Over the Rockies

(brice)

For the second consecutive night we’re without internet at our campsite (this isn’t a complaint; I wasn’t expecting to get any Gs at all through ND and MT, much less 3 of them, somehow, away from any interstate and in a town of 87 people, all the way until last night). So while there are a million awesome pictures to post, they’ll all have to wait until we have a reliable connection and some free time. I figured in the meantime it’d be good to write down what we’ve been up to before we forget.

Yesterday we climbed for about 20 miles out of 24 miles out of Browning to Marias Pass, at just under a mile elevation. It was steep, particularly the first section, but not absurdly so and the views as we rode into the range were worth it. We did get to skip at least a few feet due to a construction zone that had been deemed unpassable by bicycle for liability reasons. Instead, the nice construction workers had us pile our bikes and gear into the bed of the follow-me truck that was leading cars through a section of treacherous, narrow one way gravel. The truck only had one spare seat so I rode in the bed with the bikes; it’s unclear to me if the less than wholly legal seating arrangement is much of an improvement for them liability wise but we sure weren’t complaining. The ride was less than a mile so we’re claiming credit for the full ascent.

The downhill side of the pass is steep and long and we were glad we didn’t have to climb it (though certainly worse ascents are in our future). The headwinds continued, so we had to pedal most of the downhill out, stopping to admire a couple of distant mountain goats. We’d hoped to make West Glacier, but were feeling pretty wiped out so stopped at a little motel after 52 miles. Eastbound cyclists were camping there who’d had 6 straight days of nonstop rain at one point in Washington. We’ve only been truly soaked 3 times total in 9.5 weeks, but of course we still have WA to go.

This morning we got up and rode 15 miles to West Glacier, which was the first opportunity for breakfast. It’s a bit shocking to suddenly be in tourist country; it was the first cafe we’ve been in that didn’t have a table of 12 retired dudes sipping coffee; coffee suddenly costs $1.75 instead of a buck.

There finally were no significant winds, but we only went another 30 miles to Whitefish as it’s a long ways past whitefish to the next camping spot. There’s a nice cycle shop here so we were able to replace Susan’s rear wheel which was close to wearing through, and restock on chamoix butter. We’re in a nice state park just outside of town tonight, and tomorrow we’re off to Eureka, possibly in rain. With luck I’ll be able to post this in the morning and we’ll get pictures up before too long.