Day 14 (7/6): Lost Trail Parking, MT --> Twin Bridges, MT (120 miles)

Days mileage: 120 miles

(limited time here at computer so...here it goes....)

Started day by killing off about 20 mosquitos and then rode the last 200 feet of the climb up to Chief Joseph Pass....we were around mid 7,000 feet elevation and had also crossed the Continental Divide for the first time. We started to coast on down the looooooong decent when I saw thru me peripheral vision a big-animal-like face staring at me as Stephen and I zipped on by....I slammed on the breaks and yelled " A Moose!!!"....we turned our velo's around and biked back...unfortunatly it was pretty smart to see our retracing of steps and retreated to an out-of-reach area about 75 yards back in the woods...still though...a real, live moose animal.

We then biked on through Big Hole Valley, which was pretty damn amazing...I've never seen so much sky at one time and the mountains were absolutely breathtaking, along with covered with remnants of last winters snowfall...and prob the year's prior underneath that. The weather started gettin up near the good ol' 100 degree mark again as we zipped on through some one horse towns looking for some relief from the sun's rays and for some calories to keep the legs turning.

After a quick lunch break we headed out again, into the searing heat and melting pavement and clambered our way up two more mountain passes (Big Hole Pass (7,300 feet) and Beaver Head Pass (6,900 feet)). We then cruised on down through the small town of Dillon, stocked up on food, updated blogs, and watched as storm clouds raged on by us wtih winds that almost blew the library away...no joke.

It was nearing 7pm by this point in the day and we were hoping to get some decent miels in today despite the uncommy temps, lingering storm, and overall fatigue. We made it though to a small town called Twin Bridges and pitched tents in some field near a baseball field. We avoided automatic sprinklers like it was our job, made pasta, were eaten (again) by mosquitos, and slept...both of our legs were dead, beat tired.