GDR2 Day1 - Roosville to Eureka (to Rexford Bench CG)

Warm up day and GDR2 Day 1.

We are camped about 6 miles off route at Rexford Bench CG. Fortunately, on route in Eureka is one terminus for the Tobacco Valley rail trail that passes right through the campground on its way to Rexford. So the warm up ride was to scout it out from Eureka. Good thing I did cause I didn't  review the trail info and got started out on the (wrong) paved bike path along hwy 37. It re taught me that lesson after petering out a couple miles into the ride, so back up the bike path to Eureka. Did I mention it was in the 90s? The actual trailhead was not hard to find, once I had refreshed the synapses. The trail follows the Tobacco River for several miles and it is easy and pleasant riding through woods and fields. The rail portion ended and then a bit a searching was required to find a super steep set of ascending switch backs that are pretty much unrideable. I will avoid those tomorrow on GDR2 Day one while fully loaded.

Wed., Aug 1, 2018
Roosville crossing to Eureka to Rexford Bench CG

Start - ?'
High pt  ?'
Lo pt. ~2560' ?
End Elv ~2560'?
Climbing ~200'??

Miles 19.0
Total time 2:25
Ride time 1:53

Second warmup day on GDR2 Day, on route this time. Trying to get going a bit earlier than yesterday to avoid me warming up too much. The tour takes one on though country roads through the Tobacco Valley, which is park like with glacial morianes, kettle and drumlins. This valley, like the one occupied by Lake Koocanusa, is part of a geologic trench reaching into far northern British Columbia. That glacial history makes for undulations in the surrounding lands both visually entertaining and food for thought, while the road avoids the worst of the hills for about 10 miles. It also explains the round cobble stones prevalent in these environs, and bring back memories loose cobble gravel roads on GDR1.
I leave the route at the Eureka Historical Village and down the rail trail once again. This time I persevere, and find the right trail to the Hoodoo overlook. Not quite like the hoodoos back in CO and UT. These are fins cut through the glacial silt by the Tobacco River since the glacial retreat after the last Ice Age. Another reminder of the immensity of time and the grand scale of things outside our daily lives. These reminders are all around us, if we but dare to look up from our modern distractions.

The Steed.
Got to ride some mellow single-track heading to the hoodoos and  into the campground, so good on that vector. Did notice that my odometers (both in sync) were  generous in the mileage today, at least according to the map mileage notes. They were not off by a little either, somewhere in the neighbor hood of 6 to 7%. While today there were no ill consequences,  in the future, there will be places where this will work send me off route and into potential difficulties. Need to understand. I MUST UNDERSTAND. I measured my tires prior to trip, but had no calibrated mileage to compare to. Need to re-measure, but dang, didn't think to bring a tape measure. Thinking of solutions, include buying one in town. Thanks to my lovely bride, Glenda, she recalls a swag gizmo in the truck that might have a tape measure built into a bottle opener (umm, I remembered the bottle opener...). We re-measure (2 times at Glendas insistence), and sure enough, it's notably different. This difference accounts for about half of the error. I adjust the odometers and will recheck on the morrow.
I also pumped up my tires as they were feeling soft. I hope it is only from elevation changes, but I am noticing some stans sealer leaking around rims. I don't have a lot of exprience with a tubeless setup. And am hoping this is normal. Also hoping I will not need to regularly add air. Even at 35 lbs of air pressure, I do note rolling resistance on the pavement today.

I finally added some air to my front shock, since it is now carrying an extra load. Mayhaps too much, but easier to let some out.

Tomorrow brings the first big climb up to 6000' at mile 30.  It should also cool down a bit to the upper 80s in the valley, still I think this will be a challenging day as my training slacked off in July for the holidays, and trip prep.
Fortunately, the very pleasant Homestead Ales brewery is at the bottom before the big climb, and their IPA was delicious.....

NW Montana

Welcome to NW Montana, in the corner culde sac  between Idaho and Canada. We are camping at KOO-CAN-USA lake, about 100 mile long lake on the Kootenai river from the Libby, MT dam well into Canada.
The very nice Rexford Bench NFS campground is filled to the brim with huge 5th wheels, ski and pontoon boats, water toys galore pulled by BIG American trucks, most with Canadian plates. Ohh, did I mention the generators? One neighbor last night was projecting a star wars movie for the grand kids til 11 pm, and the other was listening to their own personal concert broadcast from their behemoth to their camp chairs 30' away.
Hard to believe we drove 2 full days to escape to nature.

Being on the lake is a respite from the heat wave, the last few days being in the mid and upper 90s. This is hotter weather than Glendas Mom is experiencing in Mineral Wells Texas, the whole length of our country south of us. We are regularly having an evening swim to cool down and watch the sunset from the beach.

We did do some exploring, this time with a water fall theme. There are mountains here, though not as dramatic as further north in Canada or over east in Glacier. There are quite a few small to medium falls in this area, in addition to the falls on the Kootenai River.
The river is quite large and the falls actually cover a third to a half mile. This is a falls you can spend a good part of your day exploring, as the trails weave in and out to many various cliffs and overlooks, with many secluded places to dwell and absorb the power and immensity of it all.

All of the other falls are smaller, and more intimate. The forests in some of these areas have huge cedars, hemlock and larch, along with fir, white pine, and some aspen, cottonwoods. We are typically the only one there for a spell, and some times our whole hike.
A first for me, as the last water fall you had to wade across the stream and actually swim to see the whole falls. Shockingly cold and refreshing experience on a hot and dry summer day.

The air is hazy here, probably from fires, though does not  smell smokey at Rexford. We did happen into a small fire down below us in the distant valley and the local Hotshots maintaining it. The road must have closed while we were in hiking to a falls.

We are watching for ripening thimble berries, raspberries, and huckleberries. Seems early, but did find a few thimbleberries. In pursuit of the elusive huckleberries, though my novice research suggest we will have better chances higher up than our current 2000' elevation. The route takes us up, up, up to 5000 ft in a couple of days......