Day 15: Elk Horn Hot Springs to Dillon - 49 miles
The other staff surfaced about 9 a.m. and I ordered some breakfast. Pancakes - what else? The serving was huge and I wasn't able to finish it. Over breakfast I read a recent Sports Illustrated magazine about a climbing tragedy. Four guys set out to climb a 15,000' mountain in Alaska and ski/snowboard down to the ocean. On the climbing one guy lost his crampon and then got frost bite. The remaining 3 continued upwards, but the snowboarder stopped 100' before the top and started down. Shortly afterwards he saw one of his friends slide by and off the edge. The other one had apparently fallen off the other side. These guys weren't amateurs; they had many years experience but it shows just how far some people will go searching for the ultimate experience.
Sean emerged about 10:30 and so I went upstairs to pack. I couldn't find my cycling clothes from yesterday. After a lot of searching they were eventually found at the hot pools - I had left them there last night. What a twit.
We were finally on the road at 11 a.m. and looked forward to the 7 mile downhill run to Polaris. Unforatunately, the gods of wind had other things in mind and we had a very strong headwind for the entire trip down, and more ...
The headwind notwithstanding, it was very attractive country side. We had left the national park and entered farmland. Since we were on the east side of the div ide, the land is much drier than the west side. However, there was little irrigation to be seen so they must still get the benefits from the rainfall across the divide. It was interesting to see the hay stacked up for winter. While in NZ we are used to seeing it in circular bales, here they used very large square hay stacks. I wondered if this was so that they could find them in winter ... probably not, but it sounds good!
There is a great deal of irony to having to pedal like mad when descending a grade. It is just so unfair! But that is what we had to do with the wind, and in places we were only doing 10 mph, or less.
South of Polaris we intersected with Route 278 and had a rest stop. I read my book on Lewis and Clark which I am finding most interesting. Especially since we are now in the parts of Montana that they explored. We are continually coming across references to them. It will be even more pronounced next year when the bicentennial of their trip is celebrated.
We then headed east towards Dillon and at least the headwind turned into an earstwhile sidewind. The further away we were from the mountains the more arid it became, and the farms looked much less prosperous as well. Not surprising though, there is not a lot that can be grown in desert scrub areas except cattle.
The proprietor of the lodge had told us that the road as basically flat with one major climb over Badger Pass (6750') and this was the case. There was a bit of up and down, but not too much, although there was at least one grade that was 1.5 miles long. The photo below shows Sean ascending the grade, and the desert in the background.
After another rest stop, this time sheltering in the ditch from the wind, we continued on. During the rest stop we watched four birds of prey soaring high above us performing aerial acrobatics. They were so wonderful to watch as they flew high and low, almost playing with each other.
The ascent to the top of the pass was tedious, but at least we didn't have a headwind. There were mileposts which counted down our distance and it was reassuring to see them descending from 25, 24, 23, ... Finally 11 at the top of the pass. What followed was just fantastic. It was downhill all the way to the bottom at mile 0.
Sean zoomed off ahead of me but with peddling it was possible to maintain a speed of 22 mph. The wind was now a tail wind and the storm, which had been threatening all day, held off except for a spattering of rain. It was just great with the road going on and on.
At the bottom of the road Sean was waiting for me with a grin like the one that I had. After a short rest we went on into Dillon which was 5 miles to the north. Although the town has less than 4,000 people, it seemed much busier than Helena or Butte did. We passed by the university, which was quite an impressive building, and headed for the visitor information centre which was in the centre of town.
They were most helpful and directed us up the road to the motel strip where we found a hotel for only $43. We checked in and I then headed into town to find a bike shop to replace my rear pannier rack. I couldn't find either of the two shops listed on our map so I went back to the visitor information. Sharon was sorry to say that both shops were closed. She kindly started ringing around town to find someone who could weld aluminium for me since I was not about to get a new rack. After about 10 calls she found someone at the local motorcycle dealership and I rushed over to have them look at it before they closed for the day. The welder was confident he could fix it so I have an appointment for tommorow morning. Whew. Even though my repair job had lasted 100+ miles, I'm not confident enough to keep on going indefinitely.
After a shower we headed out for dinner. Unfortunately, the restaurant Sharon recommended was closed so we cycled around town looking for a suitable reastaurant. Sharon was outside the Dairy Queen as we cycled past so I stopped to thank her for the help. We ended up at the university and had a pizza which was surprisingly good. Then I stopped by the Dairy Queen for a special birthday desert. Hey, I'd covered 49 miles on my bicycle as well so I deserved it.
Tomorrow is a rest day for us and we are both looking forward to it.