All posts by Chris

GDMBR Week 5

Week five of our GDMBR adventure started somewhat lazily in Bozeman. We had grand plans of getting back to the route and making tracks early, but we were overly ambitious with our to-do list.  That being said, we knew we could cover miles late in the day as the temperature dropped and shade grew, so we joined Jim & Jeanette at church then got some amazing donuts from Granny’s Gourmet Donuts .  Back at the house, we took our time eating lunch, packing, and using the computer, then left Bozeman at 3PM.  J&J took us back to the top of the hill in Butte, and we said goodbye for our 3rd (and final) time of the trip.  The rest of the week took us from Butte through southern Montana, over the corner of Idaho, into Northwest Wyoming.  We had a daily mileage to maintain in order to arrive in Wyoming in time for our friend Shannon’s wedding at Grand Targhee Resort.  Once we had a few good days of riding under our belts, though, we decided we would continue to push a little further every day in order to have extra rest days in Jackson and the Tetons.  We also reached a new high of 7,900′ in this section.

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GDMBR Week 4

Our 4th week on the GDMBR began at Holland Lake and brought us to Butte. As was the case with week 3, we had rest days on both ends of the week. We have been fortunate to take so many rest days in Montana with Rachel’s family. Although our riding began and ended in Holland Lake and Butte respectively, we technically began and ended the week in Lakeside and Bozeman, thanks to Sydney, Jack, Jim, and Jeanette once again for extracting us from the route to their rather posh accommodations.

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GDMBR Week 3

About to get started with week 3!

The third week of our journey down the GDMBR was book-ended by rest days.  One end was our day off in Eureka before Rachel’s parents came to join us for 6 days on the trail, and on the other end we were extracted from the trail for 2 days off in Lakeside, MT at Sydney and Jack’s beautiful home on Flathead Lake.  We pedaled from Eureka to Holland Lake in Condon, MT before being whisked away in Jim’s truck.  Between Whitefish and Big Fork, the route was mostly pavement and flat, but the rest was forestry roads with daily climbs.

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GDMBR Week 2

The second week of our summer-long trip down the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route took us from  Ghost Station Campground near Cochrane, AB, through British Columbia and across the international border into Eureka, MT.  We had a relaxing day in Canmore, and then headed north along the highway before looping back to the South, returning to the mountains and mining towns south of Banff.

Elk Pass, the gateway from Alberta to British Columbia!

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GDMBR Week 1

The first week of our summer-long GDMBR tour took us from Jasper National Park to Ghost Station Campground just west of Cochrane, AB. The riding varied from singletrack to dirt roads to pavement. Primarily, though, the route took us on what is locally referred to as the Forestry Trunk (not truck, although there are lots of them at times) Road, all the way from Hinton to near Cochrane. Between Hinton and Nordegg, the road was wide and heavily used by logging trucks. The sky was clear and the road was very wide so we felt like we were baking in the sun and the dust from the road was sticking all over us.

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