Days 8 to 11

Days 8 to 11 took me through a wonderful stretch of western Montana. Bigger towns along the way were Columbia Falls, Swan River, Ferndale, Ovando, and Lincoln (where I am right now). Between Ferndale and Ovando was a whole lot of national forest, which required the longest food carry so far (about 2.5 days).  I have started running into a good number of other people riding the same route and spent the day and a half riding with Matthew, a rider from France.  Since he has a lot longer timeline than I do, and is typically covering fewer miles per day. I should leave him a good 20 miles behind tomorrow. 

Very colorful lake somewhere between Columbia Falls and Swan River:


I ran into the same group of motorcyclists at least 3 times over 2 days in this stretch. They were following more or less the same route with deviations to avoid some of the wilder, single track sections.  

Very sketchy bridge somewhere in either the Swan River State Forest or Mission Mountains Wilderness (the planks flexed/bowed under just the weight of me and my bike):


The results of my first fall:


It wasn't anything dramatic; just a failure to get one foot out of its clip fast enough when I lost balance trying to restart on a steep hill. The saddle went back into shape with a hard twist.

Holland Lake with some evening thunderstorms in the distance:


Long, steep National Forest Service road:


A stretch of single track I was too timid to ride:


Me and a couple from AZ picking wild huckleberry at the top of an un-named pass:




Matthew and I having breakfast in Ovando:


Valley road:


The same road viewed from above about an hour later:



Screenshot from the navigation app (Adventure Cycling Bicycle Route Navigator) I am using:


It's accurate down to about a 25 ft diameter. I just have to keep the blue dot (me) on the red track.

Some riding from today:


Not the most interesting section I guess but it was one where I was confident that I could steer with one hand and video with the other.



Comments

  1. TanyaAugust 4, 2022 at 8:40 AM

    That colorful lake is beautiful. The old bridge, not so much. I am glad you weren't injured when you fell. I love the videos you are including. Stay safe and have fun. We miss you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ScottAugust 4, 2022 at 10:08 AM

    Good stuff

    ReplyDelete
  3. HedyAugust 4, 2022 at 8:14 PM

    Great blogging and the videos are really nice. Happy travels

    ReplyDelete

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