July 7 - Day 12 - Helena

Deadman's Creek to Rimini Pass (Helena area) 32 miles, avg speed: 5.6 mph

We started out on a beautiful morning, with a grueling six mile climb through loose rock on an old mountain road at 3 miles an hour. By lunch time, we had only gone 10 miles. We knew our route today was going to cross the Continental Divide twice, so we were very concerned about our time at this point. The map did not say anything about the conditions of the road we were experiencing.

We finally crossed the Divide and started a bit of a downhill run. but it was littered with "rock gardens" around every bend, so we really couldn't pick up any speed. It was very steep and difficult.

We came around a hill, and saw the beginning of a retaining wall that eventually revealed that it was an area scattered with several an old abandoned mines. NumbStuff and I walked down by one of the shafts, but we were all too tired to explore much more.

Then the trail opened up into the most beautiful meadows I have ever seen. They went on forever, and although Matt's camera caught a good picture, it still doesn't really describe the beauty.

A railroad crossing appeared out of nowhere which was not identified on our map. We were concerned for a bit that we were on the wrong road, but we went through it anyway and came ac cross a herd of elk up on a hillside in the distance. What a treat! If not for stopping for the elk, we would not have seen the sign for "Priest's Pass" which meant we were on the right track.

We started another tough 2 mile climb to Priest's Pass which was miserable, not so much because it was so steep, but because the gravel was so loose. Your back wheels would spin, and often the bike would tip sideways on you. Dirtbaby got a treat of several vibrant blue birds leading her up the path, landing just in front of her, only to fly up the trail a bit and land again. It was a Disney Snow White moment for her!

We made the next CD crossing, and headed down towards Helena. We planned to stay at Moose Creek Campground, but our support crew had already discovered that the campsite was closed. They caught site of us on the trail and told us that they found an informal roadside camping area just past the campground on the left which worked out just fine for us.

We have decided to do the Rimini Pass alternate route. This is largely because several campsites in the area are closed due to the beetle infestation problems. We will bypass Helena on our bike route, but our support crew will take us from camp and go into Helena by car so we can see the city, eat, and do laundry. We need to get on to Basin, and then to Butte as soon as possible where we plan to take a rest day in a larger city area.