July 8 - Day 13 - Basin

Moose Creek (Informal campground) to Basin, 29 miles Avg 5.7 mph


Jiggleless had to do business in Helena, so Numb Stuff and Dirtbaby hit the road for a day of what the guide book described as “very manageable terrain”. After a few miles of easy climbing, the route made a left up a steep rocky incline. From this viewpoint, we could see the impact of the mountain bark beetle infestation on the trees in the area – lots of sad dead brown trees in amongst the green.

On up to a lovely reservoir, more meadows and flowers until we reconnected with the main route, having taken the Rimini alternate. We went by Park Lake campground, which was closed due to the beetle infestation. After 12 steady miles of climbing, Numb Stuff still managed to put on a neat display of steering his BOB through a narrow avenue of trees which totally impressed Dirtbaby who still wobbles on such occasions! The next 2-3 miles followed the most technical single track we have come across so far, up Lava Mountain. The trail was a devil’s twisting staircase of large boulders, loose rock and tree roots which took all our strength to push our bikes up. We were just thankful it was dry as in the rain the trail would just have become a rushing torrent of water and sticky mud. There was a lot of swearing going on, which we won’t repeat, as we know there are children following our blog.

Finally we reached the top (highest elevation reached so far – 7,411ft), where Dirtbaby passed out but not for long. Obviously, not a lot of people come this way, so the mosquitoes up there were ravenous and spread the word quickly that two sweaty cyclists were up for grabs. We managed to gobble sandwiches while performing the ritual mosquito dance of slapping arms, legs etc, then back on the bikes to tackle some fearsome descents and yet more uphill. However, the descent down Cataract Creek made it all worthwhile, with some interesting stops to look at the old gold and copper mines.

This area is one of Montana’s richest mining areas. Although the mining has despoiled the area, it still has a peculiar beauty of its own, and you imagine how busy it must have been 100 years ago. Eventually, the road pops out into Basin, a sleepy little town on the edge of interstate 15, which has some lovely original buildings.

Deb has rented a car and gone to visit her cousin in Billings. Judy and Jiggleless have found us a great cabin overlooking the Interstate. The best thing is that Judy has room to set up her massage table – oh bliss! After a quick trip to Boulder to buy groceries, we find out that Basin has the best pizza in town so we zoom back to Basin just in time to order up a chicken royale pizza at The Leaning Tower of Pizza before it closes at 8pm. We were going to visit the Silver Saddle bar opposite but the locals are all already completely razzled and it’s only 8.45pm so we decide against it and opt instead for another early night. Not one of us has stayed up beyond daylight so far!