Continental Divide Trail - Priest Pass, Montana. July 28, 2015

There was way more walking than biking going up those steep quad roads but it was worth it.

"Are you doing the cdt?" At Macdonald pass I met two cyclists. After we introduced ourselfves and i forgot their names, they told me one of them was biking across the country east to west and the other is a local just riding to the pass. Thats them infront of that logging truck.

Then it was singletrack time. Rocky and steep at times but rideable.
I diped down into a valley and passed few ranches, no people or traffic, just few horses.

Another climb took me past ontario mine, which I did not get to see.

Then down a steep atv road and up again. When there was an actual trail, it was amazing.

Then i saw a dog, and another.. and the first cdt hikers!
Trish is section hiking the cdt since 2007, good to know that it can be done even if you can't take much time off. She has another 3 years until she finishes her trek.

Breakfast for champions: 2 miles of pushing up a rocky atv road.

The descent was just as steep and rocky but I am thankful to have full suspension, otherwise I'd be walkin my bike down.

The sight of fresh sawdust beside the deadfall reminded me how lucky I was. Tish, told me yesterday that she saw the cleanup crew leave so everything should be good.

Well maintained and graded singletrack took me past ranches, instead of gates they even had some cattleguards that one could ride over... unless you are a cow.

There is a certain appeal riding down these singletracks and knowing that there is no car, or house or anything to go back to.

At the gdmbr junction I hopped on the bike route to Butte, it took me down smooth roads past many ranches and cows...

Last time I was in Butte I only went through and stopped at burger king. I wanted to experience more of the town so this time, I visited McDonalds.

A true testiment to not knowing whats around the next corner is arriving at the top of the mountain pass to see a 6 and 8 year olds shooting rifles. the 6 year old was on top of a pickup, at least the truck wasnt moving. #montanalife

I rode up to the next pass in hopes of catching the sunset. But i was too early. Oh well... I can wait.

The moment the sunwas gone the temperature dropped drastically, the sky changes colors and the wind shakes the tent. In the distance the silhouettes of the mountains disappear in the fading light. There's no need to count sheep... Moo...moooo, the silence is broken by the cows down the ridge, it's Montana after all. And soon they are gone off to do whatever cows do at night. All that remains is the sounds of the owls as they prepare for the nocturnal hunt. One would ocasionally fly overhead. To the north, down in the valley are the glittering lights of the town, it's only 2 hours away... by bike.

So, where cdt meets gdmbr out of butte there is a rest area surrounded by fence. I dont know if somebody did a trick or not but apparently it was full of cows. I wasn't sure if I should let them out or not... they seemed to be resting anyway...

Goin down a hill I spotted a cyclist pushing his bike, he immidiately got on and started pedaling. I would have been pushing up that hill too! Garry is riding from new mexico to canada.

I later met his two friends who just did fleecer ridge, northbound
"Took two hours to do 2 miles." I guess I shouldnt be complaining about those rocky, vertical atv trails...

No fleecer ridge for me though, the cdt takes a more northern route.
Mostly rideable in granny gear with few stops to push, the ride was a blast. Nice shade in the trees and cool breeze negated the summer heat.

#grannygearforlife

Meet the grouse. The bravest, meanest thing around here. You don't mess with the grouse!

And sometimes I just felt like being out there.

After stopping to pick some strawberries on an abandoned road, I stood up and looked around. I love this place!

Steady down grade took me down to a nice dirt road.

And then to pavement, Wisdom was still 30 miles away, it was 5pm. Definitely a bit off from my goal to get there for lunch.

Unfortunately there is a quarry on the other side of this campgound... not that it matters since nobody is tenting.

Rolling on the pavement and mooing at cows pretty much sums up the next 3 hours.

Antelopes scrambled when they saw me, one snuck under the fence but the other couldn't. Ended up going back and forth trying to make it agross. Man those things move fast!

Have you ever had pizza and fries? Apparently nobody in Wisdom did and I was the first. Feels good to be in the lead!

I headed out after a big breakfast, 26 miles paved miles to the cdt. Looks like scenic pullouts here are called cell phone pullouts! Next thing you know there will be selfie stations, instagram booths and blog-rest areas!

Then as I stuffed my mouth full of beef jerky (the one I found on the sidewalk in Helena), a hiker approached. With full mouth I mumbled something and offered him some.
He was vegeterian. I make good first impressions!
"I just walk until it gets dark and when I open my eyes in the morning I start walking again"
No stove, 1L water container, he gets by on nuts and candy.
Nuts and candy sounds like a good idea but I don't feel it would work for me in the long run :(

Then the ridges started, each steeper than the next, pushing up required monumental effort and its tough to maintain your footing.

Great views and ocassional rides at the top, then its downhill.

A couple of ridges later I was becoming very open minded to what grades are possible here. Then, after a wipeout, I had to walk my bike downhill. How embarassing...

When I was able to ride down it was the complete opposite of "pedal to the metal", it was more like "metal to the rotor". Gotta put new brake pads in tomorrow.

"The forgotten"

A nice trail turned into a quad road down a neverending valley.
Then a push up led me to a flat spot which ill call home tonight. At least I am saving so much wear on the drivetrain!

I knew there was going to be a big climb over the divde into montana but what I didnt know is that I will be walking the entire thing. 2 hours in I met a hiker, one of a group of 8, hiking around big hole basin. He was loaded pretty heavy but surely moving faster than me.

Over the next hour I met the remainder of the group, there was still a bit of hiking to the top. Pushing the bike has been very exhausting.

But that ridgeline was well worth it.

Happy moment as i ride into this awesome stretch, only to be greeted by loose rocks around the corner.

Yup, thats the trail.

The downhill portions were pretty rough too, Derek stood clear of the path as I approached. Hes been hiking sections of the cdt over the last 3 years. He described the CDT as "incredibly tough trek, I don't run as fast as some other guys." He was happy to see me on a bike here and said that I can do 20 miles a day easy.
Easy. Thats not the righ word :)

The one good thing about moving slow was that stopping to smell the flowers was easy! Getting them in focus, thats a whole different ballgame :(

All that hiking has been very tough but sadly even tougher on my shoes, there is no way they can make it to Lima... barefeet.

So I stopped at a lake and set up for the day, I'll take the first road the trail intersects and head to the highway (hopefully), then ride the GDMBR to lima. Not sure about the future of the cdt for me but I'll do bits and pieces of it, just not the entire thing. The hike to bike ratio wasn't right for me.

Had 5 more visitors at the quiet lake, two hikers from Florida and California and Kent, with his two furry companions: Salvador and Aspen. Busy day on the trail!

The bell helmet is not only good for your head, it makes a good fruit basket and when needed a tripod for capturing the sunset.

Well its kind of a bummer to have to ride down to the valley, I would have given it at least couple more days but I didn't have much choice. I wrapped and taped the shoes which made pedalin fairly reasonable.
The rough 4x4 road felt like heaven on the way down.
So did the bigger road which had nice jumps (i guess to prevent washouts) every 100yards or so.

Ah, life on the dirt roads in Montana

Back in the valley, net progress for last 3 days: 10 miles south.

The wall at the lodge in Jackson, took me and hour and a half to recover from an unnecessary big meal.

One of the last bits of the big hole valley and the bitterroot mountains

Back on the gdmbr

Up next medicine lodge/sheep creek area

Starting to get spoiled with campsites but when the sun turns red its time to turn in.

Despite the headwinds it felt good to be moving again. Medicine lodge road took me through some outlandish landscape, it felt like I was back in the northwest territories.

They really need to make a road sign for that...

That forecasted thunderstorm looked like it was nearing, the winds picked up.

Once on the final, 5mile stretch to Lima i had to ride against the wind, a truly demoralizing experience. It took about an hour and even the horses did not want to hang out with me.

All these barbs on the wire are not for intruders... they are for the cows to scratch!

I've seen mugs looking like these lenses, this was the real thing! Wow!

At lima i got a chance to saygoodbye to my old shoes, may they hang in peace!

I met a Otter, a hiker on his 4th CDT hike! Two cyclists from boston, a woman from switzerland with whom ill ride for a bit tomorrow and an indian girl who has never hiked before but is now on the cdt. Looks like i'm staying in town...!
The two motel owners were happy to see me and glad to know I didnt freeze to death last year. With a guest book, old shoe tree, pickup service from cdt, accepting packages and great attitude, they have created a mecca for both CDT hikers and GDMBR cyclists... and anyone passing through.

Otter, a man who has been hiking 45 years, a true inspiration. "When I used to do it there was no tracking miles. It was just hiking"
There was no internet, no facebook, no blogs (DUH!) and no instagram.
Is it still an adventure if you dont have a photo on the wall?

True enough, asking the question how many miles do you hike or bike is one of the first I ask. How much does your gear weigh? Thats not whats important.

Its easy to get caught up in how fast you go, compare yourself to others and forget why you are here in the first place.
I told him how i am happy I can do this before getting a career or something. He said:
"Life is your career."

I dont know if it was the coffee, the omlette or the good vibes and positive energy. There is a long road ahead and I've been thinking too much about the future, forgetting the now.
And now... i better get going before that storm hits.

This is Keren from switzerland, she has been touring for over 15 years every summer.

seeing her haul all that gear and dodge bumps really made me appreciate my Niner and light setup.

Beat the summer heat in Montana, one thunderstorm at a time!

This time I wasnt too lucky.

But looks like Idaho side had it worse.

After watching numerous lightning strikes up on the ridges it would have been a good idea to skip the cdt or wait a day for the forecasted storms to clear up.

But for now the sun was shining... well kind of...

And if I had a penny for every time I..... oh nevermind

Golden colors on the hills means its time to camp...

And I found the perfect spot...

Complete with a sunset...

And ominous clouds moving in.

I usually dont run an alarm and when I do, it takes at least 30 minutes of snoozing before i get up. However, raindrops on my tent really motivated me to pack up quickly.

The weather wasnt looking too good, do I really want to be up those ridges if thunderstorms hit? I'm still not sure if I want to go to yellowstone or follow the gdmbr... after 5 mintes I just started pedaling, bad weather has never stopped me before.

Although when it started pouring I got the perfect oportunity to make breakfast under a tree and met another hiker.
"All these switchbacks took forever, I just wanted to get down," he said. And let me tell you, whoever designed this trail must have really liked switchbacks. Not that im complaining.

Getting sick and tired of being told what to do by cliff bars :(

The pass was at about 10 000ft, awfully clse to that cool mountain, which meant only one thing...

I better climb it

The down was pretty fun, it was nice to go into trail mentality for a while - ignoring everything but whats 5ft ahead of you, feeling the wind on your face and the bumps of the trail, occasionally stopping to admire the scenery.

Wooh, its almost like back in California, except that there's some water left :(

After meeting my daily quota of riding in granny gear, I gracefully pushed my bike up another pass.

Really considering ditching my tripod these days!

Gorgeous views, except for those dark clouds... and the thunder. I better hurry up and get down.

The storm was right on my heels...

Here's how the ride down looked like, crazy to know one can ride like this with everything packed on the bike!

Then it started hailing and as I made my way down it turned into a downpour.

I got to the highway soaking wet and cold. It was also the border of Montana and Idaho. From last year I knew of a warmshowers host on the Idaho side, I wasnt too keen on going to yellowstone again and a night indoors would be good.

Plus... why go see bison in yellowstone when there's one hanging on the wall!

up next: wyoming! a good mix of CDT and GDMBR and hopefully getting to see some friends who helped me during that crazy snowstorm last november...