Day 16 (7/8): Cameron, MT --> Grant Village, WY (115 miles)
Days mileage: 115 miles
(more limited time in library...ready...go...)
We left the back of the post office in Cameron pretty early in the morn and were welcomed by headwinds of great proportions.
We trudged on and on and tried to enjoy the scenery, Madison River, amazing mtns, and low number of cars on the roads seein it was early on a Sunday morning (and we all know where one should be on a Sunday morning, eh?). Anyways,
We were shooting to get as far into Wyoming as we could.
We rolled on through the landscape, stopped at the infamous "Three Dollar Bridge", and rolled on up a quick, step climb that gave us an amazing view of Earthquake Lake. We pulled to an overlook and there...perched on a tree that was halfway swallowed by the lake was a Bald Eagel...just sittin there waiting for Stephen and myself to take some Kodak pictures. Then we saw another one...off...over there...look! in the trees! So...we concluded they had a nest or something over yonder where the first one we saw flew too. Hurrah for nature!
We made a quick descent into a gorge like area where the Madison River flowed through and had a pancake lunch at a pretty quaint little bed and breakfast that was hidden by peaks of mtns that nearly tore open the noonday sun.
By midafternoon we rolled on into the town of West Yellowstone, took pictures of the tourists, ate some more food and then entered the infamous Yellowstone National Park (And crossed on into Wyoming).
Stephen and I were pretty excited by this point in the day....even though we had biked about 62 miles already we could hardly notice seeing the amazing scenery and the wonderful and unforgetful amount of RV traffic and poor driving skills whcih they all seemed to possess.
Yellowstone Park itself was damn amazing and I think everyone who is alive should have the option to go throguh it at least once. I also think that before anyone is allowed to buy an RV they need to take an "I'm Not A Moron...or an Idiot" test....it was horrific how horrible they drive...
We saw: a bison, elk, 20 minute rain storm, and more RV's.
But seriously...
It was gettin late in the day (~8pm) and we still had a solid 20 miles of riding before we'd reach Grant Village. But, alas...we still had two moutnain passes that were both over 8,200 feet in elevation and the option of going to see Old Faithful. Last minute we decided to detour and roll the dice of luck to see if we'd see the good ol' song and dance for which she is so famous for.
We only had to wait 2 minutes before she made an appearance. I was fortuante enough to videotape most of it and get some still photos.
We made haste to make a speedy exit before all the RV's got a chance to pull out in front of us and zoom off forever after.
We climbed the the passes...in the dark...and rolled into Grant Village aroun 10pm and pitched our tents in the hiker-biker campsite.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Day 15 (7/7): Twin Bridges, MT --> Cameron, MT (54 miles)
(i thought this last pic was amusing..it was in the local post office..it's about identity theft...i wasn't sure why a man would try to steal the identity of a women...isn't that kinda obvious?...first pic is of valley where Madison River flows....second one is of Nevada City strip...and thrid one is of storm rollin on in...)
Days mileage: 54 miles
Our legs were dead as well as our spirit to pedal today. Yesterday was a long day with head winds for most of it. But, we had little choice...for, obviously, the miles weren't gettin any shorter with us sittin in one spot.
So, we were off after chattin with an English couple who had also used the random fields as a camp for the night. We bid each other farewell and then started the long, gradual climb up a no-name pass. The coolest part was the small towns of Nevada City and Virginia City...true ol' tyme Western Towns where folks used to shift for golden nuggets throughout the rolling and desert-like landscape....it was incredible to look at the remnants now and just see it as a ghost-town which tourists kept pumping wtih some money. We stopped in a small bakery, ate a cinnamon roll and started the climb...luckily there was some overcast in the sky so our bodies didn't suffer too much from direct sun.
And then the Madison River came into full view...this river, as I informed Stephen for the remainder of the day, was one of the most famous fly-fishing rivers in the U.S. and he should think himself a fortunate sole to be biking parallel to such hallowed waters as the Madison....he sped off ahead of me as I drolled over my handlebars and thought about fly-fishing.
We meandered through another 11 miles towards a small town called Cameron...hoping to just stop for lunch and then get in another 50 miles or so....but, when we got out from eating there was nothing but dark, navy blue clouds towards our desired direction of travel.
Damn.
We saw lighting, rain, traffic with their headlights on....and a German couple roll on into Cameron seeking shelter from the storm (a really good Bob Dylan song is "Shelter From the Storm, which is on an even more amazing album "Blood on the Tracks"...if dont' own it then go buy it before reading anymore of this post...)
We hung out under the yawning of the restaurant/inn and were soon reduced to calling it a day and settin up camp behind the local post office. The cross winds were too bad and the lightining was too near...so, we slept and rested our muscles hoping they'd feel a bit better for the next day to come....
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.
(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.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Day 13 Pictures
Pic 1: Trapper Mtn (elevation ~10,000 feet)
Pic 2: Cutthroat Trout...had it lined up with reel/rod but it flopped away at last second..
The climb up Chief Joseph Pass at dusk...about 3/4 way up the climb
Pic 2: Cutthroat Trout...had it lined up with reel/rod but it flopped away at last second..
The climb up Chief Joseph Pass at dusk...about 3/4 way up the climb
Day 13 (7/5): Missoula, MT --> Lost Trail Parking Lot, MT
Days mileage: 100 miles
Our free loafing at the Marriot hotel expired right after I finished swalling the last oversized chunk of blueberry muffin from the continental breakfast bar....Stephan and I rolled on out around 7:30 am seein the weather report was indicating a good chance that 100 degree temps would be felt by most of the human population that resided in Montana. So, we made haste to chase down as many miles of pavement as possible before our bodies screamed that they had had enough for the time being....
I'll just say here that Missoula itself was a bit of a let-down-town. Not sure if I had just romanticized it a lot while re-reading "A River Runs Through It"....or if things changed a lot from that time era....prob a nice proportion of both...
Anyways, both our legs were still pretty dead and neither of us felt like pushing the pace any more than was necessary to prevent us from losing balance and falling into 65 mph traffic flows...and it seemed like before we knew it we were eating lunch in an amazing little town (about 3,000 homosapiens reside there) that had the best bakery in the world (A Place To Ponder). They also had a great bike shop, great place to eat lunch, and a lot of fly-fishing shops. The day was gettin hot, and rather quickly by the time we took a knee to rest...we were pleased to have gotten in 51 miles before lunch time...good deal.
Our goal was to get to a town about 40 miles away called Sula that was at the base of a long climb we were also wishing to summit before days end. But, seeing how hot the day was we decided to coast on through those 40 miles and rest until about 7pm at the little town of Sula.
During the ride out towards Sula we starred in wild wonder at the destruction caused by a forest fire (the local townfolk point the finger of blame towards bolts of lighting). The destruction of mountainside and forest alike stretched for miles and miles and miles with no clear end insight unitl the town of Sula.
I soon came to find out how neat of a town Sula was...it had a population of 50 folks, one convenience store, and a camping area...oh...and a mini-golf course that redefines the term "miniature golf course." But, perhaps, the best part of this town is that a river flowed right behind the convenience store...and that's when I got to talkin with the lady behind the registar about whether or not it was alright to fish such waters where Montana trout may be waiting for such a fisherman as myself to sacrifice themselves to. "Yeh...I don't care...you can fish where ever you want to...just go 'round back and follow the deer path that leads down to the river and there's a good hole right there."
I jaunted out to me velo, rigged up me fly-rod, tied on a Muddler Minnow, and started to walk...lets just say...quickly towards the river (it was more like an all out sprint seein how excited I was to fish some hours of Montana summer heat away...Stephen chilled out in the A.C. reading a book I think while I chilled out in the waters).
I stumbled in the river and made a few casts. The current was swift and the river flowed wide. It took me a cast or two to find my rythm again, but once I did...well, that's when I landed my first native, wild Cutthroat trout. It faught pretty damn hard and was refusing to be pulled up and out of it's familiar world of water. I was pretty excited. I had caught a fish in Montana....a dream come true to say the least and I was ready to call it a day when I just figured I'd cast for a good while more while the temps were still near 100+ degrees.
I ended up landing 1 more Cutthroat trout and one 15" rainbow trout that nearly broke my arm off while I tried to reel him (or her) in. It was a pretty dandy experience to say the least.
By this point in the day I was pretty damn full of myself and thought I was unstoppable....not b/c I had caught wild, native trout in Montana...but b/c I caught those fish wearing spandex biking shorts and a biking jersey....there were about 6 fishermen (all decked out from head to toe in their finest of Orvis attire) who def scoffed at me as they went by figuring I had no idea how to even figure out how the river even flowed...boo-yah!
But then I realized I had to step down from 'Cloud 9' and still had a long climb up Chief Joseph Pass (Elevation of 7,200 feet) before the days end. So Stephen and I clipped into our pedals and were off. We were soon exchanging similar statements about how glad we were that we waited until 7:45 pm to climb this monster of a climb seein how cool it was now...hurrah for common sense, eh?
It took us about 2 hours to reach some rest stop right near the top (just over 7,000 feet) and figured we'd best call it a night there seein it was, basically, dark. We pulled into the parking lot area and were suddenly greeted by..not one...not two...not three...but (drum roll).....20,000,000,000 mosquitos and they were all lookin to get the better half of Stephen and myself. Though the temperature was quite nice we were forced to retreat to snug fit of our spandex pants, several layers of long sleeved garmets, a hat, and a towel around the neck.
Grand times.
We pitched tent, inhaled all the pasta we had packed up and retreated to our tent for the night.
2:30Am....I found it odd when I awoke to the sound of rain hammering away relentlessly on our tents. The skies were clear with stars everywhere the eyes might wish to wander...very odd....that's when things started to click into place and I was fully awake realizing that we had pitched our tents on a plot of grass that looked too good to be true to begin with and the rain was nothing more than automatic sprinklers that were just doing their job. I took some comfort in our stupidity, excused it hastily with our excuse of being eaten alive, and dove back into a deep slumber that not even automatic sprinklers could pry from my grip....
Our free loafing at the Marriot hotel expired right after I finished swalling the last oversized chunk of blueberry muffin from the continental breakfast bar....Stephan and I rolled on out around 7:30 am seein the weather report was indicating a good chance that 100 degree temps would be felt by most of the human population that resided in Montana. So, we made haste to chase down as many miles of pavement as possible before our bodies screamed that they had had enough for the time being....
I'll just say here that Missoula itself was a bit of a let-down-town. Not sure if I had just romanticized it a lot while re-reading "A River Runs Through It"....or if things changed a lot from that time era....prob a nice proportion of both...
Anyways, both our legs were still pretty dead and neither of us felt like pushing the pace any more than was necessary to prevent us from losing balance and falling into 65 mph traffic flows...and it seemed like before we knew it we were eating lunch in an amazing little town (about 3,000 homosapiens reside there) that had the best bakery in the world (A Place To Ponder). They also had a great bike shop, great place to eat lunch, and a lot of fly-fishing shops. The day was gettin hot, and rather quickly by the time we took a knee to rest...we were pleased to have gotten in 51 miles before lunch time...good deal.
Our goal was to get to a town about 40 miles away called Sula that was at the base of a long climb we were also wishing to summit before days end. But, seeing how hot the day was we decided to coast on through those 40 miles and rest until about 7pm at the little town of Sula.
During the ride out towards Sula we starred in wild wonder at the destruction caused by a forest fire (the local townfolk point the finger of blame towards bolts of lighting). The destruction of mountainside and forest alike stretched for miles and miles and miles with no clear end insight unitl the town of Sula.
I soon came to find out how neat of a town Sula was...it had a population of 50 folks, one convenience store, and a camping area...oh...and a mini-golf course that redefines the term "miniature golf course." But, perhaps, the best part of this town is that a river flowed right behind the convenience store...and that's when I got to talkin with the lady behind the registar about whether or not it was alright to fish such waters where Montana trout may be waiting for such a fisherman as myself to sacrifice themselves to. "Yeh...I don't care...you can fish where ever you want to...just go 'round back and follow the deer path that leads down to the river and there's a good hole right there."
I jaunted out to me velo, rigged up me fly-rod, tied on a Muddler Minnow, and started to walk...lets just say...quickly towards the river (it was more like an all out sprint seein how excited I was to fish some hours of Montana summer heat away...Stephen chilled out in the A.C. reading a book I think while I chilled out in the waters).
I stumbled in the river and made a few casts. The current was swift and the river flowed wide. It took me a cast or two to find my rythm again, but once I did...well, that's when I landed my first native, wild Cutthroat trout. It faught pretty damn hard and was refusing to be pulled up and out of it's familiar world of water. I was pretty excited. I had caught a fish in Montana....a dream come true to say the least and I was ready to call it a day when I just figured I'd cast for a good while more while the temps were still near 100+ degrees.
I ended up landing 1 more Cutthroat trout and one 15" rainbow trout that nearly broke my arm off while I tried to reel him (or her) in. It was a pretty dandy experience to say the least.
By this point in the day I was pretty damn full of myself and thought I was unstoppable....not b/c I had caught wild, native trout in Montana...but b/c I caught those fish wearing spandex biking shorts and a biking jersey....there were about 6 fishermen (all decked out from head to toe in their finest of Orvis attire) who def scoffed at me as they went by figuring I had no idea how to even figure out how the river even flowed...boo-yah!
But then I realized I had to step down from 'Cloud 9' and still had a long climb up Chief Joseph Pass (Elevation of 7,200 feet) before the days end. So Stephen and I clipped into our pedals and were off. We were soon exchanging similar statements about how glad we were that we waited until 7:45 pm to climb this monster of a climb seein how cool it was now...hurrah for common sense, eh?
It took us about 2 hours to reach some rest stop right near the top (just over 7,000 feet) and figured we'd best call it a night there seein it was, basically, dark. We pulled into the parking lot area and were suddenly greeted by..not one...not two...not three...but (drum roll).....20,000,000,000 mosquitos and they were all lookin to get the better half of Stephen and myself. Though the temperature was quite nice we were forced to retreat to snug fit of our spandex pants, several layers of long sleeved garmets, a hat, and a towel around the neck.
Grand times.
We pitched tent, inhaled all the pasta we had packed up and retreated to our tent for the night.
2:30Am....I found it odd when I awoke to the sound of rain hammering away relentlessly on our tents. The skies were clear with stars everywhere the eyes might wish to wander...very odd....that's when things started to click into place and I was fully awake realizing that we had pitched our tents on a plot of grass that looked too good to be true to begin with and the rain was nothing more than automatic sprinklers that were just doing their job. I took some comfort in our stupidity, excused it hastily with our excuse of being eaten alive, and dove back into a deep slumber that not even automatic sprinklers could pry from my grip....
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Day 12 (7/4): Missoule MT (0miles, day off)
So yeh...a day off to do nothing to requires any form of physical exertion, except that which to type words onto the computer monitor....
Some information for any one who's been losing sleep lately from not knowing:
1: Total trip miles so far: 1,058 miles
2: Total days of trip: 12 days (11 days biking, 1 rest day)
3: Avg hours on bike each day: between 6.5 hours and 9 hours
4: Avg costs per day: around 8-13 bucks (mainly for food/restocking)
5: Miles from Missoula, MT to Boulder, CO: 1,000 miles
6: For anyone who I emailed the itinerary too...no use in following it anymore...I've revised schedule, will still be done at same date, just tossing the miles around in different ways to increase days I can ride with Stephen and so forth
7: If anyone has tried calling me lately I most likley have not answered (as you've might have guessed by lack of a "hello"..this being blamed on patchy reception areas through most of Oregon, Idaho.
8: I really need to do laundry.
Some information for any one who's been losing sleep lately from not knowing:
1: Total trip miles so far: 1,058 miles
2: Total days of trip: 12 days (11 days biking, 1 rest day)
3: Avg hours on bike each day: between 6.5 hours and 9 hours
4: Avg costs per day: around 8-13 bucks (mainly for food/restocking)
5: Miles from Missoula, MT to Boulder, CO: 1,000 miles
6: For anyone who I emailed the itinerary too...no use in following it anymore...I've revised schedule, will still be done at same date, just tossing the miles around in different ways to increase days I can ride with Stephen and so forth
7: If anyone has tried calling me lately I most likley have not answered (as you've might have guessed by lack of a "hello"..this being blamed on patchy reception areas through most of Oregon, Idaho.
8: I really need to do laundry.
Day 11 (7/3): Eagle Mtn Pack Bridge, ID --> Missoula, MT (87 miles)
Days mileage: 87 miles
(picutres: 1: pair of cyclists from Lexington, Va 2: Stephen and I at Montana border
3: the first bicycle to cross the TransAm bike route)
A new state. Montana...(though if someone looks at the western profile of the state they will clearly see the profile of a man's face...so, it should really be called MAN-tana...just a thought, perhaps?)
Anyways, Stephen and I finally got an early start on the day. A cool, cool mornign, to say the least, that reminded me of cool, autumn mornings from back home in Virginia. I put on all the clothing items I owned and started pedaling as to get out of the "no service" wilderness and get in a decent meal.
Stephen and I both agreed that we must be biking on a tredmill...for the land looked exactly the same as it did yesteday with, hands down, the exact same bends in the road and the river. Luckily, our repetitive thoughts were shattered by seein a pair of bikers working their way towards us. Naturally, we stopped as to chit and chat, chat and chit about whatever. Ends up they live in Lexington, Va and had been on the road for quite a while. They had just retired and were taking as much time as their hearts desired. We then pressed on and ran into a trio of guys biking xc too (2 guys from Brooklyn, NY and one guy from England). We did the same as with the previous couple and pressed on to restock before we made our attack up Lolo Pass and dropped down and over into Montana once and forall.
That's when our fortune, hands down, changed for the better. We ran (or biked rather) into a group of about 20-30 folks who were biking xc, going in the same direction as ourselves, but had a support van...so they were def able to fly by us as we all started to feel the physical and mental strain of climbing up Lolo Pass. We chatted with them too and ends up their riding to Massachusetts and raising awareness for Duchenne Dystrophy....we stopped at t heir group van for gatorade and conversation and knocked out the last three miles of the climb.
Stephen and I raced to the state sign..me losing of course seein my gears would not shift...and, as Stephen stasted, had bigger legs then moi. It was somewhat close and a good way to officially exhaust the legs after that climb. We stopped to take pictures and started the descent into Montana and down towards the towns of Lolo Hot Springs (whcih we didnt' stop at seein it was in the 90's) and Missoula (which is where we planned on stopping and taking a rest day on July 4th.
The Summit of Lolo Pass topped out around 5,200 feet, so we had a nice coast on down for a while before the land tappered out and required a bit mor effort on our part to maintain a speed between 20-25 mph.
We rolled into Missoula around 4:30pm (Rocky Mtn. time) and headed straight towards the Adventure Cycling Association headquarters. There were rumors milling about that they had free icecream and we'd get to sign the registar book and get our pictures taken. We made haste.
It was amazing to get an official tour of the building and got to see a lot of memorbilial from the very first crossing of the country via a velo. We hung out afterwards and chatted with folks who were riding ahead of the group we were passed by earlier. They were still waiting on their arrival and were also taking a day off on July 4th. We continued to pry as to where they would be staying, and that's when they stated they were sponsored by Marriot, among other big companies. Well, well, well. It just so happened we had no place to stay and begged the question as to whether we could sneak in with them.
We got the nod of approval from the head man and will, surely, forever be grateful for such kind gestures towards comfort. We talked more and more with the group members and chaperones who were watching over the kids. Good deal.
It was nice to end the day in an over airconditioned room with over-soft-pillows.
I was looking forward to a day off the next day, glad to be in a new state, and anxious to map out the next 10 days that would lead me down to Boulder, CO where I'd get to see Loretta. I dozed off while writing rambling thoughts in my journal....
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