Day 41 July 10, 2019

Peach cobbler

Pie stop in Fortine

Henry's notes for today:

Day 41: We agreed to not set an alarm this morning, and I woke up earlier than Tim did at 7:15. That's unusual. We made coffee, had some granola, and peanut butter on English muffins for a light continental breakfast to get us going. We were headed to Eureka on Hwy 93, which was not a pleasant ride. The shoulder was a foot wide, and quite a few Montana truckers made sport of buzzing us, even when they could have readily moved over. The Adventure Cycling route took us off Hwy 93 for 2 segments today, and both were an extreme relief.

Olney Store owners

Olney (pop. 191) was 20 miles into our ride. We had to ride a mile off the highway to get there, and did not know what we would find. The gas station was out of gas, but the attached store presented us with an amazing breakfast. $5 for eggs, ham, hash browns, toast. Coffee was 75 cents - perhaps the only place remaining in America! Huckleberry shakes were ordered to help wash everything down. Jeff also had a Franz pie.

22 miles further on Hwy 93, we stopped for a snack at Fortine, where there was a convenience store. Jeff found another Franz pie. We were able to thankfully turn off Hwy 93 a 2nd time just a mile down the road, which led us into downtown Fortine (pop. 325). There, Tim's eagle eyes spotted a bakery specializing in pies, and he screeched to a halt. A quick glance at his face, and we all knew it would be one of the greatest disappointments of his life if we did not stop to see what they had to offer in the pie shop. 30 minutes later, we all emerged, satiated with peach pie and peach turnovers.

Tent city

The rest of our ride into Eureka was on country roads with very few vehicles. Eureka allows hiker/biker camping in the city park adjacent to the Chamber of Commerce, and we set up our tents. Others were already there, but by evening, quite a tent city had been established. I counted 15 tents, some single, some double. A sign prominently announced that the sprinklers go on at 7:30 am every morning, which will wash all of us away, allowing a new wave of hikers and bikers to encamp tomorrow. Most in tent city are biking parts of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, which is advertised as the longest off-pavement route in the world. The route extends from Jasper, AB to Antelope Wells, NM. 3,084 miles and over 200,000 feet of elevation gain, as it crisscrosses the western continental divide many times. Sounds tiring. There was a couple hiking the Pacific Northwest Trail. They were carrying a lot of freeze-dried food. The trail goes from the east side of Glacier NP at the Canadian border to Cape Alava, WA - the westernmost point on the lower 48. 1,226 miles of hiking, 205,000 feet of elevation gain with 7 mountain ranges crossed. Average of 68 days hiking required to complete it. We're meeting more and more crazy people each day.

Although it was not a high mileage day, our legs seemed a little tired. There were a lot of hills, some slight headwind intermittently, and perhaps not enough peach pie.

Maps of today's ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3832739818

https://www.relive.cc/view/u3658644037