Another fantastic day with wonderful experiences! Details later.
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Walt Wright
917 783 6540
Walterwright@brooklynny.us
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Day 44 (June 29): Three Forks Area to Helena, MT
Mileage: 68.1; 1,133 total
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Day 43 (June 28): Whitehall to Campground near Three Forks, MT
Mileage: 34.3; 1064.5 total
Another great day.
When I set out this morning I intended to either go to Townsend or to stop half-way, near Three Forks. When I arrived near Three Forks late this afternoon I decided it would be good to stop for the night.
I set up my tent, took a shower, and then peddled up the road mile to a restaurant for dinner. The sandwich and chile were pretty good, so I plan to have breakfast there as I leave tomorrow.
The route followed the Jefferson River. At Three Forks (which unfortunately is three miles off my route), the Jefferson merges with the Madison and Gallitin Rivers, forming the start of the Missouri River.
I was slower than I expected today, for several reasons: sleeping late and not getting on the road until 11 am; facing a moderate headwind most of the way; stoppingrt many times for photos; stopping to watch birds (prairie falcon?); talking with a guy selling sluice boxes out of his truck, by the river; talking to folks at the Lewis & Clark Caverns (but not taking the tour); viewing the Parker Homestead (see last photo).
Sent from my iPhone
Walt Wright
917 783 6540
Walterwright@brooklynny.us
Friday, June 27, 2008
Day 42 (June 27): Dillon to Whitehall, MT
Mileage: 60.8; 1030 total
Had breakfast at McDonald's with Craig, Doug, and their 11 middle school students, after having loaded my panniers into their van. Then we all headed out, but I soon fell behind and was comfortable proceeding at my more relaxed pace.
The route went north, following the Beaverhead River and then the Jefferson River through a broad farming/grazing valley, with the Beaverhead Mtns to the west and the Tobacco Root Mtns to the east. I had never heard of the Tobacco Root Mts, but they are pretty impressive.
For those of you who may be familiar with the saga of Lewis & Clark, this is the area where Sacajewega first recognized places she had come to as a young girl with her tribe, Shosones. She particularly remembered Beaver Head Rock, which had been a traveler's landmark for thousands of years.
Sent from my iPhone
Walt Wright
917 783 6540
Walterwright@brooklynny.us
Day 41 (June 26): Poking Around in Dillon
Mileage 5.1; 969 total
Library, museum, meals, etc.
Sent from my iPhone
Walt Wright
917 783 6540
Walterwright@brooklynny.us
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Bear at Sula (continued)
So, to conclude that story, I wanted to assure my family and any other friends that my plan has been, when camping in a place that would potentially have bears (or other animals), to hang my bag of food and cooking utensils in a bag from a tree limb. In fact, based on some advice from a mother/daughter pair of outdoorswomen from Helena (formerly from Alaska) I will also include, in the bag, the cloths that I was wearing when I cooked and ate the food.
Several people -- Bob I., Claude F., and others -- have enquired about how I would "protect" myself on this trip. Some people have asked if I am armed. As far as protection from people is concerned, I suspect that I am as safe on this trip as I would be if I was hanging around in NYC or anywhere else, for that matter. People here in the West have been extraordinarly helpful, friendly, and trusting, and their trusting nature is probably a reflection of the fact that people out here can generally be trusted. So, as far as I am concerned, on this trip I am as safe from people as I would be anywhere.
As far as animals are concerned, the only animals to actually be concerned about are bears. Other predators, such as mountain lions or wolves, are much less likely to approach anyplace that has humans. And as far as bears are concerned, the fact that I am traveling by bicycle doesn't make me any more vulnerable than anyone else who is camping. One just needs to be careful and prudent.
My bigger concern is dogs. So far, the only dog that has given chase was a pug, and with its short little legs to run on it didn't pose much of a threat. I will pick up a can of "Halt" (pepper spray), because I think the dog threat will probably increase as I head east.
Several people -- Bob I., Claude F., and others -- have enquired about how I would "protect" myself on this trip. Some people have asked if I am armed. As far as protection from people is concerned, I suspect that I am as safe on this trip as I would be if I was hanging around in NYC or anywhere else, for that matter. People here in the West have been extraordinarly helpful, friendly, and trusting, and their trusting nature is probably a reflection of the fact that people out here can generally be trusted. So, as far as I am concerned, on this trip I am as safe from people as I would be anywhere.
As far as animals are concerned, the only animals to actually be concerned about are bears. Other predators, such as mountain lions or wolves, are much less likely to approach anyplace that has humans. And as far as bears are concerned, the fact that I am traveling by bicycle doesn't make me any more vulnerable than anyone else who is camping. One just needs to be careful and prudent.
My bigger concern is dogs. So far, the only dog that has given chase was a pug, and with its short little legs to run on it didn't pose much of a threat. I will pick up a can of "Halt" (pepper spray), because I think the dog threat will probably increase as I head east.
Bear at Sula, MT
Sula, MT (population 50) basically consisted of a gas station and restaurant, with cabins for rent and camping behind the restaurant. I spent two nights there.
I had a small but comfortable cabin (photo to be attached eventually).
In fact, you might call this a luxury cabin, because it was right on the golf course (photo of a miniature golf course to be attached).
The cabin next to mine was occupied by a fellow from California who was a friend of the owner. He told me that he had planned to camp, but that the owner advised him to stay in a cabin, instead, because she had been having problems with a black bear coming down from the mountains to get in the garbage cans. (I don't think she told this to the others who were camping in tents!)
The second night the bear came down to see what it could find to eat. It knocked over two large garbage cans (see photo). When the photo is posted you will see a stainless-steel contraption right next/behind the strewn garbage: this is a bear trap, but the bear didn't take the bait. The owner heard the bear and drove to it in her truck, trying to frighten it away without much success. It eventually ran behind my cabin, crossed the road, and left. I remember hearing some noise in the middle of the night, but basically slept through all of the commotion. I wasn't aware of it until a walked to the restrooms in the morning, and saw the garbage. And saw a large "deposit" that the bear had left in front of my cabin.
I am being kicked off the computer, so all for now.......
I had a small but comfortable cabin (photo to be attached eventually).
In fact, you might call this a luxury cabin, because it was right on the golf course (photo of a miniature golf course to be attached).
The cabin next to mine was occupied by a fellow from California who was a friend of the owner. He told me that he had planned to camp, but that the owner advised him to stay in a cabin, instead, because she had been having problems with a black bear coming down from the mountains to get in the garbage cans. (I don't think she told this to the others who were camping in tents!)
The second night the bear came down to see what it could find to eat. It knocked over two large garbage cans (see photo). When the photo is posted you will see a stainless-steel contraption right next/behind the strewn garbage: this is a bear trap, but the bear didn't take the bait. The owner heard the bear and drove to it in her truck, trying to frighten it away without much success. It eventually ran behind my cabin, crossed the road, and left. I remember hearing some noise in the middle of the night, but basically slept through all of the commotion. I wasn't aware of it until a walked to the restrooms in the morning, and saw the garbage. And saw a large "deposit" that the bear had left in front of my cabin.
I am being kicked off the computer, so all for now.......
Resting in Dillon, MT; the Group from Palm Desert, California
I am glad to have a chance today to be relaxing, and spending time at the library cleaning up the blog and catching up on email correspondence.
The blog got somewhat confused in the last few days, due to limited AT&T access. At one point, in Wisdom, I found out that the restaurant had Wi-Fi, but as I was posting I lost the Wi-Fi service because the electricity was cut off for the whole region. I wasn't clear on what had been posted and what hadn't been, and as a consequence some things were posted twice. But I think I have now gotten that all cleaned up.
I made a bunch of minor corrections to some of the blogs from the last week....mainly dates, typos, etc. Nothing of consequence changed, but I do apologize to Caitlin, the 11-year old who is bicycling to Massachusets with her sister and parents, for having accidentally spelled her name "Cairlin."
In a prior post I mentioned that Craig and Doug transported my baggage yesterday. We are all camping at the same place in Dillon, and they invited me to have dinner with them last evening. The kids are responsible for doing all the cooking. Last evening two of the boys had "kitchen duty," and they cooked hamburgers, with roasted potatos and corn. It was a nice ending to a beautiful day.
Craig, a humanities teacher at a middle-school in Palm Desert, California, started a non-profit group called Historic Youth Tours. He and Doug and 11 kids drove from Southern California to Montana, where they are taking a bicycling tour for about a week, including visits to historic sites and capped by a raft trip. Including the drive, I think this is about a two-week excursion for them.
Craig is an avid bicyclist and recruited his friend Doug, president of the Palm Desert Bicycling Club, to join him on this year's trip. Of the eleven kids, two are 14 year-old girls (Clarissa and Margaret, both of whom I enjoyed talking with last evening) and nine boys aged 12 and 13. Their equipment includes: a passenger van that holds the whole gang; a trailer, outfitted by Craig to hold all the bicycles and luggage; two ten-person tents, one for the boys and one for the girls (the two girls on this trip have plenty of space!); and small tents for each of the adults. The organization also owns several bicycles that are used by kids who did have have bicycles appropriate for this trip.
I haven't had the pleasure of riding with the group, because they have started off in the morning before me. But even if I had started with them, I doubt that I could have kept up. In order to be permitted to join the group the kids had to train for several months, with lots of hill work, so they are in great shape! And of course both Craig and Doug are avid bicyclists. (Doug, incidentally, has a Co-Motion bicycle that is almost identical to mine -- other than mine, his is the only other one that I have seen.)
The kids have all been well-behaved and friendly, and seem to be enjoying the trip very much. I am sure that they don't yet appreciate how lucky they are to have had Craig start this organization, and to have Doug volunteer his time to help with this trip. But as the years go by they undoubtedly will -- ten, twenty, sixty years from now they will be talking about the great time that they had on this trip, and they will remember Craig and Doug.
I intend to post a photo of this group when I am able to.
And I have already asked them to transport my baggage one more day, tomorrow, from here to Whitehall, at which point we will be going in different directions.
The blog got somewhat confused in the last few days, due to limited AT&T access. At one point, in Wisdom, I found out that the restaurant had Wi-Fi, but as I was posting I lost the Wi-Fi service because the electricity was cut off for the whole region. I wasn't clear on what had been posted and what hadn't been, and as a consequence some things were posted twice. But I think I have now gotten that all cleaned up.
I made a bunch of minor corrections to some of the blogs from the last week....mainly dates, typos, etc. Nothing of consequence changed, but I do apologize to Caitlin, the 11-year old who is bicycling to Massachusets with her sister and parents, for having accidentally spelled her name "Cairlin."
In a prior post I mentioned that Craig and Doug transported my baggage yesterday. We are all camping at the same place in Dillon, and they invited me to have dinner with them last evening. The kids are responsible for doing all the cooking. Last evening two of the boys had "kitchen duty," and they cooked hamburgers, with roasted potatos and corn. It was a nice ending to a beautiful day.
Craig, a humanities teacher at a middle-school in Palm Desert, California, started a non-profit group called Historic Youth Tours. He and Doug and 11 kids drove from Southern California to Montana, where they are taking a bicycling tour for about a week, including visits to historic sites and capped by a raft trip. Including the drive, I think this is about a two-week excursion for them.
Craig is an avid bicyclist and recruited his friend Doug, president of the Palm Desert Bicycling Club, to join him on this year's trip. Of the eleven kids, two are 14 year-old girls (Clarissa and Margaret, both of whom I enjoyed talking with last evening) and nine boys aged 12 and 13. Their equipment includes: a passenger van that holds the whole gang; a trailer, outfitted by Craig to hold all the bicycles and luggage; two ten-person tents, one for the boys and one for the girls (the two girls on this trip have plenty of space!); and small tents for each of the adults. The organization also owns several bicycles that are used by kids who did have have bicycles appropriate for this trip.
I haven't had the pleasure of riding with the group, because they have started off in the morning before me. But even if I had started with them, I doubt that I could have kept up. In order to be permitted to join the group the kids had to train for several months, with lots of hill work, so they are in great shape! And of course both Craig and Doug are avid bicyclists. (Doug, incidentally, has a Co-Motion bicycle that is almost identical to mine -- other than mine, his is the only other one that I have seen.)
The kids have all been well-behaved and friendly, and seem to be enjoying the trip very much. I am sure that they don't yet appreciate how lucky they are to have had Craig start this organization, and to have Doug volunteer his time to help with this trip. But as the years go by they undoubtedly will -- ten, twenty, sixty years from now they will be talking about the great time that they had on this trip, and they will remember Craig and Doug.
I intend to post a photo of this group when I am able to.
And I have already asked them to transport my baggage one more day, tomorrow, from here to Whitehall, at which point we will be going in different directions.
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