Wise River to Jackson, Montana

We woke up to a cool and damp morning. It had rained last night. Glad that we paid for the cabin! Our first “sight’ of the morning was the tiny Wise River Airport, which was a runway of mowed grass with a small orange wind sock held aloft by the breeze.

We spent the majority of our ride today on the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway. During the winter, it is closed. Being Montana, winter can last well into May. The benefit of this road through National Forest is the lower speed limits and scant traffic. There are also multiple campgrounds along the route, as we are always on the lookout for restrooms from trying to stay hydrated.

The foggy mist clung around the hills as we climbed higher. When we arrived at the snack stop, in addition to the usual snacks, our tour guide had hot water for hot chocolate waiting for us. It was such a wonderful way to warm up!

Today was another mountain pass day, although this pass didn’t even have a name. It was simply marked on our maps as “Pass 7,850 feet”. And, we grudgingly returned to our bikes, warmed from hot chocolate, to continue cycling upward. It started sprinkling on us as we got closer to the top; and, then, we were over, flying down the other side.

At one point, we thought we missed the lunch stop, so, we stopped in the road to pull out the map. The light rain continued falling. We still didn’t have cellphone reception at this point; and, we certainly didn’t want to bike back uphill if we passed lunch. As I studied the map, a large owl flew over my friend’s head!

Packing up the map, we continued coasting down the wet road to lunch, then turning off into the campground, immediately crossing the ever present cattle guards before walking through gravel to the Adventure Cycling van. It had stopped sprinkling but we were still cold and wet. Cyclists were huddling inside the van to warm up. And, I saw another sterling jay.

After we had warmed up a bit and eaten our fill, we walked our bikes through the wet gravel back to the cattle guard. My friend asked me how I felt on a scale 1-10; and, I responded with at least a 7. It was a beautiful day; and, I got to be outside cycling in it instead of being home at work. Who could ask for anything more? Plus, this was still way better than the day of rain and hail. At least I had on a raincoat and rainy pants today, so, I was relatively warm and dry.

Down, down, down we coasted; and, the temperature got warmer and warmer. We had to stop to take off our warm rain layers. Prairie dogs were running up the road and then scurrying back into the fields.

There was one final snack stop before we went for our second mountain pass of the day. By this point, we were pretty sure that we were bringing up the end of the pack of cyclists. Some cyclists had elected to “sag” to our accommodations in Jackson. Sagging meaning that they were going to ride in the van (with their bikes stowed on the roof) to the campground. But, we stubbornly continued on as the snack stop packed up behind us.

A few miles ahead, we caught up to two other cyclists, one of who provided M&Ms that gave us that extra sugar rush to keep on keeping on. The climb seemed never ending. And, we were no longer in the cool National Forest. Instead, we’d return to “big sky”, with blue sky and hot sun. Finally getting to the top of the Big Hole Pass at 7,360 feet was such an accomplishment! Plus, we finally had a sign to mark a pass.

On the way down, riding my brakes per usual, the other cyclists flew past me. My fear of falling is too acute to bicycle brakeless down hills. I’d put on my rain gear again, to prevent getting cold on the downhill. Even though it grew warm, I didn’t want to stop to take it off because soon we could see sheets of rain moving in front of the mountains along our route. It was an awesome sight! And, at the same time, I urged my body to keep going so that we wouldn’t get downpoured on.

Along this final stretch to Jackson, we saw an antelope hopping along the road and then across it. It was such a unique movement. It would bounce a few times, then stop, swivel it’s large ears at us, then, bounce a few more times further away.

We did beat the rain to Jackson (yay!). And, after supper, we sat in the pool that was filled with water from the Hot Springs. It felt so good to lounge in the warm water!