Another fun day in Montana! Seriously. We did have to climb another pass and the continental divide again (maybe for the last time? I lost count). The downhill was pretty steep for a good 7 miles that we shot down pretty quickly. Good adrenaline rush! At the bottom we ran into a whole herd of big horn sheep, the first I’ve seen yet. We’ve been keeping our eyes out for moose, but the only ones we’ve seen are of the stuffed variety.
We entered Idaho again, but only for half a mile. We quickly returned to good old Montana. Idaho just can’t wait for our triumphant return for the third and final time.The last 18 miles were mostly downhill and we did them in an impressive hour. Sheena would argue that it was due to my competitive nature. Alec was in the not so far off distance, igniting my natural instinct to chase (thanks track!) and catch up with him. Mission accomplished! Alec then saw Erica in the distance, invoking his chase instinct, dragging us all along. It was a rush of a ride and we needed to come down from it in a cafe.
Montana is a beautiful state and the pictures I have taken fail to do it justice. Unfortunately the section we rode today was affected by a wildfire from 2001, but we could see the new saplings growing from the wreckage.
We have yet to encounter the rumored rude RV drivers of MT, but as Catherine truthfully put it, they have no right to harass us. They are the most annoying moving vehicle on the road, taking up so much space and going slow, practically moving a whole country inside!
The town of Darby is another cute western town. Lots of stores and restaurants to wander through. Tomorrow we are going to Missoula, where the ACA headquarters is located. Then we have one of our final rest days!
Emilie Bikes and Hikes 