Across the Continental Divide

We bid a fond audi to Lincoln Mo. home of the Uni-bomber at 6:30 Am and rolled down the road a short distance to see a grizzly bear display which is presented by the parks department. There they have the worlds largest stuffed grizzly bear, which weighed in at 875 pounds and was killed by a pick up truck. Kind of sad really, he was a magnificent creature.

The weather was blustery and rain was threatening. So jackets were the order of the day however they were soon shed as we turned up toward Flesher Pass and the Continental divide. The climb was relatively easy compared to some of the stuff we have been doing. At the summit was a reporter from the local paper interviewing people and it was fun. The back side was even more fun as it was a 25 mile downhill to picnic. Picnic was in a park where the park ranger had opened a group site just for us. I filled my face with lots of goodies including this great chicken salad. However I could see thunder clouds looming in the hills so it was time to head out. The days ride was 90.9 miles and picnic was at 53 so there was just 37.9 miles to go and a major part of that was down hill. Should be an easy 2.5 hour ride. WRONG. About 5 miles later this head wind in front of the thunder head whips up, and I am down to about 12 mph. OK so I have ridden for 20 minutes and it is still 2.5 hr to camp. After an hour I am down to about 22 miles to go and grinding away a 8 mph. Now camp is 3 hours away. Well I did make it in and I didn't get caught in the storm. I was the second to sign in so I was well ahead of the storm, but a lot of people did get caught. Right now the storm is just howling out there. It should be fun in the tent tonight.

We did ride through Helena the state capital and the traffic was hectic but I did stop for a picture of a the state capital building. There is a museum right next door which looked very interesting but I was on a mission.

I need to correct the post about the University of Missoula. I incorrectly identified it as the University of Missoula. It is really the University of Montana. The attached picture clearly identifies this fact. So sorry. It was still nice.

Happy trails

Terry

Terry