In the early 1970's National Geographic came out with an article about the Pacific Crest Trail. A 2000mi+ hiking trail along the Serria Nevada and Cascade ranges from Canada to Mexico. I was in the Navy at the time and the idea caught my fancy. I kept the magazine hoping to do the trek when I got out.
Well, I did not. Instead I got a job and a motorcycle, Land Rover. Then hit by a car on my bike breaking my ankle in 3 places. During recovery I met a woman and fell in love. We married, had kids and went on Rover trips to the Black Rock Desert.
Fast forward to the late 1990's, mountain bikes have been around for over a decade, a company dedicated to bicycle touring( Adventure Cycling Assoc.)has created a route from Canada to Mexico following the Continental Divide of the Rocky Mtns. Once again I read about it in a magazine.
Now divorced and kid free, an avid cyclist and mountain biker in 2003 I start planning and seeking other riders. Starting with 10 peoples when it came time to go only one other stood with me at the starting line. Now my good friend Lynn.
In 2003 we rode from Port of Rooseville, Montana to Helena, Montana.
What follows is the story of that first leg of our journey.
We had found a way to have a car shuttle from Whitefish, Mt. to Clancy, Mt. just south of Helena, so we drove Lynn's car up Calif thru Oregon to Washington across Idaho and ended in Whitfish at one of Lynn's friends house Catherine.
The following day we rode up the 2 lane highway to the town of Eureka, Mt. Just a few miles south of the Canadian border. Here we pitched camp and the next day with our bikes not so heavely loaded rode up to the border and followed the route back to Eureka.
In Eureka I had to get my rear hub adjusted as it was llose and making shifting hard. Back in camp we met Slim and Diane they were doing the GDMBR on dirt bikes.
Then we packed up and started south on the GDMBR. Our first camping destination was to be Tuchuk campgrounds. It was very pretty and hot on this seventh day of July in 2003.
We found the going tough and the hills long as we climbed up them on Graves Road our first off pavement ride. Along the way we ran into a US Border patrolman who teased us about being on the wrong road!
As the ride progressed we decided not to make for Tuchuk and instead camped along Graves Creek, Here I learned how to do a double bear hang. I discovered I packed too much food and we were not bothered by bears that night.
In 4:22 of riding we had covered 35 miles with 14,700ft of climbing! No wonder we were tired.
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