August 22, 2024
Day 4: Eureka, Montana to Wilderness.
Note: If you are reading along and have my cell send me a message. I love rolling into cell service to new mail :)
This morning I awoke at 5 AM, a full hour ahead of my alarm. I was happy that up to that point I’d slept more soundly, albeit for less than 7 hours. Recently I’ve really leaned into the power of sleeping. My mom teases me that I start many conversations with ‘hey, I just learned this on a podcast.’ But, I do really enjoy learning new things and trying to grow in different ways. Sleep is critical for so many reasons. It impacts cognitive functioning, helps solidify memories, improves physical performance, and all around just makes you feel sharp.
On a trip like this one it’s not surprising that my sleep is disrupted. We left the comfy confines of a bedroom with climate control and blackout curtains and entered into the wilderness and sometimes areas of dense population with car noise, among other things. It takes the body time to adapt to the changes and I’m hoping that I hit a turning point last night.
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Inside the tent I could feel the heavy moisture in the air. Although we were at a significantly lower elevation the wet air really made it feel cold. I tried sleeping for a while longer but gave up at 5:40 and caught up on Peter’s journal. I made the necessary clothing decisions involving layering. Today I decided on the sun hoodie with a merino t-shirt on top followed by a bike vest and rain coat to cut the chill.
Made the top of the long climb by 11:10 for lunch and 41 km for the day. The climb started for 16 km on narrow pavement. We were passed by huge trucks travelling the other direction a few times. We gave way to them and got off the road. The surface then changed to nice gravel and as we got closer to the summit it was larger pieces of sharp gravel characteristic of the alpine. It made the climbing more difficult.
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Along the road we found these wooden ramps and a tie up area for horses. It looked like the type of ramp used on a ranch to move cattle into a truck but it was out of place. There was no way for cattle to graze in the area with steep hills and all trees. Peter guessed it was for getting people onto horses. This turned out to be a good guess because later in the afternoon we stopped to check out a campground for horses and they had the same ramp. The campground was completely deserted but very inviting just not the right time in the day for us.
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We made it to the top shortly after 11 AM after climbing over 900 m in 45 km. It was a challenging but very rewarding effort to arrive in the alpine to complete quiet. There was no one for miles. Lunch was a repeat of the day before but it still tasted good.
After reaching the peak of the road by lunch we descended 600 m through wildly different terrain. It was small trees at the top that grew as we descended but then we hit an area where a forest fire must have ripped through 20 years ago. There were signs of burnt trees but also new growth.
Peter warned me that after the descending we’d be going straight back up. And that was entirely accurate. Today was a really great sunny weather and with all the climbing I was eating more like a horse. It’s similar to hiking where I can hardly eat enough to keep up to the output. The day before I ate an entire bag of cashews (1200 calories) in about an hour and a half. Today it was peanuts, mixed nuts followed by peanut M&M’s.
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The climbing required a lot of exertion. We had to take breaks every half hour or so to recharge before tackling the endless climbing. We finally reached the top and we were rewarded with beautiful lake views. There was a campground there as well but we planned on continuing downhill to another campground with a lake.
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It was a bit disappointing to find the campground mostly occupied and the sound of a generator after spending an amazing day in the alpine. We were happy though that we arrived by 4:45 and our site was sunny so we could dash down to the lake and wash ourselves and our clothes. Laundry is certainly a challenge. The washing is easy but we are not idle enough for things to dry. We’ll have to find a solution to that problem.
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So far I’m happy with almost my entire set up. Coming into the trip I knew that carrying food in a dry bag on the side of the rack might be challenging. It works fine straight from the grocery store but as the food dwindles there isn’t enough volume to hold the bag in place.
A trip to REI to replace it with a pannier is likely to happen soon. That and looking for a pair of thick neoprene gloves for the mornings. The mitts I bought work okay but I don’t have enough feel with them on the brakes on big descents with rocks trying to throw you off course. A couple times I have grabbed too much brake as a result.
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It was our hardest day of riding yet but it was incredibly varied from grass farmland to high alpine and low alpine and back again.
Great day!
Deer - too many to count!
Distance: 108 km / 1686 m elevation
Riding: 7:15-4:45
Today's ride: 108 km (67 miles)
Total: 482 km (299 miles)
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| Comment on this entry | Comment | 1 |
Stay safe & well fed.
2 months ago