06/18 Day 9, Montana Butte Wise River Elkhorn Hot Springs
We got an
early start at 5:30am knowing we had Fleecer Ridge in our future and were feeling
guilty about yesterday’s short day.
Right away I had pretty good brake rubbing on the front disk. This took some time to sort out as did the
onset of the every-10-minute-pee stops as my bladder complained about the
higher altitude.
The route
climbed and descended often over 5000 feet hitting 7000 elevation several
times. The climb of the famed Fleecer
Ridge was beautiful. Clouds rolled in at
the top and as we posed for pictures, hail came down. I rode down Fleecer as far as I dared. It is a long long fairly steep descent and
after some time, my hands would just not hold the brakes. Walking down consisted of leaning as far back
on my bike as I could – my back was on the seat, in order to take weight off my
knees. Was so very grateful to finally
get to the bottom.
 |
| Top of Fleecer Ridge |
 |
| Way steeper than it looks |
There was a
bit of fun single track after Fleecer and then we turned onto Pioneer Mountain
National Scenic Byway. We climbed and
climbed for hours in non-stop rain.
There was a super long and fast down hill towards Polaris that was
torture on sodden hands and feet.
 |
| Buffs. Jackets with hoods. Helmet visors. Don't leave home without them. |
We finally arrived at the Montana High Country Guest Lodge just north of Polaris where we had called ahead. The owners Russ and Karen are big Tour Divide fans and though a wedding had the lodge booked, they assured us of a place to sleep and a meal and so they did. We got to be wedding crashers getting the same meal as the wedding party (it turned out to be pork but a Jewish girl on the TD can’t complain). There were cots set up in a warm bunk house and breakfast the next morning. We dried our clothes on hooks along the walls and thoroughly enjoyed a hot shower. All was well.
Note – CDX
4, 5: Fleecer Ridge at 8000 ft., Crystal Park in Pioneer Mountains
No comments:
Post a Comment