I had a very nice time sitting in the shade and talking with Erin at our remote primitive campsite yesterday while the kids played in the hammock. We enjoyed a nice family walk to the creek and retired early into the van after a delicious supper. Simple, but just perfect.

The decision to stop at the gravel road and camp yesterday was proven the correct decision when I turned right after about four miles of riding this morning to head up to Whitefish Pass. Good thing I have my Garmin loaded with the route because it seems Montana has limited resources to keep road signs in remote areas in service. Once I did make the turn, the route deteriorated and continued to do so up to the pass, which means WL would have not been able to make it up and over.

At the tippy top of the Whitefish Pass, the sun was coming up over the mountain and shining right in my face and that was when I decided to hike-a-bike to avoid hitting any unseen large rocks and cutting a tire.

The road conditions actually worsened in some places coming down on the other side of the pass, so the going was slow. There seems to have been some recent rock slides that left these unfavorable conditions. The road conditions did improve a few miles into the descent riding into Ford down in the valley. I say again, down in the valley.

The roads in the valley were amazing and I zipped along and was about to turn right to head up to Red Meadow Pass, the second challenging climb of the day, when I see Ron at the intersection.

I met Ron along with two riders from Switzerland yesterday where the end of my ride would be for the day. Ron pushed on yesterday and made it to Ford Cabin where he enjoyed the night. Ron was at the intersection today when I caught back up with him deciding whether, or not, to ride into Polebridge and visit the amazing bakery in town. While he was pondering his decision, we chatted and come to find out he lived only thirteen blocks away from my current house until he retired in 2017 and started all his biking trips. Small world we live in!

I believe Ron decided to keep on towards Red Meadow as I left him. It seemed he was able to quiet the noises being made by his stomach. Once on the road to Red Meadow Pass, the slow gradual twelve mile climb commenced.

The last two miles were not what I would rate as gradual actually and seeing the lake at the top of Red Meadow Pass was a welcomed sight. The recent grade work climbing up to the pass made the ride slightly more challenging and it became even more challenging when the descent was on a gravel road that was actually getting graded today. Not good to ride through pot holes from rocks being removed today by the scraper. The scraper also smashed large rocks leaving sharp pieces of what remained of these rocks. I was laser focused and went very slow to ensure my tires did not meet their doom and to ensure I stayed on top of War Dog.

The stressful descent eventually turned into me being able to bomb down to Whitefish Lake after I passed the scraper. The ride around the lake was beautiful and I eventually made it through Whitefish to the state park where we just enjoyed a nice swim in the lake as the kids were already in swimming attire when I arrived and impatiently waiting. The clay lake bottom was very enjoyable for the kids as they decided to cover me in clay as we swam. Little sad knowing tomorrow night is the last night with them all until they pick me up in Antelope Wells.