GDMBR day by day

GDMBR USA Section 2 – Helena Montana to Colter Bay, Grand Tetons, Wyoming.

This section for me vies for the best section of the divide, along with southern Colorado/Northern New Mexico. The variety of terrain is amazing. First the rolling prairie and wooded hills near Helena, then high open mining and ranching territory around Butte, then high ridges to Wise River, including the infamous Fleecer Ridge, then a magnificently wild and open section across to Lima and Red Rock lakes, and finally back through forests to the stunning Grand Teton National Park, cutting through a corner of Idaho along the way. Superb. If combined with the next section across the Wyoming Basin to Rawlins, this would make a fantastic, tough mid-length length trip of c. 800 miles taking in many of the classic sections of the GDMBR.

Day 16 GDMBR 16th August 2022 – Helena to Basin

42 miles, 5600 ft of ascent

Thankful for a day’s rest, this was one of the Divide’s big days. A long climb through the wooded hills south of Helena, across steep and rough roads across Lava Mountain, and a good downhill to the old mining town of Basin, past the ominously named Merry Widow mine, where they now sell the idea of Radon exposure as a health benefit!

There are two ways over Lava mountain: a rough, more direct track and a forest track that goes round the east side: we took the eastern route, less direct but still tough. There is also a road route if its all too much.

Stopped the night at the Basin Community centre, next to the saloon/cafe, so had a good meal and rest there too. Jane and I slept on the stage! This community centre has a kitchen, power, etc – pay the small fee in the bar next door. It’s possile to keep going and camp somewhere on the way to Butte, but that would miss an excellent stop. One grizzled guy with a huge beard told us he went to Antelope Wells to find out what all the fuss was with the GDMBR, and sell some Elk meat to the Mexicans. He advised us “don’t bother, there is nothing there”!!

Basin Community hall, our stop for the night.

The saloon / cafe at Basin ( not our bike, pic taken off google).

Day 17 GDMBR 17th August 2022 – Basin to wild camp in hills south of Butte.

55 mile 4500 ft of ascent

Another long day, broken by a lunch stop in Butte city centre. the route follows a winding valley west of Basin over a few low ridges to Butte, which sits exasperatingly on a high shelf. This is a beautiful old red brick 1930s industrial looking town with lots of old mines and a huge open cast poisoned hole, Berkley mine, right by the town centre! Had a rare real food meal at Uptown cafe, an odd cafeteria set up in a restaurant setting.

We then headed south to the hills and a high wild camp. The route up was complex, including a section of old railway, some steep single track, and the usual forest road grind. We were roasting in the heat and a family gave us some water at a trailhead carpark halfway. Water was sparse so we filled up our bottles at a stream shortly before the camp, just before the summit. There were scattered shotgun cartridges, other signs of use, and a tree that had been cut and left resting precariously on its tip.

Heading into Butte

Central Butte, with part of Berkeley mine in the distance.

The wild camp between Butte and Fleecer ridge

Stayed away from this one…..

Day 18 GDMBR 18th August 2022 – Wild camp south of Butte to Little Joe camp, upper reaches of Wise River.

55 miles 4300 ft of ascent

Another tough day, 3 on the trot from Helena! This is another section where there is a road opt out but we stuck to the main route again, over Fleecer ridge and down to Wise River. The terrain is mixed high grassland and forests, and Fleecer ridge is almost like the Cheviots in the UK! It’s a famous part of the GDMBR because of an impossibly steep downhill (southbound), so steep it’s hard to walk down parts of it with a loaded bike. For us, it felt a bit like terrain we see a lot, so not much of a deal really! But a long way and lots of uphill.

A long descent to Big Hole River noted for fishing, and to Wise River, a welcome tiny settlement at a road junction, one shop, and two bars. Good meal at the saloon bar and a useful stock up of noodles in the shop. Then a pleasant final ride up Wise River valley on tarmac to the campsite.

Fleecer ridge on the horizon

Just before the steep drop off into the valley beyond, from Fleecer Ridge.

Wise River store

Day 19 GDMBR 19th August 2022 – Little Joe, Wise River to Bannack ghost town

36 Miles 1600 ft ascent

Easier Day – we had planned to go further but The Bannack Ghost Town with its beautiful campground and icecreams from the state park shop was too much to miss. We had time to wander around the ghost town, originally the first government outpost in Montana and a lucrative gold mine. The mine attracted bandits and robbers, and its first sheriff was an outlaw who ended up being hanged on the hill by the town’s main street.

Joe’sFrom Little Joe campground, which had murky rusted water, there was a manageable pass on tarmac and a fast descent to Grasshopper Valley, with serene farmland below wooded hills. One of the features of the farming here was the use of hay slides, and huge wooden contraptions to stack bails of hay very high. Now superseded, but the slides are still dotted aorund the fields.

We passed near Elkhorn hot springs, a popluar stop over, and refilled groceries at Ma Barnes Country Store, a really well-stocked small shop in this remote valley. A highlight was the post office at Polaris, pretty much the smallest in USA, to pick up a spare gear change lever that we had ordered via Amazon( Jane’s was taped up with elastaplast!). Just as we arrived a car pitched up and unloaded boxes from its boot, including ours.

An old hay stacking slide

Grasshopper valley

Jane at Polaris post office, with her new gear changer. In the end, mine broke too, so we kept hers fastened up with Elastoplast and fixed mine instead.

The following pics are of Bannack gold mine ghost town:

Day 20 GDMBR 20th August 2022 Bannack to Lima

70 miles 4600 ft of ascent

The route from Bannack to Lima.

After just one shorter day yesterday, a mammoth day today. This proved to be one of the most commented-on highlights of the GDMBR when talking to others on the route. It goes across wild, wide-open sage-covered land, mainly following a river valley to the distant horizon then rolls across a great plain before threading through a gorge to the main road near Lima. It’s mostly gradual uphill (and we had a headwind) then a great descent through a gorge. The route was an old Wild West-era stagecoach route from Utah to the newly created Montana, and certainly looked the part!

Medicine Lodge road, on the way to Lima

After starting out with an older, very experienced cyclist, John Moore, who we met at Bannack, we eventually split up somehow but also spent parts of the day on and off with a retired dutch couple.

Near the end, we went out of our way to a tiny place called Dell thinking there was a good Inn to stay at, but it was all shut up bar a grocery store by the petrol station. We considered camping on the grass outside the store ( the dutch couple following behind us made the same mistake and did just that as they were too tired to carry on). But after feasting on junk food we went the final few kilometers onto Lima. Glad we did, as we checked into the motel where most cyclists were flaking out, and just caught the greasy joes cafe (the Homestead) next door, which was great.

The gorge approx 30 miles from Lima

Reaching the main road near Lima

The Deli at Dell!! Proudly declaring its population as 35

We had got ahead of Bruce at this point but late at night, he caught us up, after a mega monster day from Elkhorn spa. Others on this route behind us got caught in a huge thunderstorm, which we just missed, and they had to bivvy out in a ditch! Epic place

Day 21 GDMBR 21st August 2022 – Lima to Red Rock Lakes Wilderness

56 miles 1600 ft ascent

The dutch couple caught us up the next morning as we lingered in the Lima cafe over a huge breakfast. The scene was set for a sort of “Last of the Summer Wine” journey by old fogies from Montana into Idaho and then Wyoming over the next few days, across the Red Rock Lakes Wilderness, around the South West edge of Yellowstone then to the Grand Tetons.

Distant thunder approaching Red rock lakes

A steady day at last, but still felt a long way. Mostly skirting a huge reservoir in open sage brush terrain and then across a low wide pass to the Red Rock Lakes. This is a National wildlife sanctuary and research centre, mainly for the birds – trumpet swans and sandhill crakes, and many others. On land, there are pronghorn antelopes, moose, deer, grizzly bears, etc.

Red rock lakes campground

We again just missed the thunderstorms rattling around the hills and the clearing thunderclouds provided an amazing sunset across the lake.

Sunset over Red Rock upper lake.

Day 22 GDMBR 22 August 2022 – Red Rock Lakes to Warm River campground

67 Miles, 1325 ft ascent

Idaho! A long day but quite easy riding, initially tough gorgeous mixed farm and woodland and then a long grind through sandy forest along an old railroad, and down to Warm River through a river gorge.

Soon after leaving the campground we entered Idaho and the terrain became more pastoral, less wild but beautiful. Stopped for drinks and snacks at a posh and wonderfully situated RV site just as we joined the paved road. They gave us some free snacks and let us fill up with water etc. Lingered long enough for the Dutch couple to catch us up: they were soon to take a break to tour Yellowstone, so we chatted a while with them.

The route then cuts a corner off though the woods on narrow tracks to Big Springs, which is where Warm River pops up out of the ground as a pretty decent sized river straight from the spring, so called because it doesnt freeze easily. The people naming places round here werent that inventive, but fair enough!

We got briefly lost in the maze of sandy tracks south of Big Springs and took a small detour to Island Park on the main road. the sat nav put us right and we soon passed Chick Creek, and rejoined the main, dead straigh track to Warm River following the old rail road.

On the final downhill to Warm River, I was pretty keen at the end of the day to get to camp and made the mistake of asking Jane, petulanty, if she was pedalling! Met up the Bruce and John at the campsite.

Deer eat of the Red Rock lakes

Idyllic pastoral scene north of Big Springs, Idaho

Cooling off with an irrigigation thingy

Warm river gorge

Cycling up Chick Creek ……without a paddle!

Collapsed railroad tunnel

Day 23 GDMBR 23 August 2022 – Warm River to Flagg Ranch

47 Miles 3125 ft ascent

This felt like a hardish day, a lot of climbing through dense forests over the ridge that took us over to Colter Bay/Jackson Lake and the amazing Teton National Park. Didn’t start too well as the sat nav took us on a grand tour of a new holiday village before we got our bearings and got on route.

For a while, we had the company of a local couple out for a day ride as far as the track that goes over the ridge along Ashton – Flagg Ranch Road, whose name is a bit optimistic: a long grind and a fair amount of muddy holes! We were originally aiming for Colter Bay but the restaurant, shop, and comfy camping at Flagg Ranch was too hard to pass, and we were pretty knackered and ready to stop! We enjoyed our second restaurant meal of the trip (if you count the Mexican in Helena as the first). Didn’t know it at the time, but the next one was to be in Salida, southern Colorado, and the last one in Silver City, southern New Mexico! Dining out just doesn’t feature much on the Great Divide…

Approaching the Grande Tetons from the West

Day 24 GDMBR 24 August 2022 – Flagg Ranch to Colter Bay

16 Miles 900 ft ascent

Short day, needed a break and the scenery is stunning. And Colter Bay had great facilities- pretty much a holiday camp with two restaurants, take-out pizza, laundrette, big grocery store, etc., and a pebble beach looking out to the Alpine Grande Tetons. Very hard to leave, more so as Jane felt a bit unwell, so we stayed two nights to get a full rest day. Nothing serious, probably we just needed a rest. The late-afternoon thunderstorms were ramping up, and one night I nearly got benighted cycling off to the pizza place for a takeaway- good fun getting back to the tent balancing a massive pizza on the handlebars in a thunderstorm!

Grand Tetons from the north, near Flagg Ranch

Grande Tetons from Colter Bay beach. Grande Tetons apparently means “big boobs” in French!