Date: Monday, August 23, 2010
Start: 0900
Finish: 1900
Travel Time: 10 hrs
Distance: 227 miles
Total Distance Covered: 1964 miles
We got a fair amount of sleep for today. We knew it'd be a day of trail and that the mileage would be less overall, however, what we weren't sure of was how long we can typically expect to spend doing those miles. When we scouted out the trip we noticed the trail days tended to be around 250 miles per day. Did those miles take 6hrs, or 12? We only had our first partial day of trail to really help us gauge, and by that measure, we expected a full day of around 8-10 hrs with some additional time for breaks, photos, food, and fun along the way.
All told, we were chomping a the bit to get back into the woods and take our second step of many down the Continental divide. We knew we could expect more trails and our first official pass of the CDT, but what we didn't expect was some of the roughest adventure riding and easily one of the largest logistical issues we'd encounter the entire trip.
First things first though, we need to get on the bikes.
It was a routine-enough morning. We wake up, wash up, prep the clothing and gear for the bikes, throw on the armor and head out for some breakfast. Today that would be English muffins, bagels, peanut butter and some fruit from the Whitefish Inns breakfast nook. We had some pleasant conversation with the attendant and stepped out into the brisk, sunny morning weather typical the mountain towns we grew up in, and began to go through our standard bike checks. (Chains, Tire pressure, bolt checks, rack checks, etc.) It was then that we encountered our first snafu.
You know when you think, "I require that object." Like the TV remote or an apple, but you notice that your best friend in the world is standing directly beside it...? So, you request that he/she simply toss it to you and your both on your way. Yes? Well, Chris came out of the second floor room and asked where his keys were. Of course they were right beside me 30ft below him, in the parking lot next to the bikes. "Yeah, i got em! Here you go!" I said casually as i motioned to toss the keys up to him. We both paused and caught eyes for a second and in that moment we seemed to each say, or at least think, to each other that this was a really stupid idea. I mean, we're both rather intelligent, practical, and level-headed individuals, right? BUT, there is something in every man that hearkens back to a time and age where we lived with no consequences.. Where we were burgeoning young beings living the moment and learning along the way what we were capable of. I like to call it "childhood", and the remnants of that time usually fade and give way to more "Grown-up", a.k.a, "realistic", a.k.a. "sensible" ideas and constructs... Never mind all of that though, we were Yobo and Goda. We were going to toss the keys, and toss them I did, into the air in a perfect arch, The keys flew, jingling and spinning like a fairy dance queen at Mr Pagoda's head. He caught them and said, "thanks bro", and then quickly retired to his in-room preparations entirely nonplussed.
I let slip a satisfied smile, and went back to my own preparations.
OK that's not what happened at all. In fact, while this completely non-essential item that we definitely didn't need to continue the trip, and had definitely not decided to throw into the wide-world of unpredictability had indeed arced in a perfect parabola at Mr Pagoda's ocular region, and while he had indeed attempted to secure them from flight, the attempt resulted in failure as this object was jingly and sparkly, qualities that frighten Mr Pagoda to his core. In his weakness, he faltered and the keys that we, again, definitely didn't need to continue our trip, fell to rest on a small, rickety rooftop between floors.
We focused our efforts and began to construct a retrieval device using some of the bungees from our kits, but that resulted in knocking the keys off of the roof and into the gutter. From there it was clear that someone would have to go out onto this rooftop. Neither of us are un-massive enough to make that a comfortable proposition however, so we stood there, un-talking, on-looking, and somewhat vexed.
We decided to take a moment to gather our thoughts. What did we have? Two brilliant pollocks, one set of lost keys, a bungee retrieval system that didn't work, and one working bike. Hooking the keys from above was taking way too long ... we moved a bike under the awning, held it stable and sent Mr. Pagoda to get the keys with his go-go-gadget arms. NoooOOooo problem. Now lets go spend the rest of the day in the wilderness on 500 lb two wheeled vehicles going 50mph. What could go wrong?!
---Goda speaking now. So here we are one year since our adventure and trying to remember all of the bits and pieces. Not an easy task. We had jotted down notes shortly after our trip but nothing had included the failed key reception noted above. Thanks Yobo for your keen memory and command of the English language that allowed me to relive the event on its one year anniversary.
We headed out to fair weather, through the first section of backroad pavement, passing through meadows and the occasional country neighborhood until we hit the first section of trails again. We encountered a Doe and two of her fawns just waking up in a meadow on our way and stopped for picture time. It was difficult to not stop and take a million pictures the whole way. On a trip like this, you're living the moment the whole time and you keep thinking, "We're never gonna see a view like this.", or " We're never gonna get another section as cool or as effin gnarly as what we just rode." So we put our cameras away and eventually escaped reality again. We found ourselves on some nice windy mountain roads that got pretty bumpy at points. We started going downhill at spotted some fellow ADV riders. It was a group of eight guys making their way north-bound on the trail. They were rolling with a Jeep sag-wagon full of fuel and supplies. They basically had all types of bikes that covered everything from DRZ's to KLR's to F800's to KTM's. They were a little more suited for the off-road than us and were traveling a little more lightly on the bikes...one of the advantages that come with a sag-wagon. It was great to chat and get some beta on the trail ahead.
After a few wrong turns and backtracking, we stopped for our first trail-side lunch along a pool in quiet creek. It had long flat-topped log,that someone had fashioned into a diving board. We were both tempted, but decided against jumping in. Turns out we weren't that far from the road at all and hooked back up with the pavement to get to the next section. It was approaching evening and we wanted to rough it for the first time, so we looked for a good spot to camp. We made it to the top of a long windy dirt road and explored a bit off trail at Granite Butte. Yobo went ahead and scouted a field with a great view that looked ideal for camping. The ride to the top was our gnarliest of the trip and I almost went down a handful of times. The view at the top was way worth it and we had a front row seat to the westward setting sun.
We were both on a "Man vs. Wild" kick and wanted to start a fire with some flint Yobo had packed. Turns out it isn't always as easy as Bear Grylls makes it look. We tried for over 30 minutes to no avail and caved to the powers of the lighter. This first meal wasn't going to be just any meal. It was going to be a super duper ours goes to 11 potato apple pie stew. Our ambitions were greater than our cooking skills however and the foil packet failed miserably and we ended up with a mix of burnt and under-cooked potatoes. The warm apples were tasty tho. We relaxed with some tea, recorded a quick video blog watched the sun set. Really a great night and worth the effort to set up camp at this vista.
--Yobo & Goda
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