Friday, August 15, 2014

DAY 16: We may be slow, but...

WE MADE IT! Up 2 mountain passes!
We woke to heavy fog, and drove the hour to Anaconda so Lonna could get her broken tooth fixed. She hates having dental work done, but came bouncing out of the office shortly. The dentist had smoothed her tooth and told her it was fine for now, and to hit the road, no charge.
We drove back to Wisdom, where the fog had mostly lifted, and set off, sure that we would be able to make our 60 miles over two mountain passes before it got dark. Our starting time was 11:30--by far the latest we have EVER left on any ride.
The Big Hole Valley is known for the hay that is grown here, and we saw many miles of fields filled with haystacks. We had a long, arduous climb up Big Hole Pass. It wouldn't have been as tough as some of our previous climbs, except this time we had a nasty headwind. We were quite exhilarated when we reached the top!
A little farther along was Badger Pass, with the headwind persisting. It was definitely a challenge!
Once over the top, we had long views of green valleys surrounded by mountains. Along the way we saw ospreys--one soaring, one on a pole, and one in a nest nearby.
As we rode on east, there were threatening clouds ahead of us. Eventually we turned south and rode around the clouds without ever getting wet. The headwind stayed with us until we got into our camp near Dillon around 6:30.









1 comment:

  1. The only thing worse than a long hill is a headwind! Glad you made it, and especially happy for Lonna that the tooth is okay.
    I love ospreys!

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