Day 11: Helena to Hoodoo Creek - 39 miles
They had an all you can eat breakfast for $5 and they lost money on us. Sean particularly appreciated the way that they gave him a pitcher of coffee. Talk about a bottomless cup. His only complaint (which is repeated often) is that the coffee is filtered and not expresso or cappuccino.
I purchased a New York Times newspaper and enjoyed reading it over a leisurely breakfast. They had an amazing article on pickup trucks how even Cadillac now sells them. The models range in price for up to $US 50,000 and some even have DV players for passengers in the rear seats. While at one time 70% of pickup trucks were sold to tradespeople, now it is only 30%. Most are sold to people who only move kittly litter.
It is obvious that trucks are the transport of choice in Montana - along with Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV). They seem to be the most common vehicles by far, and the trucks are just huge. There was one parked outside the bike shop which had obviously been off roading as it was covered with mud. I half expected to find a dead animal poking out the rear. At least the vehicles are used for their intended purpose here, instead of running the kids to school or the local market.
The bike shop was open and I managed to get my heavily laden bike through the front door with the help of a patron who was getting a helmet for her 3 year old child. I needed to get my front fender fixed as the mount had sheared off with the vibrations. I also wanted to get a spare pair of break pads and my chain checked.
The mechanic was most helpful and fossiced around in his toolchest for a part which could be fitted to the fender. My chain was also worn so I decided to get it replaced. While this was going on we chatted with Simon who was from Perth. I commented that he must find the winters a bit difficult. He said that the first year it was interesting but now that it is up to year 9 he is finding it a bit tedious.
He's married to a Montanan and managed to get her to Perth for Christmas a few years ago. She couldn't get her mind around being on a hot beach for Christmas. I had to empathise since even after 20 years on and off in the tropics, I'm still not able to get into the Christmas spirit. It needs to be dark, cold and bleak like it was in Canada when I grew up.
Sean had been surfing at Margaret River south of Perth which was one of Simon's old hangouts so they shared memories. This must have helped because Sean decided to get an anatomically designed seat (i.e. one with a groove in it for certain parts of the male anatomy) but didn't like the price. He got it for half off which was much more to his liking. It a good thing since Simon made the comment about kiwis having short arms and deep pockets.
After the bike shop we went to the mall across the street. I wanted to find out how to use my cell phone properly as well as looking for a book on the Lewis and Clark expedition. We were successful on both counts althought Sean was unsuccessful at getting some sandals. Seems that with only 2 months of summer they don't get in a large number and these are long gone by the end of August.
There was a Radio Shack where Troy was able to help with teh cell phone. He was very interested to hear that we were from NZ and he was surprisingly familiar witht he place. He even knew of Otago university. In fact, I must say that Montanans are much better educated than many of the Americans that I met during my last trip, a disproportionate number of whom didn't even know American geography let alone overseas countries. Like the young woman who asked if I cycled all the way from NZ ... 'no, there is an ocean in the way'.
When we left the mall we met Kevin who had dropped his bicycle off for a tune up. He was having a rest day but we are sure that we'll meet again after Yellowstone Park. Sean was feeling like a sugar hit so we went to the Dairy Queen behind the mall and made guts of ourselves. Then it was on the way south ...
We navigated our way to Park Avenue, which was where I left Sean the day before to find a hotel, and from there made our way out of town to 'Grizzly Gultch'. On the way we passed a number of old houses which obviously dated back at least 100 years. We found the first sign marking the route so I posed for the photo below.
The road was much like many that we had been on already; uphill, rough and dusty. We climbed for about 10 miles going up about 2000' before enjoying a winding, downhill run past some lovely farms. At one place there was an old barn which looked like it was about to fall down with a large gust. I commented to Sean that they seemed to be pretty lax about enforcing building codes around here.
From the bottom of the road we began climbing. Little did we know that we would spend the next 6+ hours doing this. On the map we were only going up by 1500', but the map was deceptive (or wrong).
The normal route called for us to travel 20 miles to Park Lake. The following day was a 47 mile trip. Since Park Lake was a mile off the route, we had decided to travel further and do some of the following day to make life a bit easier. Little did we realise what whe had bitten off...
The route was deceptively easy, then we entered a part of the route which was described as "a roughe four-wheel-drive track ... [the] next 2 miles-plus are steep and rough. That was an understatement. It was not rideable due to the large number of huge rocks and the soft sand which caused us to spin our wheels or lose control. The photo below gives some idea of what it was like, but you really had to be there.
After battling through the 2 miles we were pleased to have the road flatten out and become rideable. The next 2-3 miles were not reported to be difficult but we soon realised that they had not been completely honest. The track started off with a steep climb pulling our bikes over tree roots. The photo below shows Sean battling his way uphill.
From there the route became a bad joke. It was a series of boulders, soft sand and tree roots. We couldn't cycle and we basically pushed our bikes up and up over this unyielding terrain. Every time we thought we were near the top, we would turn a corner to find more of the gruelling terrain which we had to battle for every metre. It was not fun. I was certain that we were lost but we eventually found a sign that showed we were in fact on the trail. Sean resolved to write to Adventure Cycling and complain. There is no way that the route would have been passable had it been raining.
Eventually we found our way to the meadow which marked the beginning of the downhill section. It was getting very late but we were looking forward to the downhill run which was called a "steep downhill stretch". Of course it was boulder strewn with sand and tree roots so we had to walk down and carefully navigate around the rocks while endeavouring not to slip. The grade would have been at least 15%. By the time we reached the bottom we had travelled 3 miles in 4 hours.
As we approached the bottom I heard a motor and a couple drove up on a 4x4 farm bike. They were on their way to the meadow to watch for elk coming out at sunset. I couldn't believe that they could make it up the track, but they did! We continued downwards and then eventually found the road. As we travelled downhill it was getting late and we were also quite tired. Pushing bikes along hard trails had knocked the stuffing out of us. We had also climbed 3500' since leaving Helena.
I flagged down a car that was travelling uphill and we chatted with the driver. He was over from Helena and going to camp with some friends. He invited us to join them but we declined and decided to continue downhill towards the town of Basin which was our intended destination. I was in the mood for a warm meal and a soak in a bath since my knee was very sore by now.
The road was difficult and as it was getting dark it made the going difficult. We put on our lights but even so it was difficult. Sean finally called it quits and we stopped by the road to camp next to an abandoned building. After a dinner of a tin of chef boyardee cheese tortellini and an apple it was into bed for an exhausted sleep. A day we'd both rather forget, but on the bright side we had a downhill ride first thing in the morning.
