Great Divide Stages 35 & 36

35: Lima to Bannack

Strava: 79.2 km, 294m, 3:22, 91 shifts, 56.4 kph max

36: Bannack to Wise River

Strava: 89.5 km, 910m, 4:07, 194 shifts, 66.6 kph max

With better, warmer weather, packing up to leave at 6:30 seemed great. We had breakfast from Janzz Java then headed north on an alternate route we cooked up. Near the interstate there is the old highway we took. It was such a contrast from our previous two rainy cold stages, it was hard to believe. Gentle tailwind, in the sun, no traffic, perfect!

We stopped before 15 km at Dell, population 35. The store there has lots of good stuff and we made the owner happy. We had second breakfast outside then continued north.

Soon we were on gravel again, then met up with the route again. As we rejoined, we met Luke again, and he rode with us a ways. We turned on the dirt road to Bannack and Luke left us behind as we stopped at an irresistible lawn with shade trees. We had first lunch there, then all fell asleep. We were officially waiting for a big dark storm to pass ahead of us but actually just lazy.

We finally got up and going again, with only 17 km to go, when we noticed a second even worse looking storm coming. It was dumping rain just south and west of us. It got darker but the wind was from behind. Every time the big drops started falling, I cranked harder to get ahead. The whole section must’ve been slightly downhill too because I cruised the whole thing at 40-55 kph. It started hailing slightly, just as Daniel, Wytze and I ducked under the deck of a house at the corner. We high-fived and immediately the noise was deafening! The hail blasted down so hard. Andrew was caught in it but he’s tough so no worries (easy for me to say…)

We all waited it out for 20 minutes then headed up to the campground. We staked out a nice site right next to the river and set up tents. It was early so we spent a couple of hours checking out the ghost town in Bannack State Park, an easy walk from the campground.

We walked back and cooked dinner. It was our tried and true recipe: 16 servings of instant mashed potatoes with a lot of tuna. It started raining a little while we ate so we went to bed pretty early. With no internet I read a little then fell asleep listening to the gurgling river and the pattering rain. I’m reading George Orwell’s Burmese Days.

It rained in the night and it may have been our wettest packing up in the morning. We had oatmeal and English Muffins with cheese for breakfast and got rolling at 8 am. We rode down to the road we came in on beating the hailstorm yesterday but turned right, onto the paved section. It was cool and pleasant riding, with a stop for second breakfast around 30 km, just at the start of a large climb.

We headed off route after a few km to explore Elkhorn Hot Springs. That turned out to be a great stop. They have two pools, both very large and warm. I even got a hazy IPA on draft then we borrowed swim trunks and towels. It was really relaxing and fun. We chatted with quite a few SOBO riders, one said he felt like turning around and going back to Banff – because he loved it so much and thought that it couldn’t be as awesome if he continued south. We liked that!

After a couple of hours we headed on, taking a shortcut up a very steep dirt road climbing a couple hundred meters which eventually joined the paved road just past the big climb. From the summit we had a mostly downhill cruise, about 45 km, to Wise River.

Wytze and I pulled in straight to the “World Famous Wise River Club”, a saloon and hotel. The service was slow but we had a few rounds of drinks and some food. We were joined by Neill, Daniel and Andrew and left after 3. We all rode to the Mercantile where they explained how the Community Center across the street works. $20 donation, nice setup, reminiscent of our first night in Hachita. We were first so got our choices of cots and pads.

No shower but we were clean from the hot springs. We bought breakfast foods from the Mercantile and relaxed as more and more cyclists showed up. They say 2500 cyclists stay here per year. The town population is under 50.

Around 7 we walked over to the Wise River Club for dinner with Neill and a SOBO Swiss guy, Chris. Had a nice, relaxed dinner, arriving back at “home” after 9 pm. Just another great day on the Great Divide!