Montana Pt. 2 – Idaho

The last post left us off at the wonderful Llama Ranch. That next morning I was planning to ride to Helena and wasn’t sure if I’d ride the GDMBR route or hop off for some easy highway riding. I was leaning more towards the easy riding since I was getting a late start, nearly 11am.

Shortly after starting the ride I ran into another cyclist named Matt. We became friends instantly and started riding together. Matt was from Crested Butte and was an extremely strong rider. He had ridden in four days what had taken me nearly two weeks. So I knew riding with him would help push me a bit harder and boy did it. We had some great conversation while riding and since we were both riding to Helena, we agreed to meet for dinner once we got to town. I told him not to worry about riding ahead of me since I knew I would be quite a bit slower. It was because of him though that I road the GDMBR route all the way to Helena and felt pretty strong.

The riding that day was really nice and peaceful. Rolling hills with luscious forest and no one else on the road.

I stayed at the MTBCity campground in Helena. It was an awesome little campground that had spots for cyclists. They also had a nice hot shower which is more valuable than anything after riding. Here at the campground I ran into Chad again! The same cyclist I had first met in Whitefish but had seen every here and there. The bike and tent next to me in the picture belongs to a cool guy named Daniel who has been riding all over the states for a long time.

The campground was also home to a bunch of chickens and some very curious turkeys. You had to be careful with these guys because they pecked at everything and would peck at all of your gear.

The campground had a nice common area for cyclist to hangout in. It had a kitchen behind me and a work station as well. In the picture is a nice Israeli guy. He was dealing with a bad knee and trying to figure out his next steps for his trip. I hate seeing cyclists with hurt knees causing problems on their tour ever since I went through the same thing on my first tour. I wish him a speedy recover and hope he can continue riding.

From Helena I decide to start doing my own route navigation. The GDMBR goes through Wyoming and Colorado which I had already ridden through and I really wanted to ride through Utah.

Self navigation is also extremely enjoyable for me. Part of this trip is to travel and explore and figuring out my own route is how I like to explore. I like to talk with locals and get input about nice roads and routes to take and then piece together all that info to create my own unique route. The route that I took to Dillon was beautiful and very rewarding. It had a reasonable amount of climbing and a nice mix of all road types.

This photo is quite blurry because it was taken near nighttime with low light so it was a slow shutter speed, but the story behind it is worth sharing. I had pulled up to a campground near Boulder and was laying in my hammock reading when a RV started backing into my campsite. I got up and said hey to the driver who had hopped out to ask me how long I was planning on staying and if it was okay if we shared the site. I of course had no problem with it all as I took up almost no space and did not need the full RV site. I had bummed sites off of RV’s and vans before but this was the first time he opposite had happened.

Brian, the driver, was extremely kind and offered to cook me dinner that night. His girlfriend Kathy would also be joining us later in the evening. They had left to go to town and get the groceries so I decided to walk around the campground. I got to meet so many people in the campground and all were extremely kind and interested in my trip. Later that evening I would have nearly half the campground walk over and look at my bike and ask me lots of questions about it. I’ve never been one to enjoy attention but it was nice to have so many people curious about my trip.

When Brian and Kathy returned, he started cooking up a delicious dinner. It was some mix of chicken, rice, vegetables, and some wonderful seasonings and spices. We sat and ate dinner and had a lovely conversation. He had cooked a ton and gave me all the leftovers to take with me which would feed me dinners for the next two days. Along with that he loaded me up on peanut M&M’s (my favorite) and a couple other candy bars.

We spent the rest of the night drinking Twisted Teas (tasty and dangerously easy to drink) and sharing stories. We talked late into the night until the Milky Way was above us. It was a night I cherish greatly because I had never met these people before but yet the time we spent was as if we knew each other for years.

The next morning I had said my goodbyes to Brian and Kathy as they had to head to work. Before I left the campground I had to take some photos of these beautiful hunting dogs I had met the day before.

This is Amus and he is the father dog. He is a Catahoula and is ridiculously fast. The owners said he can get up to 40mph.

This is AJ which stands for Amus Junior. Amus is his dad and AJ is part Catahoula and part Pitbull. He has a big beautiful pit face and is much bigger than his father but much slower.

This is Bandit and he is another son of Amus. He was the runt of the litter but has grown into a great big dog. These are very capable hunting dogs and are used to hunt bears and even mountain lions. I felt much safer sleeping near this dogs knowing anything that came by would have three strong dogs scaring it away. I got to play fetch with these dogs for a while and it was a blast. I love watching dogs run and play.

I’ve slowly been waking up and starting my rides earlier and earlier as my sleeping schedule has been fixed to the sun. I enjoy getting tired when the sun goes down and feeling awake and energized as the sun lights up my tent. This morning the light was wonderful as I rode away from the campground and towards Whitehall.

While the mountains had gotten much less dramatic and jagged compared to Canada, the landscape was still beautiful in its own way. This ride had many many boulders on the side of the road jutting out every which way. Maybe that’s why the town I had just left was called Boulder..?

The trees were getting more and more sparse the further south I went. They provide great shade from the heat so their absence is noticed quickly.

Riding into Whitehall. A day with a little bit of gravel and a little bit of peaceful paved roads are perfect. I had this entire highway to myself pretty much.

After getting into Whitehall I went to the Town Hall to ask if I could sleep in the park across the street. They said it is allowed but also let me know that they allow CDT hikers to sleep in the Town Hall garage and that I was welcome to as well! They also said a CDT hiker was staying right now so I would have some company.

Here is my Dutch friend Stumblebee who was hiking the CDT. Hikers and Bikers and pretty much the same and we got along instantly. We spent hours taking silly Buzzfeed quizzes to figure out what type of pasta we are. She shared a pizza with me when I got in and then I shared the leftovers of the dinner from Brian and Kathy with her for dinner. We went to the nearest grocery store later and got some beer and ice cream. We spent the rest of the night talking and watching silly Youtube videos before falling asleep.

Riding from Whitehall to Dillon. I had actually been to Dillon on my last bike tour as it is on the Trans America route. I had been told by Brian and Kathy that a huge rodeo and fair was taking place in Dillon for labor day weekend so I decided to go visit. I reached out to a WarmShowers host I had stayed with two years ago and was told I was welcome to stay for the weekend. I sent a message to my German Cyclist friend Fred to try and meet me in town for the fair and he said he was coming!

I noticed this pack of horse looking awfully majestic and had to stop and grab a photo.

I had made it to Dillon at the Bike Walk Southwest Montana! I was welcomed by another cyclist named Seth who handed me a beer, a great way to be welcomed. Larry and his wife Lois were there and I got to catch up with Larry who I hadn’t seen since my last tour. They had bought this land years ago an have been building structures for cyclists and hikers to use. Another wonderful example of the kindness experience on the trail.

A nice thing about planning to spend a few days in a town is that I get to take off a lot of my bags. Riding with that much less weight always feels weird at first.

The campground has an incredible workshop which you can see Seth’s bike here being worked on. He had a tire blow out on the ride to Dillon and had to get a ride into town. He and I hit it off quickly and we decided to both go to the fair and rodeo on Saturday together, along with Fred whenever he arrived.

Seth and I went to get some breakfast at McDonalds since there was a great deal on breakfast sandwiches. When we were eating we noticed another cyclist riding across the road and it was Fred! It has been a few days since I had seen him so it was great to see him again. Fred stayed to get some food also and Seth and I went to get some beer from the grocery store to pregame the fair. These Voodoo Rangers were 9% and two of them definitely had me feeling some type of way.

After some beers we decided to go checkout the fair. The first thing we noticed when getting there was the animal auction. There was hundreds of kids who had helped raise these animals and were auctioning them off. It was cool to see all these beautiful animals, even though they were being sold away.

This big porker was nearly 300lbs and I think he fetched a price of nearly $5000!

There was also a petting zoo full of goats and cows.

Finally it was time for the rodeo. I had never been to a rodeo in my life so this was the main reason I came to town. I had no idea what to expect but all the beer I had consumed would make anything entertaining.

The first events were some wild horse racing where a bunch of teams with a wild horse each were released with goal being to hop on the wild horse and then ride it in a circle. Most teams failed quickly as the horses got away. Only one team was able to mount the horse and then quickly won. This photo was during a competition where you had to rope a baby cow and then jump off and then tie up the legs. I had some pretty lucky timing with this shot and you can see the rope just went around the cows head. It was really cool watching them lasso these cows with such precision.

The day after the rodeo was a day of recovering and relaxing. Here you can see the wonderful Seth preparing us a nice lunch as I was working on my previous blog post. It takes me a long time to edit the photos and write the blogs but I enjoy it very much. I hope you all enjoy the photos and stories as well.

Thank you Seth for the tasty sandwich.

Seth and I were riding together from Dillon through the Centennial Valley for a few days together. He was going to head to Yellowstone after and I was heading south towards Salt Lake City. Seth is huge cyclist also and even holds some titles for cyclocross back in his home in California. It was great teaming up and riding with him as he is also a big lover of animals. We were riding and this lovable golden ran out into the street to welcome us.

There was also this neat looking goat that had a magnificent beard that is sadly blocked in this photo.

There weren’t many trees out here and it was quite hot so the riding was tough. Seth and I got a bit more quiet as we pushed on.

Shortly after this disaster had stuck Seth. His other tire blew a hole in it. If you remember he had to hitch a ride into to Dillon because he had a tire blow also. It was a massive hole beyond repair so his only option was to contact Larry and have him come out to get him. I stayed with Seth until Larry got there to keep him company. I was sad to have my riding buddy leave me behind but I’m sure Seth was more upset since his tires kept failing him.

I didn’t make it much further that day since it was pretty late after Seth got picked up. I found a primitive campground that had a drop toilet and a running creek so I stayed here. After setting up camp I hiked up the hill to catch the sunset and take some photos. It was truly beautiful out here.

You can see the road I rode in on here. This type of remote riding is some of my favorite.

A wonderful sunrise the next morning.

A picture of a drop toilet? So there is a funny story with this toilet. As I was falling asleep in my tent at night, I heard an animal moving through some thick brush pretty close to me. I could tell it was a large animal by how much sound it made. There were signs all over to be aware of bears so my heart started racing. I got out of my tent and grabbed my headlight to investigate. I was talking loudly to try and scare whatever it was away. I shined my light off at where it was and could only see an outline of a large creature and eyes looking right back at me. I couldn’t tell for sure if it was a bear but my heart and mind were racing and I could feel the adrenaline. The story of the poor lady in Ovando going through my mind also.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep in my tent thinking there might be a bear around and the only hard structure nearby was this drop toilet. Inside of it was a terrible smell but I noticed the roof looked pretty comfortable. I tried to climb up it but it was pretty high and had an overhang that was hard to get over. I then had the genius idea to use to the door to climb up. So I threw my sleeping pad and sleeping bag up on the roof and climbed the door to get up on top. I felt much safer up there and was able to lay down and start getting some sleep. It was really pretty cowboy camping up there and being able to look at the stars also. It did get quite windy in the night and dropped to nearly 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

The next morning I quickly realized I had a problem. The door was slammed shut by the wind and now I had to find a way down. Its hard to tell in the photo but its a pretty tall outhouse, I’d guess close to 11ft tall. The black vent tower was plastic and was very weak and couldn’t be used to assist me down so I pretty much had the only option to jump down. I sat on the edge looking over and was thinking to myself this is way too tall but I said screw it and threw myself off. I caught myself with my feet and then pushed myself forward trying to slow as much momentum as I could. I ended up falling on my face and broke the arm off my prescription glasses. I also noticed I had a searing pain in the big toe of my right foot also. I couldn’t move it and any attempt to had me wincing in pain. I had assumed I either broke it, sprained it, or badly jammed it.

I limped over to my things and laid back down on my sleeping pad for a bit to see if it got any better. I was feeling extremely stupid and pretty upset with myself for how much pain my toe was in. I decided to get up and try to bike to see if that hurt. Walking was very difficult and painful but maybe biking was better. I was able to bike pretty well with little pain and decided to push on for the day.

After about 30 miles the pain was extreme and any slight touch or movement of my toe would have me hollering. I hitched a ride with a kind lady to Upper Red Rock Campground in the valley. I set up my tent and laid in bed the rest of the evening. This day was the worst condition my toe was in. I assumed that riding on it made it much worse so I was planning to hitch to town the next day and evaluate my options.

At the campground I met an awesome guy named Ari who I borrowed some pain meds from. He also gave me some beer to help with the pain. We sat and talked for a bit and he gave me some great info for the Baja Peninsula. I explained my situation and he kindly offered to give me a ride to town in his van the next day. I hobbled back to my tent to get some sleep.

The next day Ari drove me to Island Park, Idaho. I was in a pretty bad mental state because this was a beautiful section of the route and I wasn’t able to ride it or take any photos of it. Once I got to Island Park I called my mom and talked to some nurse friends and found out all I could really do is give it time and tape it to my other toe. I dispersed camp outside of town that night to see how I felt the next day.

I woke up feeling better but still unable to walk well. I decided to keep biking but in my sandals as it gave my toe some more space and freedom. I was able to ride with no pain so I kept pushing on. I was headed towards Salt Lake City and decided to take a more direct and paved route instead of the scenic and rougher route to go easy on my toe. Sadly I don’t have many photos from these few days as I was pretty upset with myself.

A few days later I arrive in Idaho Falls. My toe was feeling much better riding so I was getting some motivation back. Idaho Falls was a really cool town with a wonderful river running through it.

This cool Japanese Garden was in the middle of the city.

In town I stopped at a food truck park and decided to get some sushi. The owners started talking to me and were interested in my trip and were awesome people. Tony, Muhammed, and Henny had started this food truck just a few months ago and were all from Indonesia. They were so kind and welcoming and it was great talking to them. I ordered some sushi and when I went to pay they refused and said it was on them. It made my day.

Yummy yummy free sushi. If any of you are ever in Idaho Falls, checkout the Yoi Mi food truck!

I was staying with a WarmShowers host in Idaho Falls and he was hosting a bunch of cyclists who were taking off on a race early in the morning. It was a great experience as I got to meet loads of other cyclists. This here is Brian who is working on his Moots bike before the race.

His bike was really cool and had a Rasta color scheme to it. We chatted a long time and I hope he did well on the race.

Some other riders getting their bikes ready.

The next morning my host told me that today was the last day of the Eastern Idaho State Fair in Blackfoot, a town just 30 miles south. I decided yes that sounds awesome and decided to ride there.

When I was at the front gate of the fair I met a nice lady working the entrance, Dana. She kindly watched my bike for me as I went inside the office to ask about camping. Sadly there wasn’t anything available nearby so I went back outside. When I went back out, Dana’s husband Ryan was checking out my bike. We all started talking and turns out they are huge cyclists and loved what I was doing. They were living in Idaho Falls and even knew about my host from last night and the race that was going on! They helped me find a campsite and then gave me their numbers to contact them after I got camp setup and came back to the fair.

I drank a carton of wine while getting camp ready that I got for $2 at a gas station, a real steal. After showering and setting up camp I rode back to the fair. Ryan met me outside and took me in and let me hold my bike safely in the office. After that he took me into the horse races and hooked me up with all the stamps I would need to get in all the events for free! Ryan and Dana were awesome and I was glad to meet them.

We all hungout and watched some horse races until they had to return to work. We talked a lot about bikes and traveling.

My favorite part about fairs is definitely the food. Fried everything is a staple in American fairs. This fair was amazing compared to the Dillon fair. It was at least 10x the size and had way more stuff. The Dillon fair was still fun but this one was amazing.

I got some fried cheesecake and it was heavenly.

Lots of rides and games. I didn’t participate since all my money was budgeted towards food and beer.

All the rides involved lots of spinning in many directions.

Lots of animals here as well. I thought this guy had some impressive horns. It was a Watusi Cow.

The demolition derby!! Ryan and Dana got me into this event also. It was even sold out so there was no chance I could get in myself. It was very entertaining.

Once all the lights lit up I had to take some photos. It was beautiful.

Footlong corndog

I don’t normally get lonely but out of nowhere a massive wave of loneliness washed over me. I couldn’t help but to look around at everyone and I was the only person alone. There were big groups of friends, couples, and families all around me. I wished I had someone to share this experience with. I was overwhelmed by the amount of people and couldn’t muster the courage to say hello to anyone. I stood still watching the lights of the rides while everyone moved past me. I was considering leaving soon but decided to go checkout some live music.

It was here were all my feelings of loneliness would disappear. I noticed a familiar face and it was none other than Tony, the guy from the Sushi food truck in Idaho Falls! I said hey and he was so excited to see me again. He was here with Muhammed and Henny and another friend as well. It was so nice to have some people to hangout to and talk with. We sat and watched the rest of the live music and patiently awaited the next performance, a hypnotist. I had never seen a hypnotist before and it was nothing other than mindblowing and spectacular. A group of teens was on stage and the hypnotist had then doing some absurd things that had me question what was going on.

It was during this performance that I would meet to amazing girls, Ciarra and Kristie. They were two girls from Rexburg who had come watch their second hypnotist performance for the day. They loved the first one and got me very excited for this one. We were all dying with laughter at what was going on on stage. After the show we sat and talked forever. We got hungry and walked around getting some last minute food before everything closed. Talking with them was a joy and we were all laughing together the rest of the night sharing stories of hard times and good times. Around midnight it was time for them to drive home and me to return to my tent. It was a great night that I’ll remember for a long time, and if Ciarra or Kristie is reading this, I wish you nothing but the best.

The next day I would start my grind to Salt Lake City. I needed to do about 70 miles three days in a row which was much more than I had done so far. I averaged about that much on my first tour so I wanted the challenge to get myself stronger for the road ahead. I road much longer than every day before and it was great covering great distances each day. I’d sleep soundly with a feeling of accomplishment.

Camping in the town of Downey. My favorite part of the day is dinner and sunset. Here I was eating a nice soup and veggie mix I got from a grocery store. I added some lentils for extra calories.

I didn’t take too many photos these days as I was riding some rather busy highway and it wasn’t that scenic. My main focus was getting to Salt Lake to see my good buddy, Gerrit. I did make a stop in the town of Preston which is where Napoleon Dynamite was filmed. This movie is incredible and if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.

Thank you again for reading along, hope you enjoyed it.