To Butte

Day 47 - July 23rd
55.8 miles
Total: 1933.5 miles
Moving Avg: 9.0 mph
Overall Avg: 6.0 mph

This morning we had the choice between a highway alternate for ten miles or the legendary Fleecer Ridge route. The ridge is legendary because of a section which is too steep and eroded to ride in either direction. We have heard stories of cyclists pushing bikes through plants and shrubs to gain traction on the way down, as well as cyclists whose shoes were destroyed by the sharp shale that covers the non trail "trail". Up until this point most of our climbs range in the 2-6% grade, with spurts up to ten percent. Fleecer Ridge carried a whopping 24% grade. In cycling terms that is pretty much a vertical climb.

We had no desire to push our bikes up a disgustingly steep and dangerous hill, so we opted for the alternate route. This path followed the Big Hole River downstream from Wise River, just before turning to parallel a rail line. The first ten miles were through the rugged rocky river canyon, with a wide shallow river peppered with early morning fishermen. The next ten miles was a giant climb, keeping to the grade of the nearby rail line.

After this, the alternate rejoined the main route, and we had a beast of a climb to deal with, arguably the third most difficult climb of the entire route (if judged by steepness alone). It was mighty tempting to continue following the freeway all the way to Butte, but we settled on the official route and made the 1500ft climb on hard packed dirt over 3.7 miles. Overall, the grade was an average of 7.2 percent, but there were definitely sections too steep to push a bike in a straight line. We better get used to this, as Montana tends to avoid switchbacks in favor of the straight climb.

The high desert landscape started to grown boulder outcroppings, and the sage was soon replaced by trees rich in their dry forest aromas. After the initial climb, the trail bobbed up and down, slowly gaining more elevation until we crested the divide and began our final descent to Butte.

Along the ride down we saw a person carrying their bike up the hill with the front wheel dragging and the back wheel lifted in the air. After some silly comments about the improper riding technique he was demonstrating, we checked if he needed any help. Apparently his music ear buds fell out of his control and got sucked up into his gears. Since he was not packing any gear, we offered up a knife and tweezers to perform an earbudectomy on his bike. Several minutes later his SAG wagon showed up (support and gear). With more tools available, he was able to give the gears a full cleaning job. Apricots and I were gifted some home made chocolate peanut butter bars for our services. Yum yum.

We continued our descent into Butte, swapping tips with southbound cyclists from Portland. Once down in Butte, we grabbed some danishes and rolled to our Warm Showers host.

Since we arrived around four, we opted to head out for dinner after showers. We gorged ourselves on pizza, and then watched a little bit of a spectacle at the Evil Kneivel Days.

Tomorrow, one of our last rest days before wrapping up this adventure.

Live life at a slower place.

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Tree Switch Activated

Day 46 - July 22nd
56.8 miles
Total: 1877.7 miles
Moving Avg: 10.5 mph
Overall Avg: 7.6 mph

We rose to a warm morning. The clouds rolled in late last night trapping the heat of yesterday. It made for an easier start, as the fingers and toes were not numb. Twelve miles down the road we stopped and chatted with a couple Trans America cyclists (from New Zealand). Our two trails intersected at Bannack State Park.

Ten miles later we grabbed a small breakfast at Grasshopper Inn. The servings were tiny, but the prices were fair, and we only needed a little juice to push us up the 1400 foot climb.

The tree switch was turned on around Polaris, as promised by several southbound cyclists. It was a beautiful climb along a very very quiet scenic highway. The views seen on the south side were bypassed by the views on the north side. The landscape varied immensely in the various wooded regions and pastoral parks we passed through. Thick timber with no sunlight passing through at times. Other times the trees were sparse and we could see deep into the forest.

The descent lasted a little over two hours, but it was the most enjoyable part of Montana so far, and one of the highlights of the trail for me. Boulder filled streams intersected the road between basalt rock slides. To top it off, the trees did not really turn off when we hit the lower elevations. It may appear as though the high desert has been left behind.

Yes, Wise River (our destination) is fairly tree free, but it is deep in an arid valley which we will climb out of tomorrow.

We ended our evening in the Wise River Saloon listening to live music. The man stuck to old timer country music and Johnny Cash. The two have a solid overlap. During the breaks in music, the stage was open to anyone to come up and play. The one singer that stepped up had some comedic stories to back up his songs, which all carried a nice theme and bluegrass feeling.

I would say we stumbled out the back door to our tents behind the saloon, but we stayed sober, limiting ourselves to one drink before tomorrow's fifty mile ride to Butte (which I hear is having a giant Evil Kneivel Festival).

Live life at a slower place.

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To Bannack

Day 45 - July 21st
64.9 miles
Total: 1820.9 miles
Moving Avg: 9.1 mph
Overall Avg: 6.2 mph

We knew we had a bigger day today, so we rose early, hitting the road by 6:45am. Our hands were numb from the cold, and our toes were disturbingly numb. We just wanted sunlight, but we were winding our way through a canyon. It took a few miles, but we eventually found the sunlight (which we would hide from in a few hours), and it cast it's warming rays on us so we could more completely enjoy the beautiful canyon.

The rocks pushed through the soil in extravagant outcroppings, leaving seams for vegetation, cracks for nesting birds, and bold lines which cast deep shadows. After climbing out of the canyon we made our final ascent to the Medicine Lodge Sheep Creek Divide, but not without first giving us a short grueling slodge up the final 500 feet.

At the top Apricots and I had first lunch. It was thirty miles of gradual descent and flat spots from there to the next water source. We wanted to push those thirty miles before second lunch, and we did. We rode down the hill following a valley most of the way, but the arid openness brought back not so fond memories of the great divide basin. It is a strange thing though, from a distance the landscape looks like a soft velvet blanket draped over the land. Up close, however, it is harsh and pointy, not the sort of blanket you would want to lay on.

Ville was quoted as asking, "Does America have anything besides high deserts?" after another cyclist informed him of the beautiful desert ahead. I think the three of us have seen enough high desert for the trail. We are ready for the trees of northern montana and canada.

Apricots and I took shelter in the shade of a small school house in Grants, MT for second lunch. We chowed down food and then washed our clothes under a spigot before cycling the final 13 miles to camp. It is so refreshing putting on wet clothing in 90 degree heat - a shock to the system, but worth the feeling for the next ten minutes of riding.

Camp tonight is at Bannack State Park, a very well preserved Ghost Town that was the original site for the Capitol of the Montana territory. After dinner, Apricots and I took a stroll through town. I was disappointed to see no ghosts, but we did see some snazzy old buildings that were fairly well preserved.

Tomorrow we should get to the trees. I am sure the trail will give us new struggles.

Live life at a slower place.

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Holy Cow

Day 44 - July 20
50.7 miles
Total: 1756 miles
Moving Avg: 8.8 mph
Overall Avg: 6.3 mph

In the middle of the night, clouds rolled in and rain started falling. It was just a little spit, but we had left the fly off our tent. Ville had as well, so we both jumped out in the middle of the night and put flies on our tents.

When we woke in the morning, the sky was clear. It was my intention to wake early to beat the winds which pushed through the valley, but I couldn't muster the motivation to get out of bed. Neither could the other two, so I suppose we needed the rest after yesterday's battle. Everyday a new struggle.

We packed camp and rolled on. About eight miles into the day we passed some perfect camping areas, and were dismayed that we didn't push further yesterday. I suppose that is rather commmon though, to find a better campsite just past the bad ones.

When we rounded a bend, Apricots said "holy cow!" A few yards later, we realized it was just a long black fence, and not a wall of cows, as expected. Then a quarter mile layer we realized that Ville had stopped, it was then that our initial suspicions were confirmed. That giant mass of black blocking the road was indeed a herd of cows. This herd was the biggest we have seen since the border, and it was completely blocking the road and mooing up a racket. We dismounted our bikes and pushed through whooping and hollering at the cows. We got through and remounted for the ride to Lima.

Our ride continued to follow the Red Rocks River through the valley, where it filled Lima Reservoir toward mile 20 for our day. Ten miles later, after a rolling descent, we found ourselves munching mean burgers in Lima. We also picked up a wicked awesome care package from my mom, which rounded out our food nicely.

Back to the trail, I was just beginning to believe that I was in for another few days of arid basin, akin to the Great Divide Basin. Fortunately big Sky country started to let up on the high desert basin feeling late today. We rode into a deep canyon with a beautiful rocky river flowing next to the trail. We watched swimming hole after swimming hole pass by as we pushed to camp, knowing we would have a swimming hole of our own.

Sure enough, our nice campsite, lush with flat soft grass was situated below towering rock walls which plunged vertically toward Big Sheep Creek. We dropped our bikes and slopped through the mud into the rocky area of the stream, enjoying a refreshing afternoon bath.

Tomorrow, hopefully we push the 64 miles to Bannack State Park. One long steady climb followed by a longer descent. If the wind behaves, and the road stays smoothish, we should be good.

Live life at a slower place.

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Day 43 addedum

I forgot to mention we saw a badger. It was peeking over a log at us.

Also, the valley with the nature reserve was established for the Trumpeter Swan.

Deja WY

Day 43 - July 19th
48.9 miles
Total: 1705.2 miles
Moving Avg: 8.9 mph
Overall Avg: 6.1 mph

This morning Ville made us pancakes. Since the Waters Man Cave had a griddle and mix, he felt compelled to cook for us. Besides we had pretty much flat miles today, so we were not in any serious rush to get moving, the miles would come easy.

We made the relatively small climb over Red Rocks pass, entering into Montana at the top of the pass. The Cenntenial Mountains towered over the broad flat valley that contained the remainder of the days journey.

Along the way, we met about eight southbound touring cyclists. They all complained about the draining head wind they had been experiencing the last three days. They said that the travels should be easier for us.

We, however, didn't seem to have the experience promised to us. While it wasn't a headwind all day, the wide open valley had an abundance of wind to battle. There was a two mile stretch heading directly into the wind. It also pointed us at the Centennial Mountains which loomed 3000ft above the valley floor. It was hard to look at them, as putting our heads up increased wind drag. So we hunkered down and pushed forward.

Eventually the road turned west and the wind became a side wind. It did swirl frontward at times, but at least now we could look up and admire the rocky peaks to our left with their vertical faces.

Several miles later, we found ourselves having lunch at the visitors center for the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge was created as a means to help the decaying population of a specific type of crane (if I remember correctly) which used to be abundant in the area. Since the creation of the wildlife refuge, population of the bird has been restored.

We  pushed twenty miles further to a location marked as dispersed camping. Unfortunately, it was a dismal site. In fact, I believe it was mislabeled, because there doesn't seem to be any thing resembling a site here. The river was agricultural runoff, dirty beyond comfortable levels to filter. The landscape was deep grass with no suitable tent sites.

We pushed half a mile to the next creek, hoping for cleaner water and better tent sites. The creek was much cleaner, but tent sites were dismal at best. We searched around and finally settled on a flat patch of grass ten feet off the gravel road. Fortunately the road is very quiet. Unfortunately we have solid wind, and no shade.

We were moping and groaning about the quality of the site, and whether we should push 18 miles to the next site with water and camping.

"Guys, guys, guys, guys," Ville interjected. "Don't get sad, we have whiskey."

And suddenly all was well.

Live life at a slower place.

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The Man Cave

Day 42 - June 18th (Happy Birthday Robin)
47.8 miles
Total: 1656.3 miles
Moving Avg: 10.3 mph
Overall Avg: 6.4 mph

Mrs. Maria Eidam continued her excellent hosting this morning. While we showered and packed up, she made breakfast burritos for us. Additionally she left a fruit plate out for us to take as desired, and a giant bucket of licorice, complete with zip lock bags to load up for the road.

Two burritos down, with a banana and OJ, we loaded up on licorice and hit the road. Our first stop was the post office to pick up a package from Apricots' coworker. Unfortunately, the package was not in the post office, and our zero felt like a waste. Then we remembered that the rest day was of great value, and the Eidam family spoiled us good.

We stocked up on water and caffeine and hit the road. Our path was neither the official route, nor the alternate route. We opted for taking highway 47, the Mesa Falls National Scenic Byway. While it was beautiful, it did not compare with the scenery we have been exposed to on the trip. Ville even said, "Do the people who make these scenic routes even understand what the word scenic means?"

Sure, it was just a joke, but most of the route consisted of high desert and ponderosa pines. We did catch one fleeting glimpse of the Tetons as we moved northwest from the range. Additionally we had a short stretch between two rivers where the road had water flowing on both sides. After the climb out of the Warm River Valley, the ridge line was abundant with the aroma of pine and sage, and the miles slid quickly under our tires.

Before long, we intersected Hwy 20, a major Yellowstone artery. Fortunately for us, we had a tail wind, and frequent construction interruptions which provided us with long carless stretches.

Before we knew it, we arrived at our hosts humble abode, known as Waters Man Cave. The place provided us with shelter from the sun and wind, a shower, and a kitchen to enable us to live like humans. The man cave is decorated with elk antlers, a wolf rug, and an enormous bison head.

The TV had the DVD "Ride the Divide" loaded for us to watch, a documentary on the Tour Divide Race. Ville had not seen it, so we watched it with him and made then made dinner.

The next four nights will likely be removed from civilization. We best suck up the civilized comforts while we can.

Live life at a slower place.

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Zero in Ashton

Day 41 - July 17th
About 3 miles
Total: 1608.5 miles

Zero days are the best. Little to report here folks. Ashton is a sleepy town, especially on sundays. We found a diner to have breakfast at, and planned our next leg over the coffee, eggs, french toast, and cinnamon roll. It is a long leg to Butte, MT. It should take us until Saturday afternoon to get there.

After breakfast we returned to camp to pack up and wash our bikes. And strangely enough, we went to lunch after packing up. In reflection, it seems as though we did nothing but eat until mid day. It was a long lazy breakfast followed by packing and then a long lazy lunch.

After lunch we went to a pseudo park by a gas station and lounged in the shade, taking a nap to the constant murmer of cars speeding toward Yellowstone. Around 4pm we roused ourselves to the grocery store to purchase food for our next leg. It was a rather busy store and a little nerve racking, but all goods were purchased for the next leg, which fortunately is pretty far removed from any convenience stores that are money vacuums to the weary traveler.

After shopping we called our gracious hosts for the night who happily invited us into their home for dinner, showers, and rest. The large family is all moved out of the house, but the mother and father still run a business on property, and a few of the children still live locally. Over the course of the meal, we interacted with four generations of the family line, while enjoying good conversation, tasty lasagna, watermelon, and homemade cookies.
(Thank you for hosting)

Tomorrow it's back to the road for us.

Live life at a slower place.

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Enter Farmland

Day 40 - July 16th
23.1 miles
Total: 1605.5 miles

After waking to the sound of what probably was a skunk sifting through camp, the two of us struggled to sleep through the rest of the night. It was little matter though as we only had about twelve miles to Ashton, our next supply stop.

The road rolled through the farmland in gentle crests and troughs, as the green carpeted the landscape in what can only be described as a lush natural pillow. It is a nice change up from the endless ranchland and cow manure that has graced our presence since we started. Even the irrigation channels and industrial sprinklers added an interesting sight to our travels.

After a quick ninety minute ride, we arrived in Ashton to discover that the post office was closed. We had a package to pickup, and the hours listed Saturday as open, but it was not. As such, we get a forced (but appreciated) rest day.

On to the campsite, an RV park on the edge of town. The RV park is run by the neighboring hotel, so we stopped in the lobby to check on availability. We rang the bell for service, and this 50 year old frat boy strolled down the hall slurping the last of his coffee out of a big gulp, asking how he could help. I thought the guy was joking with us, so I asked if he worked at the hotel.

"Work here? I own the place," he replied swinging his empty coffee in a grand gesture of magnificence.

We asked about lodging options, and he told us he was booked up at the hotel, and the cabins in the RV park go for "one seventy, but the same thing in Yellowstone would go for four twenty five." After asking about tent spaces in the RV park, he said "I'll give you one for ten dollars. They usually go for twenty dollars, but you guys seem chill, so I'll do ten."

When we told him that we wanted a site, he said to his son, "let's get breakfast," and then wandered off. We concluded that he was actually a guest that was screwing with us. But he returned a few minutes later and told us he would take cash if that was fine with us. All too shady, but we have a tent site for the night. In the end, we concluded that the guy was just a super casual business person.

After setting camp and eating lunch, Apricots and I spent far too long hanging out at a laundromat. Ville had scored a shower at the swimming pool, a small service neither of us got around to, but we did a short ride, and had showers the night before.

At five o'clock, we met Apricots' cousin at Five 11 Main, a local pizzaria and ice creamery. Crystal lives south of Ashton in Rigby, and made the short drive to see Apricots. She spoiled us to both pizza and ice cream, and I was a happy camper. She even brought us some gallon zip lock bags, some macadamia nuts, and some marshmallows for Ville.

In the evening the three of us said goodbye at Crystal and went to the local market to buy some wine and tent stakes (or as I said, "beer and stakes"). No luck on the stakes, but Apricots found wine. She also found a host for us for tomorrow night. While sitting outside, a woman drove up to her and asked if the three of us needed a place to stay. The woman knew that the RV park lacked in accomodations, and was offering up her home for showers, laundry, and comfortable shelter. We took her phone number and intend to spend the night sunday evening.

The three of us returned to camp, where Ville asked an RV camper if we could borrow the lawn chairs to sit in (as our site had no picnic table, and the grass was a crude mix of dry crusty yellow grass and over sized thorny weeds). We sat in the newly acquired chairs, sipping wine as the sun turned the sky pink.

Live life at a slower place.

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Welcome to Idaho

Day 39 - July 15th
52.7 miles
Total: 1582.4 miles
Moving Avg: 9.6 mph
Overall Avg: 6.1 mph

We finished the s'mores for breakfast. How wickedly awesome is that?!?

After breakfast, we rolled the one and a half miles up to the next convenience store, for coffee before our ride. (I promise this is a wilderness experience, we are just in a very popular wilderness area). Then we rolled north along the shore of Jackson Lake. The forest obstructed most of the view, but when it opened up, we saw the immense blue gem seeded beneath the Tetons, welcoming southbound travelers with a stunning entry into the park.

After taking in the Tetons for one last time, we peeled away from the lake and made the climb out of the park toward Flagg Ranch. On the descent, we entered wilderness that had burned in a 1988 wildfire. It was pretty interesting to see a full forest of pine trees which were about ten to fifteen feet tall, interrupted by dead snags that hadn't fallen since the fire 28 years ago. Black spikes sticking out twenty to thirty feet above the treeline gave the forest a snapshot of its history.

At Flagg Ranch, we enjoyed our lunch, and the excitement of returning to a gravel road. We had thirty plus miles before us on a gravel road towards Ashton, Idaho. We didn't have a campsite in mind, so it was still up in the air as to whether we would make it to Idaho today.

The road was winding and rolling on easy gravel for most of the afternoon. The trees crept close to the trail, closing us in the dark pine forest. Near the creeks, the grass grew tall and the shrubs were dense. Every dark shadow, or browned pine, was a bear until we took a second look. Apricots and I rolled through the forest happily ringing our bear bells periodically to help scare any would be attackers.

After climbing up and over Grassy Lake Reservoir, and past a Boy Scout summer camp, we started our long gradual descent out of Wyoming. The land turned arid as we made our way west, passing a few dry creek beds. We took lunch at South Boone Creek, just before the hard packed dirt road opened into a wide gravel road of such dusty wealth, we thought we were in the Great Basin again.

Just prior to entering into Idaho, we passed Indian Lake, a mountain lake of such great size and proximity to civilization, it would be a boaters destination heaven. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the lake is covered in lily pads as far as the eye can see. Seeing a lake with lily pads is commonplace to a hiker/biker, but I have never seen one so large like this.

The final descent into Idaho was such a bumpy gravel road, we opted to plug our ears with music and power through the struggle. In the end, we hit a smooth patch of paving, and I heard Apricots zip past me screaming R2D2-like squeals of delight.

Two miles later we pulled into a campground, where our tent is nestled in an amazing Aspen Grove.

Live life at a slower place.

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Over Togwotee to the Tetons

Day 38 - July 14th
49.8 miles
Total: 1529.7 miles
Moving Avg: 9.6 mph
Overall Avg: 5.6 mph

Last night, as we were falling asleep, there was suddenly a cowbell ringing through camp. It woke Apricots, and Ville had little idea as to what was making the racket. We told him it was a cowbell, likely attached to some cattle grazing in the area.

When we woke in the morning we saw that it was on the neck of a horse, and concluded that it was probably to serve as a warning to bear in the area. It is a little known fact that Bear and Horse have been having a turf war for years past, and they are likely to kill each other on sight. The cowbell protects them both.

It was a cold morning, and our tent was frosted when we woke, so we were slow to start, and had coffee two miles down the road. In fact, the day consisted of moving from convenience store to convenience store (or so it seemed). Since this portion of the trail passes near and through two National Parks, we have the largest stretch of paved area. With that comes modern conveniences, like hot coffee, and soda, and ice cream.

We made our climb up highway 26 over Togwotee pass, resting at the top for lunch. Despite the sign warning us of bears on the road, we did not see any. We were, however, given many amazing views of the Teton Wilderness, hinting at the rocky peaks to come. We sat at the summit lake enjoying lunch with a view of the seeming monolithic rocky tower of a mountain before us.

Then we had seventeen miles of downhill before us, sweet glorious highway paved with a wide shoulder. Ten miles down we stopped for a soda break. It is a peculiar fact that soda isn't nearly as refreshing on the downside of a pass, nonetheless it was a nice break. Still no big wildlife, but a man in a camper did say that we had just missed a moose and two calves.

At the bottom of the hill, we stopped in at another convenience store for ice cream. Ice cream always satisfies, but there was a lingering feeling that paved roads, while easier, definitely help break the budget. With a little under twenty miles to go, we pushed on to Teton National Park.

We had to pay a 15 dollar gate fee for each person, despite being cyclists, but I suppose the park has to get money to maintain the facilities it provides for the millions of visitors. Besides, if fifteen dollars is the only fee that I am required to pay for this trek, it is worth it.

As we edged into the park, traffic became busier, but slower. Everyone was out looking for the elusive moose, bear, and wolf. I suspect the sign warning us of bear and wolf crossings was placed as a tool to make us think the park is more wild than it actually is.

Fun fact: John D. Rockefeller Jr. purchased 35,310 acres of land around Jackson Hole, Wyoming under a fake name to keep prices low. He loved the area so much, he didn't want to see it developed, so he deeded the land to the US Government for inclusion in Grand Teton National Park. Some old timer locals are still angry at him for being secretive in his business dealings.

We settled on a campsite at the edge of Jackson Lake in Colter Bay Village. Fortune favors the bold, and we are bold, so we built a campfire and had s'mores. Ville, being from Finland, had never experienced s'mores. He was a happy Finn, and that man can put down some marshmallows.

Live life at a slower place.

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Union Pass and Wind River

Day 37 - July 13th
57 miles
Total: 1479.9 miles
Moving Avg: 6.9 mph
Overall Avg: 4.7 mph

This morning Ville built a campfire for us to warm beside while we packed up. We brewed coffee over the open fire to help power us up the climb to Union Pass.

As we left camp and the Green River Valley, the wide river valley faded behind us as we climbed up into higher elevation. Aspen groves shaded our trail from time to time and the rich red soil blended naturally into the sage covered hillsides.

The first ten miles were steep but came fairly easily for me. However, after ten miles, I started having an energy crash. I believe I was having difficulty with the elevation, as we haven't been up around 9000 ft for some time. I was needing to acclimate. We took second breakfast at Mosquito Lake, which for us, at the time, was free of Mosquitos.

Then we made the climb into the sub alpine and alpine regions preceding union pass. T he trail hugged the edge of the trees, giving us the forest experience while also allowing us to see the sweeping meadows, and the distant snow streaked mountains of the Bridger Wilderness. We are now in grizzly country, so we are being more cautious about our movement, and more alert with out surroundings. Twice today we were startled only to find that the creature/sound was a cow grazing at summer pasteur.

After 25 miles I was feeling completely wiped of energy so we took a pseudo nap under the sun, and ate some jerky. After that, I put in my headphones, and we made the final 12 mile push to the pass. It was at this time the road became easier to ride, the views became more magnificent, and I found me second wind. We cruised through those 12 miles faster than either of our previous 12 mile legs, and before we knew it, the mountain pass was creating, and we were seeing all the beautiful rugged jagged peaks of the Grand Tetons.

We made our descent from the highpoint just north of Union Pass, finding our way to a Mountain Lodge for an early dinner before our final 14 mile push to camp. After dinner, we descended to the Wind River Valley down a steep serpentine road that gave us amazing views of the Tetons, and their sedimentary history, rich colored stripes visible for miles at specific elevations, despite the irregular erosion.

After winding off the mountain and crossing the Wind River, we had eight miles of highway riding to get to camp. You guessed it, eight miles into the wind. It only makes sense that the Wind River Valley would challenge us with some wind.

Quote of the day: "I keep thinking to myself that if I can just get through this challenging portion of the trail, all will be well...but the trail just keeps giving me new challenges." -Apricots

Live life at a slower place.

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