GDR2 Day 3 - Tuchuck to Upper Whitefish Lake

Start - 4660'
High pt  5590' @ Red Meadow pass
Lo pt. -3970'
End Elv 4425'
Climbing ~2000+

Miles 36.96mm
Total time ~ 6:00
Ride time 4:30

Today started refeshingly chilly, after so many warm days in the Eureka area. We actaully had to get in to our sleeping bag last night!

The ride started with a good long down hill along Tuchuck, then Yakikak, and then quickly Trail creek. I am occasionally riding slow, in search of the delictable huckleberries, which I find but a few, though more of them are ripe. Meet another rider Dave, who on his return trip riding sort to north, this after riding north to south already this season, 4400 miles so far. He bubbles enthusiastically (he is going uphill, mind you). He is pumped up to share with me the location of a nearby massive spring in Trail creek, "best water in the country", and drinking it unfiltered. He is riding a Jones rig, which is very interesting too, with a very stable fork, and ability to reconfigure bottom bracket for touring or trails. Wishing him well, I continue down hill
 Massive fires in the park break the canopy and can see far down in the valley to trail creek. Doesn't look like much water.  A ways later, it is apparent that the creek is bone dry. It has been smoky up this way, and there are fire restrictions, but there was a lively medium sized creek above at our camp and others have joined it. Where did it go? Dave's springs no doubt. His coaching is good as I find the camp spot readily and walk down to the creek, which is now mummuring to me again, working it's enchantment on me as it did Dave. There are many springs bringing the creek to life in front of me, and more down stream. I filter my water at the springs outflow, to be safe, and indeed, it is the nectar that Dave foretold.
Not much further down, I spy Trail creek again, and it is quite large: the mystery of the disappearing creek is a mystery no more.
A few miles of flat forest pedaling brings me to North Fork Rd, which follows the north fork of the Flathead River, with Glacier NP beckoning just beyond. It is a somewhat busily and dustier ride here for 10 ish miles, though the Flathead shyly peaks through the the forest, while the soaring peaks of Glacier watch us both. Cabins are a regular fixture along the road, often with some adornment or decorations. But while I am working my way downhill, there is enough little climbs, dusty cars passing, and gravel surface to negotiate, I am welcome the turn up to Red Meadow pass and campground. This forest service road is actually very nice riding gradually climbing with a bike friendly grade for 10 of the 12 miles to the summit. The last couple of miles I am back to the marking my progress in tenths or 1/4 mile increments (really! I've only gone a tenth since I last checked!!!  Better hunker down more). I am welcomed by breezy Red Meadow Lake at the summit, and rest and seach the impossible steep mountain face for wildlife ( the whole mountain face appears to be avalanche chutes). I have seen evidence of bear on the road yesterday and today. Keep a clean camp and bear spray handy!

Turns out the lake is essentially at the top so 6 miles of fun down hill to meet Glend at Upper Whitefish lake. Much steeper heading down picking my path but cruising at 15 to 20 mph. I start to hear an unusual sound from bike as I slow down over water bars. At first I think it just my back tire skidding. But alas, that theory is quickly debunked. Inspection reveal that one of the fine rack mounting bolts has sheared clean off. Bummer, big bummer actually, but that is a tale for another post.
Limp down to the campground at upper Whitefish lake, where Glenda has a spot next to the outlet river. On a near by bridge is some hidden art, perhaps a memorial.

GDR2 - Day 2 Eureka to Tuchuck CG

Start - 2700'?
High pt  5223 @ whitefish divide
Lo pt. ~2700' ?
End Elv ~4660'
Climbing ~3000+

Miles 31.9
Total time 6:20
Ride time 4:30??

Departed Eureka, a town proud of their logging and xmas tree heritage, and cruised down the rolling old Hwy 93, with occasional homes, hobby farms and real ag property for about 10 miles.
Crossed the bridge at the start of the Tobacco River, where Graves Creek and the Fortine River join and  forgo further claims on their waters. Saw a gaggle of turkeys near by, with little in line between mom and dad.

Then up up up for 13 miles, the first 7 is on pristine new pavement at first cruising through home and agricultural land mixed with forest soon turn to primeval forest lands, at least where it hadn't burned.
Ahh, but where it did burn, I was scouring for huckleberries. I did indeed find a few good patches, but my passage was generally too early. I did stop and roam through some looking for that odd berries that were ripe enough to sample. The samples were effective, as I suspect I will post slower times for the remainder of my divide journey to look for more.

The road turn to gravel and gently climbs but for the last 2 miles, which are a more attention getting pitch. I summit, and take to requisite break to take it all in while I  am still in the euphoric hypoxic state. On one side of the pass is a not to huge avalanche chute, and on the other side a great example of the avalanche going up hill, take out major timber on the way. This could not have happened often, or that timber would not have gotten so big. The forces at work to level hundreds of 3+ foot diameter trees leaves me in awe (and wishing I had skied some Montana ski areas that winter, in bounds of course)

From the whitefish divide it was a rolling downhill on moderately rough road to Tuchuck campground, keeping an eye for the elusive huckleberries along the way.

Also camping at Tuchuck were 2 other single divide riders; Alberto, a through rider from Barcelona,  and Linda from  Helena, riding from Banff back home. I also chatted with her at the top of todays pass. She had done Wyoming and Colorado sections previously. Interesting hearing their tales, getting Albertos read on the Catalan independence movement, given he is Catalan. Linda had a mobile bike shop in Helena and just recently picked up bikepacking touring after leading road tours for many years. They both had a more lean gear setup than I. Sigh.... but good to chat up gear with them. Had a good visit over the campfire, sharing drinks and fruit with them,  and we all went off our seperate itineraries in the morning. These chance crossing of paths really add to the ride.

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......

Limbaugh Canyon limber up ride

Sat., July 14, 2018
Woodstone to Limbaugh Canyon

Start - ~6550'
High pt  8900'
Lo pt. ~6250' ?
End Elv ~8300?
Climbing ~2900'??

Miles ~27.3
Total time 6:00 ish
Ride time 3:57

Limbering up in Limbaugh Canyon.

Limbaugh Canyon is one of the more backcountry ish trail loops near town(15 miles up I-25), plus I can ride to it from home on a trail. It is a beautiful canyon with wildflowers, pine and aspen groves, plus it almost always has water. The trail itself is mostly flowy single track, at least until one gets inspiration point (a break stop in the morn no doubt). Wanted to try some single track with the new bikepacking setup on the Marin pine mountain 2 AND do a shake down night camping to see what working, missing, how the new tires respond,  how Dan responds, etc.

As usual, lots of last minute tweaks delayed departure til about 10:30 am, it is was already hot.  15 miles up the Sante Fe rail trail was good, steady grade though not much shade. Stop at a park in monument to cool off in the shade, have a bite, and refill water before the 6+ mile climb up the much steeper Mt Herman road.

Did I mention it was hot?

 Took a break every mile or so to drink and squeegee the sweat running off of me. Passed the trailhead to Limbaugh, but thought I would go further, you know, good training; and if it doesn't kill you, it'll make you stronger.

But did I mention it was hot?

Well mile or two past the trail head, decided I was done getting stronger, and starting to worry about that old sayings other alternative.  So at about 23 miles into my climb,  and reaching 8900', time to turn around and head for the single track trailhead. Nice change to use my brakes instead of my legs and lungs.
Single track went fine, though didn't let her rip much. The first stream crossing was completely dry however, and that got me thinking of various plan B s.

Did I mention it was bloody hot, and am depending on local water?

So now I am a little distracted checking for water as the trail follows the stream. Can't  see much for the forest of small willows, though I note with envy that  they don't look thirsty.

Reach a good campsite (the "F" campsite) not too far from the last stream crossing before climbing out of the canyon. Checking reveals a small amount of running water, so I am gonna stay and camp.

Still sweating  and thirsty so I go down and get 2-3 quarts of water.. drinking some while filtering. I'm really thirsty, but need to setup camp.  Decide not to cook and munch on bagels and fruit. Still kinda thirsty, and I haven't peed since Monument 6 hours ago.  But I need to hang my food aways from tent so bears don't mistake me for some food, like jerky .
After that I go ahead and water a tree- a wee bit only.  However the term water is a bit misleading, since water is clear. Guess I need to be drinking more.

And that is what I am doing while composing this log.
slurp

CODA - ok, got home after a very modest cruise down canyon. Single track is good, did have to walk a bike up and down  a few stretches I'd normally rode, but still pretty amazed about where I can ride this steed. I did notice that having pannier can really cramp yerr hike bike style, on narrow paths.

Btw, it looks like it was 87 degrees in town for my man versus nature challenge. Still rehydrating

The New Steed

OK, so I did the 2500 miles of the GDR (Helena to Mexico) with the BOB trailer with my GT Sensor Elite full suspension, and it worked fine, and I could finish up the GDR using it. But a friend poked me about riding more desert whilst bikepacking, and a narrow tired trailer probably wasn't the right rig.

So I started searching for a Plus bike, with 3.0" tires set up to handle deeper sand that I would be exposed to in the desert.

I landed on a Marin Pine Mountain 2 - 27.5 Plus bike, hard-tail, with the right braze ons to mount a rack. Turns out it is damn fun on the trails too!

I needed to outfit the fine filly, and after a bunch of research, here is the outfitted steed


So whats all on the newly outfitted rig?
Revelate
- Revelate harness is my handlebar carrier, holding my tent and sleeping bag in this configuration



In the cockpit
-  I also have a Revelate Grab bag for a water bottle, and the Egress pocket bag for handy stuff on top/front of the tent and sleeping bag. The revelate Grabbag has an nice novel pull open, pull shut closure cinch system.
- A second grab bag from Moosejaw ( on the left) out of my home state of MN. Seems to be working well after several hundred miles of training
Blackburn provides the gastank bag which I am using for snack along the way; the two zipper design is well thought through. I wish the side pock zippered compartment was big enough for a credit card though





I have a small frame, and I was finding few off the shelf option for a frame bag.
Blackburn expandable frame bag fits quite well. I am using it for most of the tools, spare parts, lube, etc. A tube is in the underseat bag, along with a couple of hangers,  power links, boot patches, and a tubeless flat kit





The Rack is a Blackburn's Outpost Fat bike rack. I like the design as the panniers clip on to a rail below the top rack, rated to 70 lbs, lets hope I never need that much shhhhhhh- tuff ( unless it is food and water of course)
The rack was a bit of challenge to work with this bike in the small frame, due to the angle of the seat stays, but a trip to Ace hardware and I rigged up a threaded extension, which I later tighten down with locktite.  Its has held up well during the several hundred miles of training ( off pavement most of it, though a lot of rail trail) and am hoping it is solid for this and future adventures. I did get some spare bolts needed by this quite configurable rack.

The Panniers are the new Ortlieb Gravel Pack aimed specifically at bikepacking; water proof and I expect bomb proof after learning about them over the last couple of years




I did pick up a few Granite Gear dry bags for the rack and the harness. One issue I am running into again is the small frame, and the tire is hitting the front bag sometimes when shock is compressed. Rearranged contents to allow more compression up front and found that helps, as well moving a 2.8 front tire. But still issues on occasion.
I found a rather novel innovative compression bag that looks to help, from ExPed. The sideways compression is exactly the solution I need. Have fitted it, but not ridden, clearance seems good and expect it will be fine.
Still musing over a design that allows me to mount a piece thicker plastic to the bottom of the harness to take any hits from the tire. That will have to be a project while on the road.





Tires
- Well I did research some plus tires that might be better suited to bike packing that has substantial dirt and FS roads, something a lower rolling resistance when riding on a smoother surface.
I choose the Teravail Cumberland ( rear) and Kennebec(front). Have gone tubeless, seems to the way way to go when mixing in desert riding.

Can still ride my single track training route up in to Blodgett Peak open space, but not quite as trail friendly as the original WTB Trail Bosses that came with teh bike.
Still, after pulling the bob so far, I am amazed at what sort of trails are ridable even when fully loaded.

So putting it all together

A Boy,

his Bike, and

the Bags