An Excellent Adventure

Day 18 Today we followed one of our map's official "alternate" routes - partly to avoid some difficult terrain (we felt like we were all funned out for now with difficult terrain from yesterday) and partly because of the novelty it offered of legally riding on the interstate for a few miles. We left Mormon Gulch campground and followed a steep gravel frontage road along I-15. The frontage road gave way to a nice, flat old railroad grade which we continued following through the mountain passage between Basin and Butte. We even got to go through a cool old railroad tunnel labeled "No. 9, 1911" (Eric Rickert, if you're reading this, know that I thought of you. I have no idea when this railroad shut down or which one it was, but I would not be surprised if you do). One of the few downsides to the new ecosystems we were experiencing on this side of the divide since Helena was the lack of berries we had been finding, but then... We found a new spe...

Day 16 We made the most of our day in Helena by staying at the Park Avenue bakery for quite some time and using it as home base for running several errands in town and doing things on the internet (such as paying bills, blogging) before we left. In fact, we stayed there so long that by the time we left, we had already eaten two of the days meals there, and the street out front had been re-paved while we were inside. While in town, Katelyn met two other southbound bicycle tourists from England who had arrived through the smoke. After hearing about their experience, we were glad we got a ride through it. Before leaving Helena, we made a detour to see the cathedral of St. Helena and took a few minutes for quiet and prayer before departing into the wilds again. Our first map instruction leaving Helena was "Bear right on Grizzly Gulch." We left town to go ride a short day and camp part-way up an extended climb that we would finish the next day. The scenery was dif...

Day 13 We began the day at the Arnone's, and Tom showed me around his motorcycle and bike shop, which was very cool. Tom has built his own bicycle frames, including one for a tandem bike on which he and his son won a prize in a national championship race. We rode to the touristy town of Bigfork, MT, which sits on the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. It was HUGE! On the way, we found... Wild cherries! ...mmm... We camped at Wayfarers State Park, which had excellent hiker/biker sites that included a fix-it stand. We shared our site with two other parties of bicycle tourists: an Italian man who has previously toured in Africa, Asia, and South America; and a retired couple from Vancouver. There was also a nice man who was living as a hobo (in the homo bono sense) there, staying in the campground for cheap and working as a window washer in town for the summer. While we were there, we literally went to town, buying tons of fresh vegetables to binge on ...

Day 8 (continued) After leaving our lovely bed & breakfast in Eureka, we made our way toward the national forest to begin a few days of backcountry riding. On our way into the Kootenai National Forest, what did we encounter, but a craft brewery on the edge of the woods! We stopped and refreshed ourselves with four tiny glasses of beer at Homestead Ales Brewing before heading into the forest. We camped at a free "dispersed" campsite in the national forest which, surprisingly, had a building next to it (we think for snowmobile use of some kind). That night we heard some very large-sounding animal walk through our campsite. Not sure what it was, but glad we used good food storage practices like we are supposed to. It didn't mess with us or our food. Day 9 We had some beautiful riding and gained a lot of elevation. We saw a field of bear grass, a funky flower which we are told only blooms every seven years. We crossed the Whitefish Divide, which is not the ...