Section 1 Rooseville Montana to Polaris MT - D6

06/15 Day 6, Montana  Holland Lake, Seeley Lake, Ovando, Lincoln  (116 Miles)

After saying good bye to the beautiful golden retriever pups at HLL, we followed fairly easy dirt forest roads to Hwy 83 for the Richmond Peak/Morrell Bypass – snow detour to Seeley Lake then back on the main GDMBR route. 

We rode another 26 miles still on dirt forest roads to Ovando.  We saw so many piles of bear scat; some really fresh.  We were really good about making noise especially before corners so as not to surprise a bear.  We never saw one. 

However…we got to a sign that read something like Danger, No Entry, Bear Trapping Area.  There was red tape across the double track road and bike tracks going under the tape.  Of course we followed….very quickly.  After a bit we came across a cage on a flatbed trailer.  The cage had meat in it.  We rode faster.

Of course we went that way

Ovando – a 4-way stop really with all the sidewalks rolled up.  The Blackfoot Inn looked like it would have been a cute place to stay, had it been open.  Best that it wasn't I suppose.  From Ovando, we snow detoured again on the Huckleberry Pass bypass.  This started on a lovely dirt road flowing though a front range with the mountains in the distance.  A rare pickup (in occurrence, not year) went by and the driver was curious enough to turn around and chat with us.  The couple were really sweet and took the time to find us again later to see that we were ok.  Eventually we transitioned onto a fast paved highway and landed in Lincoln just before dark.

As luck would have it, the Sportsman Hotel where we’d made arrangements was next door to a laundry mat and had an open restaurant/bar (Scapegoat Burger) across the street.  We made good use of time by ordering dinner, starting laundry, eating dinner, ordering pizza to go for the next day, washer to dryer, hotel check-in, retrieve clothes.  The in-town “cycle” of the Tour Divide.  At the laundry mat, we ran into another racer, John, who had been traveling a couple of hours in front of us.  He apparently saw 10 bears that day.  An unwitting protector!