental from Butte, MT, warm dry winds from left to right, we're heading left.
Above Left: Southbound, Crossing I-90 in Butte.
Above Right: High Altitude Skating Oval (they flood the open air rink in the late Fall and just let the water freeze and remain freezing until early Spring).
Above Left: The end of Continental (south out of Butte, MT); turn left for Hwy 2. Enter Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in about 100 yards/meters.
Above Right: Entering Thompson Park, Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.
Above Left: We're in the woods, on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. We know that the pavement will end soon enough. We're just leisurely pedaling and enjoying nature. We pretty much have the GDMBR to ourselves. The Global Positioning Device indicates that we are just short of mile 204.3.
Above Right: Terry holds the Bee while Dennis takes a Blue Flax picture (below).
Above: Blue Flax on the roadside.
Above Left: Old (Iron Horse) Railroad Trestle Bridge made of Iron (Steel). This old and currently used Railroad Trestle Bridge was probably built no later than 1889 (when the train line was opened). The original rail line was Northern Pacific but it is now owned and used by Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF). BTW, in China, old trains were called 'Iron Rooster'.
Above Right: To me, this looks like Red Man (Native American) Art performed by White Man (methods). We take it in as a positive well meaning spirit. We would like to know the rest of the story.
The Hand Symbol: can mean Healing (in a context not seen here), it can represent Human Life; Achievement, Accomplishment or Legacy; the creative spirit, or focused energy.
Above Left: We are now on dirt road, NF 84, with maybe 8 miles to the Continental Divide Crossing (#5).
The weirdest thing happened (too fast to take a picture). Four big animals, running abreast, were charging down the road toward us; four abreast followed by a pickup truck. At first we thought that the animals were Horses being herded, then we realized that the animals were deer like. Huh? I then scrambled for a camera, but I first had to turn it on (it's digital) and the wait time was painstakingly slow. Then we realized that the four animals were Mountain Antelope. Montana/Mountain Antelope are bigger than Plain's Antelope, just like Mountain Deer are larger than Plain's Deer. The Mountain Antelope have a darker color, almost dark chocolate (on white), where the Plain's Antelope would be tan or buckskin in color (on white). The Mountain Antelope peeled off the road, downhill, as soon as they saw us and then the camera was ready to operate. What an interesting event to witness! The truck driver kept on driving like this happened to him every day and he did not seem to care in the least. How strange, to us. How Cool!
Above Right: Back view to the North; Upper Basin Creek Reservoir [for Butte]. This is the water for the city of Butte and about every 100 yards/meters there are signs on the downhill side of the road that say No Trespassing and No Camping (or words to that effect).
Above Left: Terry Struck and the Bee on NF-84 (just before crossing the Continental Divide).
Re-Learning Lesson: We had lunch, shortly after this photo. We usually set out a Space Blanket to sit on it ourselves and set our water bottle and food packages/bags upon the blanket/cover too. This time I did not set anything out to sit on. Terry unknowingly sat on a ball of Pine Sap. It ruined her [favorite] biking shorts. She only had long pants for substitution but I had a spare set of Cargo shorts that I lent to her (baggy but functional). There is a good reason to sit on Space Blankets (or such) for snacks and rest breaks.
Above Right: Indian Paint Brush on the roadside.
Above: The pass is unremarkable and unmarked but this is Continental Divide Crossing #5 on the GDMBR. The elevation (learned later from Map My Ride) is 7318'/2230m. Not a cloud in the sky, hot (90sF/30sC).
It was about 1330 Hours and we had about 35 miles to go (to our support vehicle), 11 miles just to get to the valley;
we realized that we would not make it to our destination in day light and we were churning some ideas in our heads to address the situation.
Above: Views from just over the crest of Continental Divide Crossing #5 on the GDMBR.
On Mountain roads, we spend about 80% of our time climbing. We probably spend 25% of our total time in the two (2) lowest ratio climbing gears (bigest rear sprockets) on the Granny Ring (smallest front ring). Now we get to see life outside of Granny Gear.
Above: Down the west side of NF-84. Painter's Rock, on the west side of NF-84 on the GDMBR, about 20 miles SW of Butte, or about 5 miles past Continental divide Crossing #5. No mention of Painter's Rock anywhere known, yet it has the only printed sign for a geological formation that was seen all day long.
Above: Westside NF-84 view.
Above: Halfway down the west side of NF-84; in and out of shade.
Above: Views on the west side of the Continental Divide (crossing #5) on NF-84.
Above: Looking West-North-West, I-15 and US-91 follow the valley (North-South). I'm fairly sure that we are on Curly Gulch Ranch property on a Public (National Forest) Access Road.
The GDMBR crosses under the Interstate at our 1 O'clock. The big mountain on the left side is Mt Fleecer (9,436'/2876m); the trail we are riding on (tomorrow) passes north and around the other side of Mt Fleecer, then southbound to the town of Wise River. [Hand stitched image, using Power Point].
Above Left: Curly Gulch Ranch: We're on Curly Gulch road and I-15 is directly behind at about 1/2 mile or 1k. We've probably been on Curly Gulch Ranch for about 8 miles.
Above Right: Traffic crossing I-15. This ends our GDMBR trek for today, but we will bike another 8-9 miles south on the frontage road to Montana Hwy-43 where Dennis will hitch a ride with a kindly Montana Homestead Rancher family to reach the support vehicle which is parked at the town of Wise River (which is about 18 miles up Hwy-43). This poor planning lands square in the lap of Moi (Dennis), but it works out quite well.
Above - The Wise River Club (Motel-Bar-Cafe): Where we will spend two nights (a draw back due to our "Vehicle Shuttle System" which is a nice way to say that we are stuck with a motor vehicle). That is the Bee, proudly parked in front of the Wise River Club.
Above Left: Our room for the night. It's about 95°F/35°C but they gave us a fan and we have no trouble sleeping. We will wake up to 55°F/12°C.
Above Right: Motel Hallway and common toilet-bathroom facilities. We will get up so early that we have no competition for sharing; the bathrooms are just for us as far as we can tell; there are other guests [Highway Maintenance Crew].
The Bicycle Tour Shuttle System
Above Left: Enduro (parked under front sign).
Above Right: Expedition + Trailer (and the Bee). The trailer is really for the Motorcycle, I will drop the motor bike off at the next destination. The shuttle system takes 3-4 hours out of the day, but we could not find anyone who would help or share in our adventure, so we just did it ourselves.
Above: We met John and Ava, again, while we were performing our vehicle shuttle.
We caught up with John and Ava, somewhere down the road, each evening for three days. They were a pleasant couple that always seemed to be about a half day ahead of us. They went as far as Flagg Ranch in Yellowstone (for about 4 more days of trail riding, to complete this tour leg for themselves).
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