It was nice to be around cell phone service in Helena as I was able to video chat with Folker yesterday afternoon and we shared some good laughs. I am really excited about our future adventures together over the next couple of years, stay tuned.

I got plenty of napping and sleep during my stay at the Super 8. It was a successful day of resupply, laundry and resting. I was honestly eager to hit the road this morning as it would be a challenging day since Lava Mountain was in store.

I started earlier than normal because I really enjoy riding through a city when it is nice and quiet and void of traffic. Coming into cities at the end of a day of riding is usually a little stressful because of trying to find a place to stay and the traffic can be intimidating. This morning was absolutely perfect as nobody else seemed eager to start their day and I had the city streets to myself.

The climb out of Helena starts before the city limits. I knew from the nice descent into town yesterday that I would have to probably climb about the similar distance to get back into the mountains and that theory was proving correct.

I soon came to the fork in the road where some choose the alternate route and choose not venture up to the vicinity of Red Mountain and then onto Lava Mountain. I have heard so much about Lava Mountain that curiosity was pushing me to not take the alternative route.

The first climb offered views of Red Mountain and the climb was nothing more than a typical climb up a pass with decent roads. However, during the descent from this climb is where things got interesting.

I learned today that walking a loaded bicycle down a hill on poor road conditions with 15% grade is challenging. The tail end of the bike likes to fishtail, which can be bad when boulders are there to catch the tail. Patience and my new motto came into effect. The motto being that slow and steady should get you the completion certificate.

If the descent seemed bad, several miles of the climb in vicinity of Lava Mountain was the icing on the cake. It lived up to all the hype and it was almost laughable at times. I knew this would be challenging and that is why I planned for today to be a lower mileage day in order to keep the pressure off and prevent the feeling of the need to rush.

As I was alternating riding and pushing my friend up the hill, I started feeling drops of rain. Rain turned into hail and this actually became a nice motivator to just keep on getting up this mountain. I put on my rain gear and soon enough the road finally started getting better and I could ride.

I made it to the top and the rain let up but it seemed to still be more rain coming from the look of the clouds. I was soon sure enough back in the rain and it lasted all the way down to the town of Basin.

Just outside of Basin, the rain disappeared and I found myself near a river where I could use my water bottles to wash off War Dog and free him from the gunk that had collected on him and his drive train.

The ride to the campsite was nice and sunny and it felt good to find the unmarked USFS campsite that was formally known as Ladysmith Campground. As soon as my camp was set up, clouds pushed in and now I am laying in my tent and listening to some righteous rain and thunder. Life is good.