Entry 6: Remote Vistas

Yesterday, we finally got out of the Pinedale vicinity. Vlad was feeling well enough to ride, so we booked out of the Wind River View RV park around 3:30PM, and headed down the highway toward the Roscoe hayfield. A solid, almost 20 mile ride into an area with very few services until Rawlins. The high for the day was 50 degrees. Pretty chilly. I rolled out a tiny bit early to mail a skull home at ht post office in Boulder, and met the party at a nearby gas statin where we obtained snacks and Methanol. We rode through the desert in the chill, aiming for the ACA-marked Roscoe hayfield with camping, but ended up very close to that, but right on the highway.

9/13/2021 First Day out of Lima:

Our five food boxes finally arrived and we gradually put ourselves together. Just as we were getting ready to leave, just finishing strapping on stuff to bikes, a large storm front moved in from the mountians and kicked up an incredibly strong wind, strong enough to create small blinding dust-devils, that drove us all over to the I-25 rest stop to hide in the rest stop and on the downwind side of the building to collect ourselves. After much deliberation, we decided that another night in Lima was not worth it.

We rolled out of town, immediately hitting a dirt road. We ended up camping within view of Lima Dam on BLM land down a steep slope.

Lima Dam to Red Rock Lake Campground

In the morning at the Dam, wihle preparing to filter water, Rose spotted a duck stuck headfirst into the rocks near the dam, kicking its feet weakly. She rescued the duck, which appeared injured but quite mobile, and we watched it slowly ascend the huge birm the dam is built into over our breakfast time.

The surfaces were rough and there was a very strong, in excess of 25mph at times, headwind that slowed our roll and kicked up duststorms into our faces. The Centennial Mountian range in the distance was obscured by smoke, and our ride was largely down a straight, largely featureless, coverless corridor toward the approaching wilderness. We lunched in front of a property that had planted trees in a row by the road, which acted as a windblock, and soon turned left to follow the edge of the range. After cruising past Lakeview and checking out their cemeteryand catching views of some antelope, we closed the last few miles through the national wildlife refuge where no camping is allowed, and arrived just before dark at Red Rock Lake campground, where a number of other cyclists were camped.

Just after dark, the temperature dropped sharply, the wind picked up, and it rained for much of the night and most of the next morning. I got super cold, and temperatures remained below 60F for the following several days.

Red Rock Lake to Red Rock RV Park

The morning at Red Rock Lake was very cold, and the air smelled like a doused campfire; we later found out that a fire had been burning very close to our location at that time, and had likely been slowed by the rain.

It was a cold day, and we kept following along the base of the Centennial Range until it was time to climb Red Rock pass. We ascended once agian into mountians and suddenly the terrain went from open, largely sagebrush desert feeling stuff into an area reminiscent of the north woods of Wisconsin. Big trees, mushrooms, moss, friendly shade and cover agian. We had lunch on top of the pass, and began to roll down into Idaho. Finally.

As we came near to Henry's Lake, it was getting dark, and we decided to camp at an RV park; Red Rock RV park. There were showers, cell reception, WiFi, indoor bathrooms; everything. It continued being cold and the sky issued a light pissing type rain for most of the night and morning.

Red Rock RV Park to Island Park Lodge

We had a slow, cold morning at Red Rock RV park. I finally ordered rain pants fro Gore Tex, given that my Army Surplus rain pants did not work for cycling in. not by any stretch, because they do not in fact stretch at all. When we finally rolled out, Rose and Patrick got very far ahead of Vlad and I, as is typical. Vlad noticed a turn off for a forest road on the route that I would have missed. It turned out that Rose and Patrick missed that turnoff completely.

This section was for us, very cold, rainy, and muddy. There were beautiful creeks and land forms all around us, dense woods, and huge puddles that we had to dodge around. The riding was challenging and we both got completely soaked. When we finally arrived at Island Park/hwy 20, we went into the first building that appeared to be open to the public, which was a Subway/Adventure Motor Rentals/Outdoor type of store. An employee of the store invited us to sit down by the gas fireplace and dry our stuff. Eventually, along side a conversation with the employee, who let us stay by the fire well after the store closed, we got into contact with Rose and Patrick and all of us had a supper at the adjoining Subway. After a long discussion and calling around a bunch, we decided to pay for a night indoors at the Island Park Lodge just across the street from where we were.

I tried making falafel in the microwave, which did not work to my satisfaction, and right before I went to bed, I ventured outside barefoot to collect my bicycle to take it into the hotel room, and I banged the big toe on my right foot on one of the floor decking boards outside the lodge badly enough to take a big flap of skin off of my toe, and to bruise my foot overall so I was hobbled. Rose helped me get patched up.

Island Park Lodge to Riverside Campground

We had breakfast at the cafe adjacent to the lodge and proceeded to roll down highway 20 buying every bottle of 'Yellow HEET' branded methanol along the whole of Island Park as we rode. We dodged one downpour in a gas station, and then ended up getting rained on a bit more as we were nearing the end of Island Park. Rose and I picked up 4 day fishing liscenes at the gas station we dodged the rain in, and we formulated a plan to get to a place we could concieveably fish: Riverside campground on the Snake River.

At Riverside campground, it continued to be rainy and cold. By our second night, we comandeered two campsites there: one to cook in and one to sleep in. The river was beautiful, the fishing was tough, its hard to fish such a large river with Tenkara rods.

Riverside Campgound to Warm River Campground

We backtracked on the highway a little bit to the start of the Mesa Falls scenic byway. It was just that, quite scenic. Notably, we stopped at Mesa Falls for lunch, which involved a 700 some foot descent over about a mile. The falls are large, and a popular attraction. From there we biked back up the grade away from the falls area to a 'mostly downhill' route that ended at Warm River Campground.

I'll now note that Riverside Campground was the first, but certianly not the last camp ground owned by 'Aud and Di' campground services, a private Utah company that runs many (possibly all?) National Forest campgrounds in the states of Idaho and Wyoming at least. (Some cursory info here: https://www.bendsource.com/bend/forests-for-sale-as-more-campgrounds-come-under-private-management-what-does-this-mean-for-campers/Content?oid=2137340 )

Warm River Campground also was operated by 'AuDi' Campground services, and these hosts were really looking at it. What appered to be a family gathering was camped next to us and using the pavillion. The temperatue finally climbed above 60F, and I commenced to spend some time fishing at it over the next few days. Our time at Warm River turned out to be extraordinarialy social, with fellow cyclists sharing our campsite on two out of the several days we stayed in that location. One cyclist, Linda we had met prior in Helena at the post office. Another, Eddy was doing the divide, in his words 'as a bar crawl'. Even a woman who was at the family gathering in the pavillion invited us over for a spaghetti dinner with fresh vegetables one evening.

The second day at warm river, Vlad and I rode into Ashton to recieve our food drop and replacemet backup tent with working zippers. After recieving our stuff and looking at phones, Vlad found out that he'd need to be in Milwaukee WI on 9/9/21. Thus began much corresondance and deliberation, and led to, several days later, Vlad and I taking off at 8pm from Ashton, ID down highway 20 to Rexburg, ID.

Ovando to Not Big Nelson

An Adventure Cycling tour group with a SAG wagon turned us away from camping at the Big Nelson campground; so we biked back to the route and camped just inside of the boundary of the Helena national forest at the beginning of the climb to Huckleberry Pass. First night where we had to hang our bear bags 10 feet up in the air, inbetween two trees, at least 4 feet away from each tree. It took a while to realize (thanks, Vlad) that it's easier to hoist up the load split three ways, on three cords rather than all at once.

Not Big Nelson to Lincoln

We rode up to huckleberry pass. There were delicious huckleberries. A storm kicked up as we were descending, which resulted in the party being seperated for a while.

Rose and Patrick camped at Spring Creek campground. They were visited by cats, several deer, including two 8-point bucks in velvet, a 'grandma deer' doe, and a family of ducks swimming on the creek.

Vlad and I camped at Hooper Park on the east side of Lincoln. The camp host (a clear Tree Nut) asked us if we had been to Seeley Lakem and then asked us if we had met Gus, we said that we had, in fact, met Gus. He pointed out what he described as the second oldest Ponderosa pine in the stand of trees around the campground. Accoding to him, after 250 to 300 years, the bark of the Ponderosa goes from reddish and rough to a puzzle-piece kind of appearance. The other distinguishing characteristic, we learned, is that the needles of Ponderosa pine are longer than the needles of any other pine in North America.

Lincoln to Alpaca Ranch

'Lower Llama to Upper Dog 'Alpaca Ranch to Teepee by Dog Creek

We stood right before the turn to cross dog creek, discussing the teepee that was in front of us behind a gate marked Private Property, and an old couple started approaching from the distance. They introduced themselves as Carol and Cliff, and invited us to stay on their property. Not just on their property, but in the teepee that we saw that they said their daughter had put up that same day. Dog creek ran right by the teepee, we were able to hang food on an archway for an old driveway the property ownwers were not using.

Teepee by Dog Creek

Climbing up Priest Pass then to Helena Mountian Bike City!

Rest Day in Helena

Got free-range yard-chicken eggs for breakfast. MTB city also features a flock of ducks, two dogs, a flock of young turkeys, and one cat. Biked into downtown into Garage Cyclerey where all 4 of us recieved a bicycle safety check. Vlad, whose chainring was missing 4 teeth as of the alpaca ranch, was able to get a new chainring even though they were out of stock, because a shop employee who used to ride ECRs had an extra chainring sitting around, and was willing to sell Vlad the chainring. Conrad at MTB city is quite the host, and shared some interesting stories wth us. As well as a couple of full plastic cups of locally made bourbon.

Second rest day in Helena.

Generally resulting from a postal SNAFU, we ended up here for a second rest-day. The smoke is bearing down as I write this; we are hidden out at 'The Hub' coffee in downtown Helena. The mountains and sky aruond the city are shrouded in gray wildfire smoke, the heat is stifling, the air is choking. We have been shuffling from one indoor space to another, hoping to wait out some of the hours of worst air quality.

We are scoping out routes that use more highway and less technical rock terrain in the interest of getting out of the most intense smoke areas.

Helena to Boulder Bicycle Barn

Climbed what a local later referred to as 'Boulder Hill' on the I-15, from which we descended into Boulder MT. Boulder MT is clearly haunted. There is a highly conspicuous kid prison near the fairgrounds. Nobody answered the phone when we called the posted number for staying at the bicycle barn.

Boulder Bicycle Barn to I-25/Sketchy Tunnel

We took off from Boulder Bicycle Barn, and rode on backroads near (but not on) I-15 into a channel between two rock walls, which lead to a tunnel which was built in 1911. The tunnel was closed... We camped at a dispersed campsite just south of the tunnel next to a creek, and within eyeshot of the innerstate.

Sketchy Tunnel to Butte to Thomphson Park

Rose and I rode somewhat early out of camp and over a brief but steep climb to join a frontage road, then the I-25 for a dramatic, very-fast descent into Butte. In Butte, we collected the speaker I'd ordered, checked out the outdoors store, visited the Bad Beaver bike shop, and ate a lot of food at Pita Pit. Also at Pita Pit, a fellow cyclist stopped to check out our rigs, and Vlad somehow identified and befriended a fellow math person. We hauled on up to Thompson park, where we went to setup camp, and were approached by a forest service person, who told us that we could not camp there, but if we left and rode up the road and took the next right, we'd reach a place where nobody would bother us. We packed up tents, ate dinner in the dark, and rode up the road to set up agian.

Thompson Park to Linda and Dave's Place

We rolled out the next morning and commenced to climb for a few miles, which took us under a huge rail trestle the park is known for. We were still within the boundary of Thompson park when we selected a cutout on the side of the road to eat lunch at. As we were eating lunch, a white pickup truck (a very common sight out here) rolled up, and a man wearing a bicycle jersey stepped out and pulled a road bike out of the bed of his truck. He approached us and asked us what was up and invited us to stay at his property which was just up the road, which he described as 'XXX (number redacted) with the red roof'. He then took off down the grade on his fast-looking road bike and our group decided tha we should at least look at it before turning down free lodging. We rode sub-1-mile distance to his place and negotiated the quarter mile loose gravel driveway to a stunning property with mountian views, big boulders, and a thoughtfully managed woodland. After looking at it and doing a vibe check, we decided that we should just spend the night there. When Dave arrived back he showed us around, and we were fed a chichen dinner, given cigars, a sauna, indoor lodging in a guest cabin above the garage, and had the opportunity to share some scotch and tequila with our hosts. That night it finally rained enough to wet the ground. We were fed breakfast and Patrick sighted a moose on the property in the morning.

Linda and Dave's Place to Big Hole River Access

Dewey and Big Hole 'Powerhouse' fishing access. The campgrounds near Dewey were all closed, when we rolled up to one that had been taken over by forest service fire crew and asked about camping, they directed us to the Powerhouse river access on the Big Hole river and assured us that all of the rules prohibiting camping were suspended, and that nobody would stop us from camping. We pitched tents on the gravel parking lot right next to the vault toilet.

Big Hole River Access to Wise River and Pettengil Campground

In Wise River at the restaurant, we found out that we'd need to wait a few days for our packages to arrive in Polaris.. And thus begins a slow roll down the Pioneer Mountians scenic byway.

Pettengil Campground to Little John Campground

The offcial campground was overrun with people. We camped off an entrance a bit away from the sign, with creek access and steep enough terrain to keep most of the cars out.

Little John Campground to Crystal Park, Elkhorn hot Springs, and Grasshopper Campground

Camped with a fellow rider for one night. It rained for most of the night. For the first time in this trip, we pitched 2 hammock rainflies next to each other to use as a shelter for cooking.

Grasshopper Campground to Bannack State Park

We arrived in Polaris after a downhill ride and stop at the famous Ma Barnes country store, to find that 3 of the four boxes of our food had arrived. Cherri the postal worker helped Rose and Patrick redirect their missing primary food box to Lima, and gave Rose a ride back to Ma Barnes to stock up on a few more items to get us down the road to Lima. This was the day that We finally popped off of the scenic byway into a high, dry, sagebrush desert.

Bannack State Park to Medicine Lodge Creek

The old ghost town was jammed with RVs for the weekend. We camped in a teepee in the RV campground. I caught a fish that I was unable to identify in the creek at Bannack in the sagebrush on Grasshopper creek behind our teepee.

Medicine Lodge Creek to Big Sheep Creek/Caboose Canyon

Biking upwind, uphill, on a loose surface is hard. I found a skull at the oasis where Rose and Patrick were waiting for Vlad and I. We camped in a nice canyon. Super scenic.

Caboose Canyon/Big Sheep Creek to Lima

Rest day at canyon. Took time to catch up on sewing repairs to clothing. Utilized an incredible swimming hole in Big Sheep Creek.

Lima

Our boxes were not here when we arrived on Tuesday. We are getting to know Lima extremely well. We've visited the I-15 rest stop, the historic cemetery, etc. The first 2 nights here were spent at the Mountian View RV park, then we camped at the gazebo in front of the gas station, which unlike tbe RV park, is free to camp in and provides at least some shade. Over the weekend we dipped into the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest for a break from gas station gazebo life until our box arrives tomorrow (Monday).

Catching up on our current situation:

ROSE:

Rooseville to Eureka!

An early rise for a 10 mile trek up hwy 93 to Whitefish Bike retreat for our shuttle up to Rooseville, MT at the Canadian boarder. We ended up giving our shuttle driver, James, a van conversation to add to his top five strangest conversations he’s everhad; you’ll have to catch a ride with him to find out what it was about. A few hours of putting racks back on, finishing a few beers, and getting gear situated before a leisurely ride to Eureka MT.

Eureka, MT has a cute space next to the creek for camping right in town, though the bathrooms are at the 24 hr gas station across the street AND beware the 0700 sprinkler system. The historical site has a nice pavilion with water and electricity near the city “wild walk” along the creek, don’t try to camp in the pavilion…also beware of the skunk.

Eureka, MT to Whitefish, MT

About 20 miles from Eureka to Clarence Creek campground, a simple mountain two site camping area near a beautiful small creek with ice cold delicious (filtered) water. We are still getting organized and filtering through what we really need/want at this point (Rebecca and Patrick already mailed a few things back home in Whitefish—I feel I’ll be doing the same once back in Whitefish).

About 12 miles from Clarence Creek to Tuchuck campground. This was and adventure within one for sure. I(R ose) had a non-repairable side wall blowout on my rear wheel about 3 miles from Tuchack campground. Rebecca and Patrick returned to my rescue after about a mile of hike-biking. Upon our arrival to Tuchuck we met Doug who immediately offered tools, supplies and a ride the next day. After some discussion and planning we (Rose and Patrick) had arranged a ride back to Whitefish with Doug; Rebecca and Vlad planned on carrying on following the route back to Whitefish.

The Rose & Patrick show:

The ride with Doug was wonderful. He is local Montanan with a heart of gold and a wonderful knowledge of the area we were in. Patirick and I both felt like we got a tour of the area with history and defining land formations identified. We ended up taking most of the route we would have riden via truck; Red Meadow lake is beautiful and I wish we could have stayed there for the night. We rolled into Whitefish about 4.5 hours after pickup from Doug and he so kindly brought us to the bike shops (all closed for Sunday) and an outdoor store looking for a new tire, with no luck on that front.

The next day Patrick was able to take my wheel and get a new tire (as well as a spare that would fit all out wheels) from Glacier Cyclery & Nordic! Thank you all at that location, you ended up helping us out three separate times!! Vlad and Rebecca rolled into camp this evening.

Tuesday, JUNE 29th-(WONDER WOMAN)- EMILY ARRIVES!!!! YAY!! In an attempt to surprise Emily, Patrick and I rolled into Whitefish early and got coffee and toast (and free makeup samples cause they were out if a second slice of sourdough?!?!?) The train was 2 hours late.... Breakfast with all five of us in Whitefish! A rest and bike mechanic stuff day...Riding again tomorrow.

Vlad thoughts:

I'm finally in Montanta, USA! Some of our readers are perhaps aware of Montana, Bulgaria, which I guess I should visit next to compare. For the record, North Dakota is very flat, whereas Montana is hilly, mountainous, and dry (the dry heat is quite reminiscent of Bulgarian summers I grew up with).

After the two day drive to Whitefish (June 21 and 22), we noticed my front disc break seemed to whistle, so the following rest day (June 23), I left Duncan at Glacier Cyclery for adjustments (which would not be the last time); also from Glacier Cyclery I procured the all-important fanny pack for Rebecca, and a strap for the speaker Rose & Patrick lent me (music regulates the pedal cadence, especially uphill). Notably, Whitefish is home to Proof Research, a corporation developing carbon-fiber barrels and rifles, a far cry from the pure math research I assumed they'd be doing.

The following day (Thursday, June 24) we set off (way early, trying to leave by 7am) on our bikes toward the Whitefish Bike resort, wherein we had some local ice-cream to prepare us. Next, we were shuttled to Roosville, MT, around 1,000 feet from the U.S.-Canadian border (on the U.S. side), and after some adjustments and repacking (Rebecca and I had to dismantle the front racks off Loreli and Duncan in order to fit them on the shuttle's bike bracket), we finally began riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route! There was a spittle of rain that prompted me to don my rain jacket for a while, but otherwise we had smooth mostly flat and downhill ride punctuated with a few climbs and quite the breathtaking views (Montana is Big Sky country after all). We finished what we consider Day 0's riding at Eureka, MT (we found it!). Therein Rebecca and I had local pizza for dinner, then attempted and promptly aborted a journey along the riverwalk due to an overabundance of mosquitoes. Note: the sun sets after 9:30pm here and it is light quite past 10pm, so twilight is much later than usual.

June 25, Day 1 of riding, was begun with a massive breakfast at the local Cafe Jax, followed by a short steep ascent, continued with an uneventful, chiefly downhill ride on paved roads for the first half of the day, then a not too difficult uphill to our first proper (i.e. away from people and amenities) campsite at Clarence Creek. Day 2 of riding took us down, and then up to our first crossing of the continental divide -- Whitefish Divide. The climb was hard: steep over a dirt road littered with rocks, quite a lot of which I had to push rather than ride Duncan over, but eventually we made it, and at the very top there was even snow! Note: we're doing this in an unprecedented heat wave with temperatures in the 90s (Fahreneheit), but fortunately the virtually inexistent humidity, the tree cover, our downhill velocity, cooling arm-sleeves (bonus UV protection!) and coming from Madison's near 100% humidity made the high temperatures actually pleasant (though our carrying gallons of water was indeed justified). Post-Divide we descended to Tuchuck, but did not all of us continue to Red Meadow as planned due to Rose's sidewall blowout (treacherous sharp rocks!)

The Rebecca and Vlad show:

The RV team rides from Tuchuck to Red Meadow Lake. We encounter hot conditions, and a steep climb up to Red Meadow pass (more bike pushing from V), punctuated by our first black bear sighting (it ran away; that's why we blare music as we ride: to ensrure bear awareness of us: don't want to startle a sleeping bear!).

At Red Meadow lake, Rebecca and Vlad camp at the free National Forest campground, get chased around by bugs (from mosquitos really, the bees did not bite), and have a 4:00pm takeoff the following afternoon after Rebecca installs front brake pads and re-adjusts the front rack on Loreli. We then descend steeply and terrifyingly until Rebecaa's front rack jostles loose (faulty bolt) and Vladimir's back break seems to fail.

We then spent an hour and a half replacing the break pad with a sturdy one, and continue a very speedy descend until we reach the forest road. We see another black bear, then go somewhat fast on the forest road, which is for a while a gravel road with lots of fun ups and downs, requiring very careful and focused riding, but we make it finally to the paved road around Whitefish lake, which we follow succesfully and without incident to the campground at Whitefish, thereby completing a loop and rejoining our friends.

The following day, June 29th, is a rest day, during which I (Vlad) once again deposit Duncan with Glacier Cyclery to double-check my rear-break work and fix the housing of my front break cable. More replacement break pads are procured, and amazing crepes are had.

Post from Eureka (written by RH)

We made it. The van has been returned, our gear packed and repacked several times, a rest day taken in Whitefish, the shuttle boarded on time, and disembarked from. We're now in Eureka. I have even figured out how to post to this blog with git, and how to use the GoPro camera. No more deadlines.

Here's some pictures, in no particular order:

Text from in van, 6/22/2021

We are on highway 2, and I have vi opened up on my Toughbook; I'm editing a brand new, blank file. Just entered into Shelby Montana, en-route to Glacier National Park, mountains occasionally looming in the distance. We have been in this rental van for what feels like a lifetime, but in fact, it's only been since 11AM yesterday that we have been in here. There was initially an intention to camp on the eastern edge of Montana, but time did not allow for it, so, we have been driving through the day, the night, then the day agian. We are running up against exactly one hard deadline after the van is due tonight at 11PM in Columbia Falls, MT. The shuttle from Whitefish, MT to Roosvile, MT, where we are officially beginning the route. Some shuffing of gear is in order, as well as exactly two nights of camping to recover from being in transit. I still have to figure out what the template for this blog will be ( is a template even in order for such a thing? ). A lot is up in the air, but I feel that at least I am ready for action.