• Night 1: We left clothing out, hanging over the bike, overnight to dry out. Around mid-night it rained heavily during another passing thunder storm. There was nothing that we could do. We slept warmly and dry in our tent and we stayed there until the sun came up.


• Day 2: We woke to a warm sunrise and lots of smoke haze in the air. The wind was from the south and a smoke smell was barely detectible. This usually means that the fire source (a forest fire) is more than 100 miles away, south in this case. We were correct in our analysis but it would take 2 more days to validate.
• LOGIC: The bad news is that south was the way that we were traveling; the good news is that the forest fire would be beyond the city of Butte, our destination for this travel leg.
• Everything that we left out over night was wet.
• We packed a wet camp, tent and all, knowing that we would dry out some items as we biked (gloves for example).
• Carrying wet gear means that the bike's load would be heavier.
• The Forest Fire Smoke/Haze effected Terry's breathing, luckily we were prepared and had Medication.
• We ran out of National Forest Road and only had unmarked Single Track Trail to ride upon within a mile or two of our morning start. We also had bad map directions. At one point we had reversed direction in an area where we could not tell a closed trail from an open trail. It would have been easy to figure out in another 300 yards/meters, but the Italians showed up and helped us figure it all out. It was very lucky timing and the event saved us some wasted time and energy. I think that the Gods of Travel were looking out for us.
• We saw a few old mining camps along the way. The town of Basin was started as a Mining Camp.

Cycle from a Remote Camp just South of Park Lake, Montana,
through the town of Basin, Montana, to a Stealth Camp near Bolder River and I-15

- It Rained Last Night; We Awoke to a Smoky Haze, Maybe 4 Miles of Visibility -

Above Left: Dawn. The air seemed unusually dry and the sky was hazy.

Above Right: That was only as far as we could see; there were more mountains to see there last night. We had about 4 miles of visibility in the smoke hazed atmosphere. The wind was newly from the south, we guessed (correctly) that there was a forest fire south Helena (it was further south, south of Butte, in fact it was on our course, about seven days away by bike, we will eventually have to get of the GDMBR, but this is getting ahead of the here and now). We were never worried for our own safety but we were completely off the grid (we had to make decisions by our native wits, we were in agreement).

That was our last bag to load onto the bike before we departed.

The sky and earth has the Reddish Glow that comes from Forrest Fire Smoke

Above Left: The finger is pointing to our position on the GDMBR Map (south Park Lake, Montana). Helena is above the fold over the top and Butte is under the fold at the bottom.

Above Right: The sky and earth has the Reddish Glow that comes from Forrest Fire Smoke in the air.

Above Left: Puddles from two recent rains.

Above Right: Visibility seemed to already reduce.

Above For the rest of that day we saw more and more road damage from just last night’s rain storm.

Above Left: The sun had risen higher and the tale-tale smoke haze was becoming more obvious.

Above Right: The ground was super saturated. We could not ride through that road, the wheels sank and spun. We were having to push the bike way more than was typical for off-road bicycle touring.

Above Left: Terry Struck, Tandem Bicycle Pusher. The stoker was in good spirits. She was dressed warmly.

Above Right: The Captain got warm enough to take his winter riding gloves off and set them on the drying rack.

Above Left: This is what a closed trail looks like.

Above Right: Wet trail, about a 30% short grade.

Above Left: This is a trail turn off that we took because of bad map directions. The instructions said, in 300 yards avoid the trail to the left. It should have also said, stay on the main road; we had a precise measurement and at 300 yards we took this [closed] trail to the right.

Above Right: This is the view at the top of the trail, closed unbeknownst to us. Had we understood everything in hindsight we would not have come this way, obviously it was in error.

We Learned Late in the Navigation Process that We Were On a Closed Trail

Above: The End of the Trail. We were only 40 feet (13m) from the desired trail on the top side of this hill and rather than go back down and around (about 300 yards/meters of travel, all of it at steep angles), we decided to stay and unload the bike. We walked all the components to the trail, carried the bike to the trail and then we reloaded the bike.

Above: The process of moving gear and reloading the bike.

We were now on the correct trail and the same main route that we departed only 45 minutes earlier. Argh - Learning Lesson.

... And Then Came the Italians!
(Sorry NO Pictures)

Above Left: So as we started to proceed down the trail, up came the Italians (Luca and Paola, from Northern Italy, who we first met a few days earlier). Sorry, no pictures. We were about to head the wrong direction, we would have figured it in another 300 yards/meters, but it was nice to save some energy. We had a pleasant discussion and learned that they had seen our bike in the bike shop back in Helena when we had our bike attended.

Above Right: Luca and Paola took off and we followed, solo bikes are always faster than tandems climbing on a trail.

Above Left: The trail would be challenging like this for the next 4-5 hours.

Above Right: Sometimes we have to push the bike, the Pusher was always in good Spirits.

Above Left: Dennis checked the map; we had not seen a single 'sign' validation that we were on the correct trail.

Above Right: Yay, we get to ride (a little ways).

Above: Navigating around an obstacle, Photo by Luca

Above Left: It finally got warm enough for Terry to remove her outer shell (pants, jacket, winter gloves ...).

Above Right: Challenging Bicycle Tour Trail.

Above Left: Beautiful Tree Moss Covering.

Above Right: Rich Flora.

Above Left: Challenging Bicycle Tour Trail.

Above Right: A Sign Post (however the Sign was missing).

Above: Signs that our Italian Friends had successfully passed before us.

Above Left: Challenging Bicycle Tour Trail.

Above Right: A moment of easier riding.

Above Left: GDMBR.

Above Right: Halleluiah! We have finally validated that we have been on the correct trail almost 4 hours later - Lava Mountain Trail Number 244 (Mile 152.3 on our GDMBR Map).

We had been climbing all morning long, this spot was level but we still had some more ascending to perform.

We Crested the Lava Mountain Trail

Above: We crested the mountain here. This is a wide angle view looking uphill.

Above: We had spent all morning climbing. We were looking forward to riding downhill but the bad news was that it was going to be just as rough, rocky, and wet riding downhill as it was riding uphill.

Above: The morning routine had not changed, we were able to ride a little ways and then we would have to walk the bike a little ways.

Above: NOTICE the reduced visibility haze. We cycled this segment.

Above: We rode this segment.

Above: We rode as far as we could but it was not very far. Remember, we were on a tandem bike which maneuvers like bus.

Above: We rode here. Note the gully depth which probably got that way as a result of last night's Thunder Dumper.

Above Left: Ah Ha! We finally arrived at the end of the Lava Mountain Trail. This is the Trail Head, we came in via the other side. Those rocks do set the tone for the entire Lava Mountain Trail ride.

Above Right: We were now on another Unnamed/Unmarked National Forest Road.

Above: We rode another Unnamed/Unmarked National Forest Road like pros!

Above Left: Bear Scare. It is a pair of Black Angus. I thought it was a Bear and I hit the brakes.

Above Right: ... Life is but a Dream ...

Above: We crested another hill.

Above: Deer.

Above Left: Triple Track.

Above Right: Pock Water.

Above: Butterflies Visited.

Above Left: Blue Mountains (in Montana).

Above Right: The unamed/unmarked Rock Trail ends at NF-175 (a dirt road super highway).

NF-175, Southbound to Basin, Montana

Above: We're NF-175 looking south across a beautiful park.

Above: Cycling southward on NF-175, Montana.

Above Left: A side-view on NF-175.

Above Right: Exiting the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.

Above Left: Finally, affirmation that we were on the NF-175 (back view).

Above Right: The first Private Property fence that we came across heading down on NF-175.

Above Left: The first house that we came across heading down on NF-175.

Above Right: This is a collapsed entrance to an old mine.

Above Left: The remnants of an old Kiln Operation (make metal ingots and then ship).

Above Right: This old foundation was once the home to a miner and perhaps his family.

Above Left: Mine Tailings.

Above Right: Another beautiful old miner's cabin remnant (over 150 years old).

Above Left: We were beginning to look for water.

Above Right: Here we were adding Five Drops of Chlorine Dioxide to each Liter Bottle. We then added filtered water from our MSR Sweetwater Filter (demonstrated previously)

Above Left: Now that we have fully loaded with water, to include about 2.5 gallons in our water bladder, WE WERE HEAVY and moving downhill very FAST.

Above Right: This is a little uphill stretch but our bike mass carried us over without pedling.

Above: It is always pleasant and serene to ride parallel to a mountian river.

Above Left: We rode next to a mountian river for quite a while, our reward for all of our expended climbing energy.

Above Right: We broke out of the forest and we had changed to a grass and valley ecological envoronment.

Above Left: A person knows when they are getting close to a town, we came upon a paved road.

Above Right: We came to a stop sign. The immediate road was the local Frontage Road and the next two roads were the lanes for the Interstate Highway, I-15. The town of Basin was 1/2 mile (1 km) to the right (west).

The Town of Basin, Montana

Above Left: This was our one and only picture of the Town of Basin, Montana. This was our 1/2 way point distance-wise but we were 3/4 the ways through the day. Luckily, the remaining route was level and it paralleled the Interstate Highway (I-15).

Above Right: The Basin, Montana, Mine Story.

Above Left: We are traveling parallel to I-15 and the Boulder River.

Above Right: Sometimes we are isolated from the Interstate Highway.

Above Left: This is where we ended our parallel travel to the Interstate.

Above Right: We traveled under the bridge.

ISSUES:
• We were supposed to go another 4 miles to a Campground (where Luca and Paula were staying).
• It was too far for us to get there and setup before sunset.
• We learned later thatm Adventure Cycling map had changed the GDMBR (Route). Apparently, the NEW ROUTE goes this direction, but we did not know that.
• The OLDER Adventure Cycling map (ours) showed that the campground was 4 miles out of the way, each way, as the route remained parallel to Interstate-15.

Above Left: We went less than a mile a stopped at the first camping spot that did not look like private property we and set up camp.

Above Right: Sunset at our Stealth Camp - We were putting away hygiene stuff (toothpaste, wash cloths ...). This was the clearest sky that we had seen all day; the wind had shifted temporarily away from the south. Tomorrow the winds will come back from the south and the smell of forest fire smoke will be stronger.

Above: This was the last picture of the day.

We had a tough cycling day with harsh trail conditions, poor map directions, and a lack of trail signs. YET, we managed to work around all of the obstacles. Terry had breathing problems because of the smoke BUT we were smart enough to have brought her Emergency Medical Inhaler. Our car was in Butte, so we had to get to Butte in liue of the smokey conditions and potential health issues. Butte was the next day's Destination. We regretted NOT meeting with Luca and Paula (our New Italian Friends), we would watch for them all day during the next day but we would not see them again. We had no trouble sleeping that night.