Back in Bellingham WA. We spent about a month here last year dealing with a bike-replacement which involved a complete warranty and rebuild on my old ride. It was a good place to have such a big problem. It’s a great feeling to be back. It’s like coming home. But it’s cold, rainy and fall…already! Trees are turning and leaves falling.
Lucy and I have spent a couple of weeks in the Spokane area over the past couple of years. It was kind of a shock to realize how much I feel at home being back here, it’s such a great city.
After leaving Montana, we camped out by Rose Lake in the Idaho panhandle, near Coeur D’Alene Idaho and Spokane Washington.
I just finished reading a great book about right here.
Nobody should drive this section of the country without this mandatory reading list.
The book is The Big Burn.
For a final ride in the Flathead region I opted to hit the “Beardance” trail which has a bit more of a climb-once, descend-once backcountry style. This is your basic “big mountain” ride layout.
Next stop in the Flathead Lake region was a great little in-town trail system near Foys Lake, just near Kalispell. The trails were cruisy and fun with some nice overlooks. And the best part was that we made a new friend, Jason, another guy formerly from Canada who lives down here now!
We decided to go check out the Flathead Lake area in Montana. What an amazing place.
The first ride was near Whitefish, at Spencer Mountain. The trails there were an incredible surprise. Insanely high quality trail system with a high level of difficulty.
When we were in the Black Hills, we spent a night camping at the “Wrinkled Rock Climbers Campground”. This guy Bill started chatting with us as we made dinner. He introduced himself as a climber and asked us about the biking. He said that the “last place he lived was Wyoming”. (It’s complicated: he’s a traveller.)
After riding, coffee, swimming and playing with a friendly dog on the beach, we decided that Helena had delivered enough (for now). We decided to take highway 12 over to Missoula to get a jump on the next day.
We camped in the National Forest at “Moose Creek” last night. Very relaxing spot.
This morning we hit another south hills trail area here in Helena. I rode the “Helena Ridge” trail and it was an awesome trip.