July 31, 2024
Day 6 - Whitefish to Eureka MT
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Day 6 - Eureka Riverside Park Camping
Eureka is a town in Lincoln County, Montana, United States, 9 miles south of the Canada–US border.
Well, that was a full day with A LOT of variety and fun. Need to thank Walt - cyclist who took me on a scout of the early part of this route. Walt test assured I found the cut off onto the gravel - I would have missed it with our your kindness.
The route included a nice rolling ride with no traffic on Lakeshore Road. Then the fun started, a popular route for the Great Divide Route, it is a well-packed gravel experience. It starts out with a big sign with pic of a black bear next to a grizzly.
That sign was vivid in my mind as I traversed the beautiful backcountry to the "T" in the road.
I won't say much other than it brought back memories of Mt Rainier and the backcountry around Seattle - the big difference was I wasn't in a mini cooper with my buddy (adventure dog) Mr. B next to me. (This is a family reference so....)
I must mention the cyclist I met on the gravel section. He reassured me that I had made the right turn and that my left turn to Olney lay 10 miles ahead. He passed me going the other way on his out and back ride. He yelled, "only 4 miles to go...."
The 7 miles after the T was all downhill on better gravel then the past many miles.
I finally made it Olney and Hwy 93. My route had me going gravel again, but the clerk at the adventure store in Olney said I won't like. The area along that route was being logged and was very rough and busy.
Divert - take 93 instead. It really was a great road 12" shoulders turning to 24" shoulders.
View of Diggy's Lake - it was so inviting, was thinking of camping there.
Anyway, I stopped in Trego as planned. I was hoping to get something at the "bar" well not serving until 3 pm. The nice lady there had chips and salsa though. I had some, but thought this isn't doing it
Well, didn't sit long, left the bar with a recommendation from a couple at the bar. The kind recommendation was to avoid the climb up the big hill. The lady said to take the left at the dumpsters after the train tracks. That would take along the tree line back to 93. (....was a great divert....)
Later I was suppose to find some farm roads off 93, but missed them. Honestly, I didn't look hard because the motorists were being respectful and there wasn't much of it. Only issue today was two crazies, one a logging truck and one a diesel di_k pickup. They passed me like I wasn't there.
Well, road into Eureka at around 3:30 pm. Went to a gym and got a shower. Felt so good! Going to spend the night at Riverside Park - free camp across from the Exxon Station.
That's all folk. Thank you to my wifey and my boys (and Bill) for checking the InReach Mini 2 messages and tracking!
Time to rest!
Good night -
Today's ride: 67 miles (108 km)
Total: 163 miles (262 km)
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3 months ago