Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (Helena to Lima)

Another week and some amazing landscapes! The first day out of Helena was the toughest one of the trip. We were totally unprepared for the 5,000 feet in elevation and the 10 miles of hiking trail up and down Lava Mountain. By 5pm we were still going uphill!

Alina and Freddy from Texas invited us to stay at their camp site over night. In the morning they gave us strong coffee (the best one of the trip!) and blueberry pie for breakfast! What a treat! The Merry Widow mine is an old uranium mine where people come and breathe radon to cure all sorts of ailments. Note all the giant RVs and our little tent!

Butte is another mining town, mostly copper. It has a giant pit in the middle of town, which has been filling with rainwater since mining ceased. The toxic sludge (containing arsenic, copper, cadmium, zinc and sulfuric acid) is anticipated to reach the water table by 2020!

The mansion of one of the copper kings. 

Back on the trail, after a long climb, we decended the famous Fleecer Ridge - too steep to ride down and too slippery to walk!

Bannack was Montana's first capital. Hard to believe, since it is now a ghost town with only a hand-full of residents.

We got harrassed by some weird grouse. Every time we walked away it attacked our ankles and when we turned around it pretended not to see us.

The landscape during the next few days was amazing! Mt. Fleecer, ...

.... Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest, .....

...., Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway, ...

... Medicine Lodge - Sheep Creek Divide and... 

...  Big Sheep Creek Backcountry Byway.

The sky was looking very dark but miraculously the rain missed us! So far, we only had rain over night!

More amazing camping spots...

Some photos along the trail...

Antelopes (or Pronghorns)

Lima is tiny. We had to camp because the only motel was full. The pub looked like it was permanently closed from the outside but had great atmosphere inside. We had a fabulous evening chatting to the locals.