Day 3:

• We actually had trouble finding the correct road out of town (out of Lima, MT). The problem was that the Adventure Cycling Map (#2) said to "Turn right on 2nd Street". There is NO 2nd Street but there is a "2nd Avenue". This sounds minute but the town does have a lattice of Streets and Avenues; in any case we did figure that the grammar and syntax was an error and in fact 2nd Avenue did lead us out of town correctly.
• We rode eastward for most of the day, following the Red Rock River. We camped for the night next to the shallows of Lima Lake, at a Wildlife Refuge; it is noteworthy that the lake is formed by the Red Rock River.
• We met a Rancher, who was mending a fence. We had been hearing gun shots and we asked about it. He stated that four (4) Gophers eat as much grass (plus the roots) as a Cow eats, thus it is important to keep the Gopher population as low as possible because the Gophers rob cattlemen of land space for Cattle. PLUS, the Gophers often kill the grass by eating the roots, whereas cattle generally only eat the upper half of grass.
• It took us 90 minutes to pump about 3 gallons of water, that's 60 minutes longer than typical - See the next List Item
• EQUIPMENT (WATER FILTER): We've had a MSR Sweet Water Filter that lasted us about 10 years; we just swapped water filter cartridges in and out as needed. The cartridges averaged about 2 years for life span, well, at least until last year. Last year our original body and seals just gave out, it was ejecting more water than it was adding as filtered water. So, we just went to our friendly REI store, I think in Butte, MT, and we bought a completely new MSR Sweet Water Filer system. We were still on the GDMBR and did not want to go through the process of ordering gaskets/rings/seals. So that new system did not last through its first clear water pumping session (last year) and it failed again on our first day of our new cycling (this year, 2016), it even had a new cartridge (no excuse for not operating correctly). So later, down the trail in the Grand Tetons, we went to the Wyoming Outfitter's store in Jackson, WY, hoping to just buy a new MSR Sweetwater Cartridge (I left our spare cartridge at home, by mistake). Well, the store did not have MSR Filters at all BUT they did have a Katadyn line of water filters (the product was already known to me). They only had the Hiker Microfilter, Hiker Pro Microfilter System, and a Vario Filter System on the store shelf. The salesman helped a lot and he went online for the MSR Sweet Water Spec's and we compared them to the Katadyn Specifications (on the box). After comparisons of specifications and price, we bought the Hiker Pro Microfilter System. So far I am happy with the Katadyn but there are things that I like and don't like in each of the two water filter systems, HOWEVER, so far, the Katadyn is still producing clean water (which is the most important factor of all).
• We got to see our very first real live in the wild Badger (next to Wolverine Creek)! Sorry, NO Picture.

Day 3
Lima, Lima Lake Wildlife Refuge, Lakeview, and Red Rock National Refuge Wild Camp

Above Left: We shared a common entryway door with an ATV user.

Above Right: Lima is a nice small town with no street naming convention, 2nd Avenue is the same as Second Street and it has a mix of Streets and Avenues. It keeps out-of-towners uneasy for navigation.

Above Left: A happy stoker on a cool morning.

Above Right: We're heading east.

Above Left: Riding into the sun.

Above Right: There is a pattern in the center of the dirt road that looks like a deer, I checked it out, it is a shadow.

Above Left: The calf got caught on the wrong side of the fence, she finally just shot in between two strands of wire. We waited for her to figure it out.

Above Right: Beautiful Country.

Above: Antelope.

Above Left: Snack Break, nice backdrop.

Above Right: Looking west.

Above Left: Nice White Flowers.

Above Right: Pastoral scene.

Above Left: The Red Rock River, we will be next to it for most of the day and we will cross into Idaho at the Red Rock Pass tomorrow.

Above Right: Mule's Ear Flower, from the Russian Steps, running wild in America.

Left: Lima Reservoir (aka Lima Lake) and Control House.

Center: Lima Reservoir's Dam of the Red Rock River.

Right: Lima Reservoir's Fish Ladder.

Above Left: Lima Reservoir's Dam of the Red Rock River.

Above Right: Lima Reservoir's Control House. We're looking eastward and we biked up the dam climb on the north side of Red Rock River.

Above Left: Current, aka Mountain Mahogany (no berries yet).

Above Right: We are temporarily riding northward away from the lake (Lima Lake).

Above Left: Our backview of Lima Lake and a strange Gate setup.

Above Right: Heading more northward. We were told that a few weeks ago this road was a muddy mess.

Above Left: We're looking back southeast toward the lake.

Above Right: We're still heading north.

Above: Terry found some friends, the Palomino was too skittish.

Above Left: Some Wild Irises.

Above Right: We were just talking.

Above Left: This is a major backroad intersection of the roads to Dillon, Lima, and Lakeview.

Above Right: We're out of Lima and heading toward Lakeview. WE ALSO ATE LUNCH HERE.

REPORT: Another cyclist arrived while we were eating; he was an ultra-light rider going from south to north generally following the GDMBR. He reported that Union Pass (in Wyoming) still had 4 feet of snow and that the Rail Trail south of Big Springs (Idaho) was ruined by a combination of ATV users and the placement of BB sized Cinder Fill for road bed material. He stated that the north end was a little better than the south end but that he rode around each of those places on charted back roads using his GPS mapping system.

FEEDBACK: Later, we would bypass Union Pass with the intention of returning in a few weeks, when the snow in the pass had melted and cleared. AND we tried the north end of the Rail Trail Ride (it's a beautiful area) but we got off the trail because our bike kept sinking and stopping in deep areas of Cinder Fill; it was very frustrating, ride 100 yards/meters, stop, push 20 yards/meters, repeat ...

ALTERNATE ROUTE: There is a GDMBR Alternate Route for the Rail Trail segment (actually a better route) and we plan on returning to use the alternate route. Many times in the past, because of issues like just discussed, the Adventure Cycling Association (we're Lifetime Members) changes the Alternate Route to became a Primary Route. I'm sure that this will happen in the case of the ATV abused Rail Trail.

Above Left: Like Phlox but much smaller.

Above Right: We have turned eastward again.

Above Left: Typical Montana high plain.

Above Right: We're about to cross Wolverine Creek and guess what? We will get to see our very first real life Badger. From the side the Badger had the shape of a fat Ground Hog to include a waddle in its run, but at its hole when it faced us we got to see the vertical white lines on the face (clearly indicating, I'm a bas dass Badger). It went into its underground den, sorry, No picture.

Above: We arrived at the headwaters of Lima Reservoir (aka Lima Lake) and we are in a bird sanctuary. We will see huge Storks and Swans plus the typical Geese, Ducks, and an assortment of other aquatic fowl to include an Osprey. I am convinced that Ducks are the bullies of the shallow fresh water pond world.

Above Left: "Monida" is an amalgamation of the words "Montana + Idaho". Monida is on the Montana/Idaho State Line. We're going to camp across the river and then then tomorrow, head for Lakeview, MT, about 20 miles due east. The sign for Lakeview is across the river.

Above Right: The road across the wetland refuge of Lima Reservoir.

Above Left: The bridge needs some work but it works fine for a bicycle.

Above Right: Our backview.

Above Left: Montana was having the most rain ever recorded, levels are above full.

Above Right: Patchwork repairs are working just fine for bridge maintenance.

Above: We setup camp just south of the river crossing, so that we could just keep heading south in the morning.

A nice Rancher came by, just before we turned in for the night, to let us know that he was moving a herd of cattle through here (where we were camped, a cattle drive) in the next morning. We thanked him for the warning, his concern was for the cows, he did not know how the cattle would react seeing a bicycle for the first time - More tomorrow >>>