Day 12: Ghost Town

August 30, 2024

Distance 129km

Climbing: 1288m

Dogs chasing us: 2

It was possibly our coldest morning but it’s hard to compare with the snowy morning after the windstorm a few days ago. It’s always hard to square how hot the afternoons are and how cold the mornings are.

It took over an hour of riding for the sun to rise over the ridges enough that we got direct sunshine. Once we did though we warmed up quickly and climbed into some high meadows that were surreally beautiful.

We had pavement for over 60km which isn’t always the best due to traffic, heat, and less scenery, but this was a nice stretch and got us to the ghost town of Bannack with enough time to check out some of the buildings.

Andrew getting schooled in Bannack. There was some interesting material on the boards.

The hotel was probably the best preserved building along with the school house (with Masonic lodge on second floor).

It’s hard to believe this was being considered as a possibly capital for the state of Montana given how inhospitable and desolate the area is. Very interesting to visit though.

Leaving Bannack we fought headwinds and washboard gravel roads late into the day to reach the next informal campsite at 7pm. There just weren’t many options before that point. It was a hard push for both of us and we just managed to make dinner, clean up and set up our tents by dark. We decided to set our wake-up time for the next day 30 minutes later to reduce the time we spend riding before the sun hits us.

Today's ride: 129 km (80 miles)
Total: 1,355 km (841 miles)

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