Into Jackson MT

So now we are in Jackson, Montana, they seem to have Jacksons all over the place in the west.  This Jackson is extremely small, blink as you ride your bike thru and you will miss it.  But is has a great lodge where we are camping.
OK, so I did have a great birthday in West Yellowstone. The five Amegio's went out for dinner and that was a very good time.  Well we had to get up and ride on Wednesday and we rode to Ennis, Mt. We rode up to Hebgon Lake and then on to Quake Lake which was formed during an earthquake in 1959.  The side of a mountain slid into the Madison River, damned it up and formed the lake.  It does look like a lot of earth was moved to put in the new road after the quake. Then we rode for about 50 miles along the Madison River, a storied fly fishing river.

The detail on the picture is not the best but one of the fishermen has a fish on and just after I snapped the picture he lost the fish. Not a happy angler.

Well Ennis, MT was nice with a OK camp and the Long Branch Saloon. Turns out one of the cast from Gunsmoke, an old TV western series is from Ennis and the bar is decorated with piictures form the actors. Well the beer was good also.

I set a new speed mark on this ride at over 18 miles an hour. The ride had a 50 mile long easy downhill grade.  It was great after all of the passes we have been climbing.

On Thursday we headed for Dillon, MT with a ten mile climb to start the day up and then into Virginia City, an old mining town that is being born again.  On the way down into Virginia City I had the helmet cam on and came around a corner and there was a herd of cattle in the road.  I mean a big herd of cattle spread out for about a half mile on the road.  The cattle were being moved to higher pasture and the roads are the easiest way to accomplish that.  It was interesting to ride thru this herd.

We had a nice lunch in Twin Bridges and turned a little south for the ride into Dillon and the wind had been  predicted to be in our face but it did not happen, in fact we had no wind at all. We stayed at the Dillon KOA and it was not the best KOA that we have stayed at but it had all of the needed services.  I did go to the Patagonia store and I purchased a pair of rain pants.  My old ones did nto hack it at all.

Friday (today) bropught us a climbing day, first up Badger Pass at 6760 ft. and then up Big Hole Pass at 7360 ft.  We did have some wind to contend with but is was not too bad. Coming over Big Hole pass the Bitterroot Mts came into view and they still hold a lot of snow. The last ten miles of the ride were basically downhill and enjoyable to ride, especially with a herd of elk on the left side of the road. I am currently sitting in the Jackson Lodge on the computer but the beer here is local and very good.

That is Sjef on the left and Terry on the right.

Life is Good!     Bobo