Day 2: Birch Creek to Red Meadow Lake - 45 miles
At 01:00 I turned on my short wave radio and searching for the BBC I found a familiar voice--Radio New Zealand! They were playing 'checkpoint' which is after the 17:00 news so I was able to catch up with all the goings on in NZ. The main news story was about a farmer who had some anti-possum poison dropped on his farm by mistake and the second largest was an argument over how to seat the opposition in parliament. Glad to see that little NZ is as parochial as ever...
Sean and I both emerged about 07:00 and after packing the gear we broke camp around an hour later. We had decided to put off breakfast until we had an opportunity to replenish our water supplies. It was quite cool so I bundled up but Sean was quite happy in his shorts. You would never guess that I'm the one from Canada while he was raised in Queensland Australia.
We found a stream a few miles from the campground and filled our bottles and hydration packs. My filter hadn't been used in a while and the hose was split--I had meant to check it before I left NZ but didn't have time. Nothing the trusty Swiss Army Knife couldn't handle and before long we were pumping away.
My Katadyn filter is a ceramic filter which removes most of the nasties. It is also somewhat tiresome to use as it is hard to pump. We took turns pumping with the other holding the bottle. Sean was new to this nad held the bottle a bit close so some unfiltered water from my hands fell in. Although it was only a few drops it could be enough to cause some unwanted problems. So if I come down with delhi belly I know who to blame.
After filtering the water we had cerial for breakfast. In Kalispell we had purchased powdered milk which we mixed with protein powder that Lis had provided us. Made an interesting taste to say the least!
As we were breakfasting a large pickup truck stopped and chatted. The driver was impressed that we were from New Zeeelaaaaand. Their tendancy to draw out vowels in this part of the country makes for interesting renditions of NZ. He was a signman on a road crew working in the area and, like most Americans, exuded friendliness. He hadn't been over the route we were going but knew the campground we were headed for and said it was great.
Our waterbottles and stomaches full, we then headed upwards. The road paralleled Grove Creek and beyond the creek were the tree clad hills. The photo below of Sean gives an idea what it was like. After we took the photo we noticed two people deep below us measuring the depth of the water with a surveyor's staff. Must have been some climb to get out of there!
The road continued upwards. It was in good condition, although a bit dusty. This was especially the case when a pickup truck stopped to warn us that there was a "convoy of dump trucks" following. Sure enough, 12 behemouths such as that shown below passed us. By the time they were finished everything had a fine layer of dust over it, especially ourselves. Still, it was very considerate of them to warn us off the road.
After a stop for refreshments we turned right onto onto road 114. The road crew were camped at the intersection in a campground not marked on our otherwise excellent map. Pity as we would have made for it yesterday had we known.
Sean noticed a new surface across the bridge and comment that it looked like the road had been upgraded. Talk about over-optimistic. Very shortly it turned into a very broken unsealed pavement with huge stones. My front derailleur was acting up and we stopped so I could adjust it. A good thing as I couldn't have continued without the adjustment.
The climb continued, only steeper. In some places I noticed that I was doing only about 3 mph--not exactly burning up the miles! After a further 6 miles we reached the 'Whitefish Divide' where the photos below were taken to celebrate. Quite an effort but hopefully things will get better as our cycling fitness increases. We had climbed about 1700 ft, and it felt like we had fought for every foot.
It began to spit when were at the divide so I donned my rain gear. Good call as it began to rain during our descent. The road was good in places, and absolutely shocking in others. I had to stand on my pedals to increase the manoeuverability of bicycle in an often vain attempt at avoiding rocks.
I wasn't entirely successful and I noticed that my front tyre was beginning to lose air. This meant it was time for the first tyre change of the trip. Off came the front wheel and in a few minutes I had fitted a spare tube and we were off again. I learned during my last trip to always carry at least 3 spare tubes, just in case of multiple punctures in a single day. One is likely, two are unlikely, three are highly improbable.
As elsewhere, the ecosystem changes with elevation. At the divide we could see the end of the treeline and many of the trees were stunted and struggling to survive in the poor soils. Avalanches didn't helpthings at all. As we descended the trees thickened and looked healthier andthere were lovely alpine meadows. I reflected on the shear number of trees around since most of the hills were well covered.
There was a river adjacent to the road and we stopped to admire it. The water had the crystal clearness that one associates with mountain springs. However, I knew it would be COLD so that detracted a little from things
We eventually reached Tuchuck campground where we stopped for lunch. It's a good thing that we hadn't tried to reach this the previous night as the road was just too difficult. A large campground, it appeared to cater for horse-back riders. There were a number of rails for tying up the horses. That the riders were not experts was evidenced by the ramp that had been set up to facilitate mounting the horse.
In case you are wondering what the gear looks like, the photo below is of my trusty stead outside Tuchuch campground. It is quite full and I'd put the weight at about 50 kg since there was 45 kg of gear I checked in with Air New Zealand and the additional food and water. One notices the weight ascending the hills; and it helps to get the speed up during descents!
I got quite cold during our exquisite lunch of baked beans (which served to provide extra propulsion later in the day). Fortunately, the road from Tuchuck was good and we were able to get up to a good rate of knots which eventually warmed us up.
Surprisingly, there were quite a few people living in the area. The houses were not spectacular, but there were some very nice ones. Eventually, we reached the valley and it opened out to show us the mountains on the western end of Glacier National Park.
We turned south on North Fork road. In spite of having travelled 40+ miles, a sign said that we were only 6 miles south of the Canadian border! The guide book said that this was a busy road leading to a little used border post. We passed 8 vehicles--which was 7 more than we saw on the road we turned off--so it was quite busy by comparison...
A motorcyclist stopped to chat with us. He was from Arizona and up here for a few months on holiday. He told us that he loved NZ having gone there for 2 months and stayed for 6. He fell into relationships with 2 different women, hence the prolonged stay. We've been surprised how many people from this part of the country know NZ--the checkout lady at the supermarket the day before extolled its virtues. Quite different to my last trip where the people were very geographically challenged.
As the road wound south we stopped for the photos below. They don't do the mountains justice and I've resolved to return to this area again. Perhaps next year when Lis has her high school reunion to attend in the NW USA.
The road ran next to the North Fork of the Flathead River. As is shown below, it is a large river which was crystal clear. There were many homes and cabins along the road and I'd expect that it is a fisherman's paradise.
There were lots of streams running into the river and we stopped at one to recharge our water. It was about 15:00 and quite hot, although the water was cool and refreshing. The afternoon heat is really something else, much to my liking although Sean is the opposite.
At the 60 milepoint we turned onto Red Meadow Lake road and commenced climbing. It was uphill all the way to our destination 11.7 miles away, the first bit moderate; the last quite difficult.
It was a narrow road with a good surface. The mountains rose to either side of us and there were trees all around. We saw some remnants of the big forest fire of 1988 which decimated the area, but not much. The roadside was resplendent with wild flowers (probably weeds) and the sun shining through them made the petals translucent. The photo below doesn't do them justice. It is one of the nice aspects to North America that there are lots of wild flowers. I thought of Dave Robertson from Transit NZ who helped get some planted on the State Highways. When I told Lis this his estimation went up ten fold in her eyes as she really appreciates the colours and textures.
The going got quite tough and we had to rest often. It was one of those times when Nitzche's saying 'that which does not kill you makes you stronger' came to mind. We climbed from about 3700' to 5900' over the 10+ miles which may not sound difficult, but this early in the trip it was definitely a labour. The photo below shows where we came from, and this wasn't taken even near the top.
During on of our rests a driver stopped and gave us the good news that it was only 1 more (uphill!) mile. We gritted our teeth and soldiered on, and were more than relieved when we spotted the lake.
After pitching our tents we had dinner and then collapsed in our beds. The local toilet was again used to store our food bags which was a good thing. During the night Sean was kept awake by 4 bears sniffing around the outside of his tent. Me? I was deep in na-na land, with our bear spray beside me.