Thunderstorms and mud!
We were up early and ready to roll out of Butte by 6am as we had a busy day ahead of us. We were hoping to cross 3 passes and 150kms to get to Montana High Country Lodge for the night as it was their last night being open to TD riders before their fishing season begun. Spirits were high as the sun was out and we were hopeful of a days riding without rain! The first 30kms or so were paved as we climbed out of Butte through some lovely countryside. 
We had some wonderful hospitality there and some lovely food then set off the next morning after a cooked breakfast with hopes of making it through the old bannock road without rain. Stories of peanut butter mud and riders pulling out in Lima have haunted this TD so there was a bit of trepidation as we headed off down the road. The first 30kms were paved and a slight down hill so we motored along them until we got to the start of the gravel. A stop for sunscreen as it was already feeling hot ( at 8am) we were lucky with the road conditions you could see where other riders had pushed there bikes but we had some truck wheel marks to follow and a hard dry surface - score 1 for us!
By 3pm it had stopped raining and we were cruising long in the sun again towards Lima. The hills we zig zagged our way through towards the end reminded us a lot of the Central Otago area.
We rolled into Lima 160kms after leaving the lodge and 11hrs riding pretty pleased with ourselves ! A long day but very satisfying.
We headed out of Lima the following morning after breakfast at the cafe and were pleased again that we had dry weather. The road was very rough and rutted and it was a bumpy days riding through this section, though it was quite stunning with lots of wee lakes dotted through a basin about 90kms long. We wound our way along the valley edge then crossed over to the other side of the valley and along to the pass and into a new state!!! Very exciting times - we had entered Idaho!
And finally had our first pass sign - 7 continental passes later!
The next morning we set off after a breakfast of homemade sourdough pancakes (which were delish!) and headed towards the rail trail. We hadn’t really thought too much about this section, with vague recollections of reading about it being a bit rutted by quad bikes we underestimated how hard it truely was! It was 57kms of torture- completely rutted and bumpy the whole way we were exhausted by the time we rolled into Warm River campground which is at the end of the trail. We stopped here for about a 20min lunch break - but we were very tempted to stay there the day !
As we cycled out of there our destination was 80kms further on at Flagg Ranch Lodge on the edge of the Teton National Park. It was a really really long and hard afternoon we were all a bit broken as we finally rolled into the lodge at 7pm that night! On a plus side because of a few stops along the way we did miss a hail storm just seeing the reminents on the side of the road.
Even though it was a hard day the scenery was quite beautiful along the way and ever changing, and we crossed off another state mid afternoon- we entered Wyoming.
We stayed the night at Flagg Ranch Lodge which was crazy busy and huge!there was people everywhere! We had a great hot dinner, shower and all crawled into bed about 9.30pm with alarms set for 6am the next morning- life on the tour divide!
The next morning we had a cooked breakfast at the lodge before rolling out about 8am. It was quite foggy as we cycled up and away from the lodge but it didn’t take long to get through the clouds and we were treated with amazing views of the Teton Mountain Range - stunning ! Because it is such a touristy area there were lots of food options today so we stopped at about 25kms for an ice cream and some snacks then stopped in Buffalo Valley at a cafe for lunch , we also had the added bonus of being able to dry out the tents there while we had our lunch break.
The afternoons ride took us up and over the Togwotee Pass - our highest pass yet at 2958m ! As we cressed the hill we were directed off the main road to the left and were treated to the most beautiful alpine lake- it really was simply stunning!
We mostly rolled down hill to a campsite just under 100kms biked for the day and feeling like we had recovered a bit from the previous days torment!
We woke to a light frosting ! That was a bit of a change for the books ! We rode down to Lava Mountain Lodge and stopped there for a breakfast from the convience store of hot choc ( to warm the hands) a fresh muffin ( because it was fresh) and a frozen crossiant with a meat pattie, egg and cheese ( that I microwaved- to have something heated) after breakfast we started our climb for the day. We turned off the main road and back onto the gravel roads which are our home for a majority of this trip and started climbing up through a mixture of burnt out forest and green forest. We crossed onto a ATV trail and had some rough climbing for about 5kms with a couple of steep bike pushing sections then came out onto a meadow, we biked across the meadow with great views of the mountains all around then reconnected with a more main gravel road and started to decend. There was a bit of discussion about whether we had actually crossed union pass or not yet but as we descended further down we decided that yes we must have ! Another unmarked pass down!
We stopped for the night at Whiskey Creek campground and as it was just on 5pm and hot! We decided it was good clothes washing opportunity as it had been 3 days and things were getting decidedly smelly!
Another day down about 90kms today and tomorrow we head through Pinedale. A spot of restocking and then another night under the stars somewhere!
130kms down for the day and about 70kms tomorrow through to Atlantic city where we will have a quiet afternoon before crossing the basin the next day !
It was a big climb to the top but then we were rewarded with a great down hill into a farming valley rather than one filled with trees and crossed under the I95 ( interstate expressway) before again climbing up through a Gulch (gully) they call them, this time up to Fleecer ridge. We had heard stories of the downhill section being unriderable so were keen to see for ourselves what the story was. We pushed our bikes up the last 2kms as we climbed a muddy meadow track and then turned at the top to come down, the first 1km was fine riding then you basically pushed your bike straight down a very steep hill!
We were pleased it wasn’t raining as it would have been rather scary going if it was slippery. About 1500m - 2 kms down and then we could hop back on the bikes and ride down the gulch road out to Wise River. There was a convience store there where we stopped for ice cream, fizz and chips - not the ideal diet but we had exhausted a lot of energy to this point and were at 90kms with still another 60km to go. From here we rode up a lovely valley (all paved) filled with camping spots all the way along and finally up and over our last pass for the day, with beautiful meadows at the top and then an awesome down hill 20kms to the lodge. As we zoomed down hill we passed a (NOBO) northbound rider - turned out it was the leading NOBO Dominic Irvine. He was powering up the hill and we waved greetings to each other. ( I was a bit in awe of his speed!) 
There was whoops of joy as we reached the lodge after such a big days riding .
We had some wonderful hospitality there and some lovely food then set off the next morning after a cooked breakfast with hopes of making it through the old bannock road without rain. Stories of peanut butter mud and riders pulling out in Lima have haunted this TD so there was a bit of trepidation as we headed off down the road. The first 30kms were paved and a slight down hill so we motored along them until we got to the start of the gravel. A stop for sunscreen as it was already feeling hot ( at 8am) we were lucky with the road conditions you could see where other riders had pushed there bikes but we had some truck wheel marks to follow and a hard dry surface - score 1 for us!
We enjoyed the valley as we rode through making some fast kms over undulating ground. We knocked off 80kms in 5.5hrs !
There was a really cool section where we rode along and lots of butterflies fluttered all around us for close to a km of riding it was quite magical and I could imagine my girls being delighted by it too and talking about fairies flying round with those butterflies !
Not long after the 80 km mark we heard the first rumble of thunder and started to hightail it as fast as we could, we could see the storm clouds closing in around us and at 90kms and about 1.30pm we were hiding in a lonesome bush with our bikes dropped on the side of the road as it pelted down with hail and thunder and lighting cracked overhead!
We hid in the bush for about 20mins until the storm had moved far enough away and then donned our wet weather clothes as it rained around us. We were grateful to have got so far through without rain but the small amount we did get definitely made the riding just that bit trickier for the next 20kms until we started to leave the bannock valley.
By 3pm it had stopped raining and we were cruising long in the sun again towards Lima. The hills we zig zagged our way through towards the end reminded us a lot of the Central Otago area.
We rolled into Lima 160kms after leaving the lodge and 11hrs riding pretty pleased with ourselves ! A long day but very satisfying.
We met a NOBO rider (Miles) in Lima and shared some tips with each other before calling it a night. In NZ it was Iris’ 7th birthday so it was lovely to say happy birthday as I had sent a birthday video that morning in case we didn’t make it all the way through.
We headed out of Lima the following morning after breakfast at the cafe and were pleased again that we had dry weather. The road was very rough and rutted and it was a bumpy days riding through this section, though it was quite stunning with lots of wee lakes dotted through a basin about 90kms long. We wound our way along the valley edge then crossed over to the other side of the valley and along to the pass and into a new state!!! Very exciting times - we had entered Idaho!
And finally had our first pass sign - 7 continental passes later!
It is a great feeling to be in another state - Montana was huge and took us 10 days to get through, we are only in Idaho for about 200kms so by tomorrow some time we will probably be in Wyoming.
We stayed the night near Mack’s Inn at warm showers host - the man cave and it was nice to cook our own dinner for once and just relax in a bigger space than a motel room.
The next morning we set off after a breakfast of homemade sourdough pancakes (which were delish!) and headed towards the rail trail. We hadn’t really thought too much about this section, with vague recollections of reading about it being a bit rutted by quad bikes we underestimated how hard it truely was! It was 57kms of torture- completely rutted and bumpy the whole way we were exhausted by the time we rolled into Warm River campground which is at the end of the trail. We stopped here for about a 20min lunch break - but we were very tempted to stay there the day !
As we cycled out of there our destination was 80kms further on at Flagg Ranch Lodge on the edge of the Teton National Park. It was a really really long and hard afternoon we were all a bit broken as we finally rolled into the lodge at 7pm that night! On a plus side because of a few stops along the way we did miss a hail storm just seeing the reminents on the side of the road.
Even though it was a hard day the scenery was quite beautiful along the way and ever changing, and we crossed off another state mid afternoon- we entered Wyoming.
We stayed the night at Flagg Ranch Lodge which was crazy busy and huge!there was people everywhere! We had a great hot dinner, shower and all crawled into bed about 9.30pm with alarms set for 6am the next morning- life on the tour divide!
The next morning we had a cooked breakfast at the lodge before rolling out about 8am. It was quite foggy as we cycled up and away from the lodge but it didn’t take long to get through the clouds and we were treated with amazing views of the Teton Mountain Range - stunning ! Because it is such a touristy area there were lots of food options today so we stopped at about 25kms for an ice cream and some snacks then stopped in Buffalo Valley at a cafe for lunch , we also had the added bonus of being able to dry out the tents there while we had our lunch break.
The afternoons ride took us up and over the Togwotee Pass - our highest pass yet at 2958m ! As we cressed the hill we were directed off the main road to the left and were treated to the most beautiful alpine lake- it really was simply stunning!
We mostly rolled down hill to a campsite just under 100kms biked for the day and feeling like we had recovered a bit from the previous days torment!
A peaceful camp spot for the night and another day to do it all again tomorrow!
We woke to a light frosting ! That was a bit of a change for the books ! We rode down to Lava Mountain Lodge and stopped there for a breakfast from the convience store of hot choc ( to warm the hands) a fresh muffin ( because it was fresh) and a frozen crossiant with a meat pattie, egg and cheese ( that I microwaved- to have something heated) after breakfast we started our climb for the day. We turned off the main road and back onto the gravel roads which are our home for a majority of this trip and started climbing up through a mixture of burnt out forest and green forest. We crossed onto a ATV trail and had some rough climbing for about 5kms with a couple of steep bike pushing sections then came out onto a meadow, we biked across the meadow with great views of the mountains all around then reconnected with a more main gravel road and started to decend. There was a bit of discussion about whether we had actually crossed union pass or not yet but as we descended further down we decided that yes we must have ! Another unmarked pass down!
We stopped for the night at Whiskey Creek campground and as it was just on 5pm and hot! We decided it was good clothes washing opportunity as it had been 3 days and things were getting decidedly smelly!
Another day down about 90kms today and tomorrow we head through Pinedale. A spot of restocking and then another night under the stars somewhere!
The ride through to Pinedale was a speedy one the next morning, we were up early (5.30am) and on the road just after 6am. There was about 5kms of gravel before we hit the pavement and cruises over undulating ground all the way to Pinedale. The landscape changed hugely in the 55kms from the campground to town, opening up to wide flat expanses with nearly all trees disappearing except for immediately surrounding houses. The houses were impressive too, a lot looked new and big- obviously we had entered a affluent area!
Pinedale also marked an exciting milestone for us - the end of grizzly territory! Though we are keeping the bear spray as we’ve been told it can be useful for dealing with wild dogs further south( as well as black bears, coyotes and wolves!)
After breakfast and stocking up in Pinedale we headed through to boulder and stopped for lunch there- though still a little full from breakfast it’s best to make the most of food on the route! We then carried on for a further 50kms until we found a spot to set up camp for the night.
130kms down for the day and about 70kms tomorrow through to Atlantic city where we will have a quiet afternoon before crossing the basin the next day !
Three divide passes on the way to Atlantic City and lots of barren land! I am looking forward to getting there and catching up with the family as I’m battling a bit of homesickness at the moment. It will be really nice to hear everyone’s voices again !
And an afternoon off to reset the body and mind won’t go astray either!
Below is the link to our givealittle page
https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/a-4500km-cycle-adventure
Great cycling ...the butterflies sounded wonderful....we are following your cycling every day ....and yes it is an amazing adventure.....Pat and Geoff Olliver from TOA 2018
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