Day 337
Montana
We had arranged to stay in Ennis at Rachel’s, our Warmshowers host for a night. She had kindly agreed to have a parcel delivered - new oil for our Rohloff hubs. Every 5,000k they need an oil change. We had had a bit of a nightmare getting it delivered, first it was returned to sender when we were in Breckenridge, then delayed so didn’t arrive in Lander, so we had it resent to Rachel’s. It should have arrived before we did, but naturally it didn’t so Rachel simply said stay until it does. This meant 3 nights. Then, just to put upon her kindness even more we had arrived a day earlier than planned. We had a fantastic relaxing 3 days, met Frankie then Paul, fellow cyclists. Finally we did the oil change, blog updated and spent a fair bit of time catching up on Nexflix. I think only a fellow long distance cycle tourer will fully understand, we have free time in a town we will most likely never visit again but all we have the energy for is mindless entertainment with our feet up.
Finally, Saturday dawned and we were on our way. We knew it was time, Tom was wanting to cut the grass and I knew what was in every kitchen cupboard! We had barely left the town when we bumped into a fellow cyclist complete with a cat! He was frozen and thinking of stopping. After checking he was on Warmshowers we advised him to contact Rachel. I just hope he didn’t make a mess, we’d left it spotless!
Naturally the day started with a hill, 10 miles of it, but gradual and with stunning views. It also meant we got an equally long downhill. We stopped in Virginia City to eat our sandwiches. Virginia City was a mix of architecture some beautiful civic buildings from the early 1900s and a lot of late 1800s small shops and homesteads. Being out of season it was almost deserted but apparently in summer it is crowded with holiday makers buying antiques, eating ice cream and drinking the odd beer or two. Straight after Virginia City is Nevada City. Not a casino in sight, rather just one street lined with original 19th century buildings. In the 1880s Virginia and Nevada cities were the two major centres of commerce in an area known for its rich gold strikes. Nevada is now a summer tourist destination for ice-cream lovers in search of the old wild west.
The route then took us along the Ruby Valley, surrounded by 4 mountain ranges, it was a picturesque ride. Lewis and Clark had journeyed through here, gold prospectors had mined the hills, when the gold ran out the miners stayed turning to ranching and farming. Today the area is a popular retirement destination, folk like the slow pace of life and the plentiful rivers to fish in.
We though carried on. We stopped for a drink at the petrol station in Sheridan. We were offered a bed for the night by a member of the local mountain rescue services but he lived back the way we had come so we reluctantly declined. He had spent the day out in the hills searching for one of his team mates who somehow had got left behind the day before whilst the team were out looking for a bear. Apparently, it was a fun day!
Our destination for the night was a Bike Camp in the town of Twin Bridges. The community has provided free for the use of cycle tourists a building with showers, cooking area, picnic tables and a place to pitch tents. As we were the only visitors we simply slept inside on the two sofas. The setting by the river was stunning and we spent the evening bird watching with my new binoculars.
Back on the road I was having a slow day. There was a slight headwind but even so I knew something wasn’t right when I could barely turn the pedals going down hill. We pushed on, slowly. After 20 or so miles of undulating roads we had yet another 10 mile hill. Bizarrely I actually felt a bit better as we started to climb. The sun came out and the wind eased. I stripped down to shorts and a t-shirt. As we neared the summit it suddenly started to snow so Tom and I both donned our waterproofs ready for the descent. Good job too, for as we crested the hill the snow started to fall heavily and we realised by the deep slush on the road that it had been snowing for some time this side of the hill. It was a nerve-wracking ride downhill, passing cars throwing up showers of snow over us. We were both very relieved to reach the valley floor.
Within minutes we were back on dry roads and sunshine. When we arrived at John’s our WS host for the night he cheerily offered us a beer, but us frozen Brits opted for a warming cuppa!
John cooked us a fantastic meal then it was straight to bed, I needed to sleep.
Today we left John’s and were originally planning to wild camp. We decided to see how I felt. After a fantastic start along a cycle way and quiet old backroads I felt so much better, and I decided I could manage a full day’s ride but needed a bed for the night rather than freeze in the tent.
Our sandwich stop was in Anaconda, we sat below the Anaconda Smoke Stack, at 585 feet tall it’s the tallest masonry structure in the world. In 1980 the Atlantic Richfield closed it’s smelting factory and though a clean up operation is underway the town is dominated by the largest slag heaps I have ever seen.
From here it was the small matter of 16 miles uphill. Steady away but still up! We passed the site of a major gold strike, In today’s money they mined £151 million worth. Not bad, considering they only found the gold after their horses wandered off! We though were very happy to reach Georgetown Lake and the 7 Gables Inn. A warm bed for the night and even better a pub on site!
