Day 3 - The race to Holland Lake

June 21, 2021

Big Fork, MT to Holland Lake, MT

76.3 miles, 5860 ft climbed, 224.3 total miles

Efficiency was not our strong point today but we were clean and took care of some bike annoyances. At around 9:30 am, we loaded our bikes and left the campground towards Ferndale.

In just over two hours, we were at the top of the first summit, Mission Range, where we again met up with the group of four riders from Vermont, who left camp before us. The downhill was fast and rewarding and no sooner did Sarah ponder how they kept the road in such a good shape, a big piece of machinery rolled towards us regrading the road.

We were glad to have reasonable shade as the temperatures were nearing 90. We refilled our water bottles from the crystal clear creeks near and splashed water on ourselves to cool down.

We meandered on roads that felt like they were at the end of civilization but then all of a sudden we’d come across a walker, cabins, a car, a tandem bike, a guy loading logs, road repair crew….. We were never far from highway 83 and enjoyed peekaboo views all day.

The first 40 miles took a long time with loose crushed rock road surface and hills that looked smaller on the map. We started to think about the necessity to wildcamp as the day dragged on and the campground was at about mile 75.

We watched bunnies hop across the road and butterflies land on our bags. Towards the end of the ride we were surprised by well kept single track. We put the hammer down and made it to camp by 8:30 pm. Storing our food in a metal bear box is a big draw when in Grizzly country and we heard about a cyclist who was chased by one. Truth or myth who knows.

The host at Holland Lake campground was kind to find us a spot. We quickly setup our tents, cooked up a freeze dried meal and called it a night. Mosquitoes don’t let us hang out too much.

Sarah’s quote of the day: it’s interesting how we simultaneously search for water and fight against it.