Our campground last night was on the edge of this rather enchanting valley and also at the base of Sula Peak. So clearly the only option was to climb to the top of Sula Peak to get some more appreciation of this area.
I tried to wake up at 4:45 to get to the summit in time for sunrise, but slept in until 5:45 instead. There’s a four mile dirt road to the summit but I opted to just huff it directly up the ridgeline to the top of the mountain. 50 minutes and 2,000 vertical feet later I was at the summit, having passed hundreds of piles of goat poop on the way up.
Back at camp we packed up slowly to let our gear dry before hitting the road. Often times when looking at the map to see what lies ahead, you judge a town by the number of blocks visible on the map. If there are only a few blocks in each direction, the town often will only have a post office but no motel or restaurant. Darby, the first town on our route, looked like this but much to our surprise was a thriving tourist destination! It’s a cute old western town with many shops, restaurants, and inns. We stopped at Wildflower Confections for some excellent baked goods and chocolates and headed north again.
Old Darby Road parallels highway 93 for a bit and allowed us to escape the constant stream of passing cars. However, soon after getting on the road the surface turned to dirt! The dirt is pretty well packed, but there are long stretches of washboard and gravel as well, so the going is slow. Only seeing a car every ten minutes makes all the effort worth it. A ladybug hitches a ride on my arm for a few miles and before long Donald gets another flat in the same spot on his rear tire.
We stop in the town of Hamilton for a quick bite at a brewery – their huckleberry and ginger lemongrass beers were both fantastic despite being unconventional. Besides the brewery, this town is much less fun to cycle through. We’re now in the outskirts of a larger city and the quantity of cars reflects that. The drivers on suburban roads like this are consistently some of my least favorite – for some reason worse than both city roads and rural roads. But luckily we don’t need to stay on these roads for long as there’s a fifty-mile bike path leading north from Hamilton to Missoula.
The afternoon is long and hot but at least we’re on the bike path the whole way. We stop by gas stations periodically for Gatorade – the water in our bottles has long since gotten warm. It has been my mission this trip to pick up the oddest candies I can find from these gas station stops. The reason for this is that I consider so called “energy bars” or “health bars” to be no different than candy – they’re a vehicle to get quick calories into your body when you need them, but at least candy can have a more varied taste. One of my favorites/most amusing so far this trip has been “The Crispery” fancy rice crispy treat bars that contain a whopping 800 calories to a bar! But the candy today was the first one I refused to finish – Swedish Fish Tropical Flavors were downright disgusting. Highly recommended for your worst enemy.
We finally reach Missoula, grabbed a motel in downtown and had some much-needed ramen for dinner. We’ll be taking a rest day in Missoula and will be back on the road on Thursday.
Notes from Donald: “The Old Darby Road was a nice scenic alternative to riding on the shoulder of 93. After that it got hot and I was plagued by a leaky tire. Can’t wait to replace it tomorrow!”
Today’s mileage: 81 miles
Total: 1876 miles
Wow, can’t believe you guys are in Montana now! Amazing! So close to the end of your trip. I feel bad for Donald, so many flat tires.