Day 19: Darby, MT to Wisdom, MT

Crossing the Continental Divide

58 miles

Today was a challenging ride. We got an early start to beat the traffic and the heat. I will break down today’s 58 mile route into a few segments. The first segment was a very modest rise and 18 mile stretch from Darby, MT to Sula which is where services ended and is where our real climb began. There was a wide shoulder until about mile 7 at Conner where the shoulder disappeared and didn’t return for about seven miles. Thankfully, the traffic was fairly light, as it was a Sunday morning. We stopped to have a second breakfast at Camp Sula. The camp store used to offer a cooked breakfast but no longer, as they can’t find people who want to work! Sharon had half a breakfast burrito, and I had a large chocolate covered Rice Krispie treat to fuel our climb up the pass. The second segment was the 3,000 foot, 13 mile climb up to Chief Joseph Pass. The grade averaged about 4-5% with a few touches above 6%…manageable but long. The third segment was the quick descent (which didn’t seem long enough given the climb that preceded it) followed by a more modest descent until we approached Big Hole the site of the Big Hole Battlefield.

Just after we reached the top of the pass it began to rain and we found ourselves in the middle of a thunderstorm. We donned our rain gear and headed down as quickly and safely as possible. By the time we finished the descent we were out of the rain.

Approaching the Big Hole visitor center, we had a short but unwelcome climb. We took a nice break at the visitor center and then had a ten mile, mostly flat ride into Wisdom where we spent the night at The Pioneer Mountain Lodge - clean, two bedroom with a kitchenette and coffee machine! We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, more like a commercial kitchen set up in a large garage next door. It was run by a mother and daughter making authentic Mexican food and homemade strawberry lemonade. I drank two very large glasses! Wisdom Authentic Mexican Barbacoa Tacos, etc. 5-star Google rating - ok, only five reviews.