Day 7: Lake Holland to Lake Sealey - 35 miles

When I was young I used to suffer migrane headaches but fortunately they are now rare occurrences. Unfortunately, I woke up after 2 h of sleep with a blinding headache feeling quite unwell. I decided to go and sit at the picnic table wrapped in my sleeping bag to get some fresh air. It's a good thing since I was soon quite nauscious and ...

As I sat there feeling sorry for myself a full moon rose above the mountains across the lake. It was like God had turned on a light bulb and the whole area was lit in the ghostly white light. In spite of feeling like death turned over, I had to admit it was very lovely.

I managed to doze a little but it wasn't until after 1:30 that I went to bed again and managed to sleep. Needless to say when I woke up at 7 a.m. I was not looking orward to the day, particularly as we had a very bad climb to over 7000' ahead of us.

Fortunately, Sean was also feeling a bit under the weather so we had a slow start, not leaving until close to 10:00. We got off to an auspicious start when I stopped suddently to check the map. Sean rear ended me causing a minor bend in my bike rack. He (correctly) blamed me for stopping without warning, although later he did the same again after I had told him I was stopping so there was no excuse that time ...

Hills seem to be the norm for Montana and we climbed steadily after leaving the camp. After 5 miles of not too difficult uphills we turned onto this great closed road. It was really no more than a track cut through dense forest which loomed up on either side of us. The high grass made cycling difficult, but it was magical being part of nature. The photos below give an idea of what it was like.

 

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Eventually the road turned into a single track which was difficult to traverse. There was a very steep section which Sean stopped at the bottom of. He asked if I was going to ride it and I said it was difficult with him parked there so we both pushed our bikes up. It was too steep to cycle anyway, but good to have someone else to blame.

 

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At the end of the track it was time to rejoin the road, but this again required some manhandling of the bicycles. The photo below is of Sean pushing up to the road.

 

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We continued uphill to the turnoff to Clearwater Lake. I was keen to go tothe lake so that I could collapse next to it and have a snooze, I was really feeling unwell, but Sean sagely advised that we should keep on going so that we would do the climb ahead of us before it got too hot.

Wayne and Dustin came walking back from the lake extolling its beauty but we decided to press on. As we were about to leave another cyclist came up. Kevin was from San Francisco and he was doing the route solo. Like Wayne and Dustin he had a 'BOB' trailer for carrying his gear. Any attraction I had to trying one was ended when Kevin commented that they weight just under 8 kg empty. It's bad enough to have all your gear to carry without that sort of extra deadload. Later in the day when we needed to manoeuvre our bicycles around difficult sections I was thankful that we had panniers and not BOBs. Kevin later told how it took him 10 minutes at one spot where we just huffed and puffed our way through.

By the time we were at Clearwater Lake we had ascended by just under 1000'. From there we had some ups and downs but it soon became a hard slog of continuous uphill. Even the guidebook commented on the 5.5 mile uphill section ahead of us. It took us up 2500' around the top of Richmond Peak and was tedious to say the least. It is pretty difficult to maintain one's enthusiasm when one is cycling uphill for 1.5-2 h on a gravel road.

Lunch was by the side of the road looking down into the valley from whence we had come. Spectacular views. I was still feeling unwell so all I had were a couple of energy bars. I was more worried about water as I had already gone through 3+ litres and only had 2 left. The photo below is an example of where we had come from--and we were still 2 miles from the top!

 

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Kevin passed us and we eventually resumed our climb. We passed him again as he was getting a photo taken by another cyclist. An elderly man with a Japanese wife. The wife cmplained to me that it was hard going. I had to agree.

As we turned into the final section before the summit we noticed some ground birds next to the road. They seemed to be oblivious to our presence. We later learned that they were called 'rough grouse' and were known to be very dumb. Had we been hunters it would have been no challenge at all.

At the high point Sean took the photo below. It had been a very long slog but since we are getting our cycling fitness up it was easier than the climb of a few days ago. Had I also been at 100% I expect that I would have found it easier still.

 

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From the summit we began what will be one of the most memorable rides I've ever had. It surpassed my nightime crossing of mountains in Nevada during my trans-America trip. We were on a narrow road, which was often an overgrown path, heading downwards negotiating our way around rocks, potholes and trees, with a steep cliff to the side. It would have been challenging under normal circumstances, with fully laden bicycles it was a real adrenalin rush. The photos below give an idea of the trail.

 

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There were times when it was simply too dangerous to cycle and so we pushed our bikes on these portions, but fortunately they were few and far between.

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At one point, just near the summit of Richmond Peak we got a bit confused by the trail. Sean postulated that Wayne and Dustin had obscured things in revenge for yesterday when we found out that they took the wrong route, but I was more kind. Once we found the correct trail we played good kiwis and put fallen branches from the correct trail on the wrong trail to assist our fellow travellers.

 

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To our west was the 'Bob Marshall Wilderness' which is a huge wilderness area. Part of it is called 'Grizzly Basin' due to the number of grizzly bears that are found there. The photo below is an example of the wilderness area. It was awesome.

 

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If the ride to this point had been challenging, it got even better (worse?). It was a narrow single track with lots of trees in the way. We passed a party of 3 foresters who were clearing the trees from the trail. I stopped to chat and was surprised to find theat they were all women in their early 20's. I thought there would have been at least one bloke in the party, but at least by having all women it keeps the dynamics simple.

They told me they had read of a local woman who had resolved to do this rid if she was successful at beating breast cancer. She has just reached Mexico which was great to hear.

Obviously the crew wasn't interested in the big stuff as we had to navigate our way under the large tree just after we left them.

 

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The track had pine trees to the left, right and int he centre which made for a fun trip. I'll never look at a Christmas tree again the same way. I caught my peddle on a tree and took a minor tumble otherwise it was clear sailing, except for continually being slapped by branches. I also lost the rain cover to one of my paniers which I recovered; Kevin delivered a second one that he found to me at the hotel later.

 

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Eventually the track ran out and Sean and I wiped the grins we had from our faces. It was absolutely fantastic and made all the uphills worth the effort. It was then downhill continously for another 10 miles until we reached Sealey Lake. The photo below shows what it was like.

 

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We stopped at the first hotel we reached in Sealey and got a room. It had been a week since I was last online and I needed to contact Lis and get my e-mails. It was also time to publish my journal. So while Sean went to the supermarket and the laundry I downloaded 140 e-mails and sorted out other communication problems.

After speaking with Lis we went out to dinner. Sealey Lake is a spreadout town but there was not a lot to choose from. Our first port of call was the local steakhouse since I was certain that I could at least get a salad and baked potato. No such luck so we tried another place which was ideal. I got a Gardenburger (actually 2) while Sean had a steak and pasta dish.

Just to confirm my thesis that Americans are particularly friendly, the couple at the next table started chatting with us about our travels. They were from California up here visiting friends and recommended the apple pie for desert. Avid golfers, they had been to NZ and loved the place. They even ttold us about their son who was a bit of a deadbeat. During the conversation the waiter (Jeb), who was from Florida pulled up a seat and listened in.

After dinner Jeb and the cook/owner Tim joined us and we had a yarn. Tim told us how they had snow here from late October until early April and that this was the centre for the US Nordic ski team. He said that he preferred winter since it made tracking animals easier. Apparently, he was a hunter who used a bow and arrow.

Jeb and Tim entertained us with stories about hunting. They said that grizzly bears had been overhunted to the point where were now protected. If you killed one you had to 'shoot, shovel and shush'. Inother words, bury the evidence and not tell anyone. Even if you were attacked you had to prove that it was self defence.

Since it was getting dark we had to leave so it was back to the hotel to enjoy a night in a real bed. Tomorrow is an easy day, if such a thing exists!

On to the next day ...

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