Day 32: Wisdom to Darby MT

57.7 miles, 1562 ft ascent, 4:38 saddle time, elevations: min 3885, max 7278 ft

Big Hole Valley with Bitterroot Range in distance

Today involved another climb over a pass (761 ft ascent in 3.7 miles), and there was nowhere for breakfast, so we went without.  On the way we passed the Big Hole National Battlefield Park.  This commemorates one of several battles between the Nez Perce Indian tribe and the army of the white man.  The story is sad and tragic.  The Nez Perce were badly treated, as were many of the native Indian tribes.  The white man repeatedly broke treaties and promises.  The Ne Perce tried to flee to a place of safety and were pursued by the soldiers, who were given orders to exterminate them.  The route today followed the route of the Nez Perce for part of the way.  It is a story that they did not teach me in history class when I was young.

The route taken by the Nez Perce when fleeing the white man’s army
Once we crested the pass we had a long, steep descent of about 7 miles.  I have found that if I sit up straight to maximize my drag my terminal velocity is limited to about 34 mph, which is fine with me since I don’t like bombing down hills.  The rest of the way to Darby was a slight downhill of 1 to 2%, which was nice except there was a headwind :(. The valley was beautiful.

View of the Bitteroot Valley

On the way down I saw this creative idea of what to do with old cars.



Tonight we are staying with WarmShowers host Curtis in Darby.  Over the past 11 years he has hosted over 1000 cyclists.  Erick, Guy, Brian and I are staying in the upper floor of his house , that is set up like a dorm room.  Tomorrow Brian and I head up to Missoula while Guy and Kevin head west on the Lewis & Clark trail and Erick heads west on the TransAm.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Part 3: Prologue

It is hard to believe it has been 7 years since I completed Part 2.  A LOT has happened since then (COVID, my daughter’s wedding in Austria, a struggle with Cervical Radiculopathy, 4 grandchildren, and two hip replacements), which is why it has been 7 years.  I have never given up hope that I might someday get a chance to finish what I started, the entire TransAm from Yorktown VA to Astoria OR.  This year I will pick up where I left off in Wichita KS.  I will fly my bike to a shop in Wichita and re-assemble it there.  Then I will head North to pick up the TransAm route where I left off.  I was not able to complete the entire route in one part because my job and family did not afford me the flexibility to take that much time off.  Last December I retired after 23 years as a Professor in the Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering department at the United States Naval Academy, so I no longer have that constraint.  Consequently, it is my goal to finish ...
Read more

Day 2: Nickerson to Great Bend KS

Image
54.7 miles, 885 ft ascent, 5:02 riding time.  Johannes and I started the day with a breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon at the exotic animal farm while we waited for it to stop raining.  It did stop around 0930, at which point we went to the grocery store in town to pick up food for lunch because there were no towns between Nickerson and Great Bend.  It was overcast, with temps in the upper 60’s, occasional rain and a wind of about 10 mph that changed direction during the day.  We rode from primarily farming country into prairies and grasslands with grazing cattle. The cattle must have thought we came to feed them. This is big sky country with loooong straight roads.  We are gradually going up.  By the time we reach Pueblo CO we will have increased our elevation by 2,000 ft.  About the last 15 miles into Great Bend the route turned North directly into a headwind with gusts of about 13 mph.   Our route took us along the edge of the Quivira Wildli...
Read more

Day 5: Scott City to Tribune KS

Image
49.5 miles, 1,294 ft ascent, max grade about 2 %, elevation 3,616 ft, 4:46 riding time.  We started out day with breakfast a the Best Western, which was pretty good for a hotel. We continued riding West on the same Rt 96 we picked up back in Great Bend (which was 166 miles ago). Today the wind was out of the South and SouthWest, but the gusts were not as strong as yesterday, so it was not as difficult a day.  I have noticed there are big grain silos spaced at about every 10 miles, and there is often a town at each silo.  However, many of them are small and there are no services.  Bill described the silos as sitting on small islands of trees in a vast sea of wheat.  On a clear day like today you can see the silos from about 11 miles away.  If you see a water tower near the silo, then it is a bigger town with services.  The distances are very misleading because the silos are so large.  You think you are getting close, and it is still miles away. I w...
Read more