Montana - July 6, 2005
The yellow line is our GPS track for the day.
This graph shows today's elevation changes.
This is up on Stemple Pass, elevation 6349'. When we arrived here the Tiger burped out some antifreeze, which turned out to be the symptom of a weak radiator cap. I was not able to get a replacement cap until I returned home, but I finished the ride by just adding some water every time we went above 6000'.
The road down from Stemple Pass was one of my favorite parts of the ride. Apparently I was having so much fun that I didn't stop to take very many pictures. This picture was taken where it dumps out on a larger gravel road. Here's what I wrote in my journal about one section of the trail:
The trail down to hwy 12 before Helena was really washed out. There were a lot of whooptie-doo's on it that were put there for drainage. Still, it was very rutted from the rain. The whooptie's were usually not too bad, you had to slow down a little, and you might get a little air going over the top, but they were generally negotiable. I came over the top of one of them expecting more of the same, but instead of a smooth ramp down the back side it was an oh-shit bottomless pit. Jim told me later that he saw my white helmet go up, then disappear. The Tiger bottomed out on both ends and the sump guard scraped gravel, but she kept on going. All I could do is gas it and hold on.
I'm not sure what this structure was, maybe an old mine. There was a boiler and some other old equipment laying around it.
We were going to camp at the Park Lake Campground, but it was closed due to construction work on the dam. We pulled in to the Lava Mountain trailhead, set up camp, and cooked out.
A veritable feast ensued.
That night we hung our food in a tree to foil the critters, but a raccoon or some other animal must have been up there batting it around or something because there was a radio in one of the bags and it came on in the middle of the night and tuned itself to NPR. Very annoying when you're trying to sleep.
Tomorrow was to be on of the most scenic, and most strenuous, days of riding.