Fall 2013 on the Great Divide

[mmeiser]

As I write this I'm on the Amtrak Empire Builder train approaching St. Paul. Minnesota. In about 24 hours I'll be at the Whitefish bike hostel visiting Bob and Bev. On Thursday I'll be riding up the middle fork toward Banff. I intend to take it easy and use as many roads as possible on the way north to Banff to "acclimatize". After a days rest in Banff and hopefully some visiting with the locals I intend to start down the GDMBR sticking to it as strictly as possible allowing for washes, forest fires, snow and whatever else may come my way.

I am not racing it officially, but I have a powerful need to ride long hours both day and night, and we'll see just how far I get before weather or time push me off the trail in the next three or so weeks. God willing I'll make it to mexico, but realistically I'll be happy if I make it through the best parts of Colorado.

 Have the 2013 route loaded on my garmin and my android phone as well as maps of the first two sections with plans to stop in misoulla or have the aca mail me more maps if need be.

I'm at the point of doing research on specfic day to day points of interest including favorite campsites, lodgings, and other general areas of interest which I can further research to expand on my understanding of the history and geography of the regions.

More specifically when I travelled down the eastern divide I found some great gps data files containing every shelter on the Appalachian Trail among other things.

The ACA maps are a superb place to start, but I was wondering if there are any GPS based data sets that have these and other points of interest. I would love to be able to sync them with Google maps on my android phone and my GPS.

I will do most of my research off the trail on my android phone, but during the day I hope to leave it buried deep down in the bottom of my bags. In an ideal world I'd be able to seamlessly mark POI on my android phone and then import them into my Garmin.

That said I still consider myself a GPX data novice. From what I understand if I were to mark my POI in Google earth or Google maps I could export them via KML but I don't even know where to begin getting them in my garmin Colorado.

While I'm amazed at what i've been able to accomplish on my android phone i am already on the road and i will have at best only occasional  access to a computer.

[Michael_S]

sounds like a great big adventure is starting. Is that a Ti Fargo you're on?

Good riding and good luck.

[Jay H]

Ovando, MT,  is kind of a must see and a very nice stop... Whitefish, MT has a nice bike shop to resupply (Glacier Cyclery), so does Butte, MT (The Outdoorsman). 

Brush Mtn Lodge in CO is a definite stop for food and possibly lodging. 

So many unique places, it kind of depends on what you like, history, geology, or just nice scenery, it has it all!

Jay

[mmeiser]

So... nothing but time the next few days as am waiting for a replacement frame. Discovered I'd cracked the drive side chain stay across the weld by the dropout. About 3/4 through. Very lucky to have discovered it when I did. So far had done 600 or so miles from whitefish up to Banff and back. Canadian portion was a big awesome mess of an adventure due floods this spring. Only impassible section was the fording river between Elkford and Sparwood.without rappelling gear or a pack raft that washout is impassible. The river is to high and fast, huge tree snarls and washed out banks line the river and the washout is some 100 feet across extending 100 down into the river and 100 up. They will likely have to completely reroute it.

Despite three days of near constant rain headed north the weather has been absolutely perfect headed south. Got down to about 35 one night, reached 85 in Eureka, but in the mountains it probably never get above 75.

Am staying at the whitefish bike ranch. Perhaps I will upload some pics over the next couple days.

[mmeiser]

BTW, the all important bridge across the elk river north of Elkford has been replaced just in the last couple weeks. I road the east side of the river north because locals told me it hadn't been replace yet. Is basically a mess of a power line road. That and constant rain nearly did me and my drive train in. Stick to the official route in there. Two bridges were out just south of Banff on the spray river. Fordable but just barely. If the water table was up another foot probably impassible.

[mmeiser]

Update: So, am averaging about 90 miles a day on the great divide mountain bike route since replacing my frame in Whitefish. Respectable, but its time to rectify the lost time. My timeline is blown. I was originally planning on bailing in Denver as my plan B. However by my account it is still 900-1000 miles via the divide route to Denver and while shortcuts might save me some time they are not a solution. Either I need an alternative extraction plan or I need to beg for a fifth week off work. I lean toward an artful extraction plan first. Am open to suggestions, especially from those of you who know the divide route. For now I shall continue to knock off miles, but of course it would be impossible to try and make up for all the down time.

To be clear I am dying to let loose and pull an all nighter or two, but I feel I can't allow myself the luxury until after I figure out a solution to this looming timeline issue. Psychologically one has to be in the right frame of mind before playing for a big mile day/night and trying to "catch up" is not the right reason. Otherwise an all nighter in the mountains could make for disaster, at least from a psychological perspective. You need to NOT be in a hurry.

[mmeiser]

Update: so bailout plan, am in Lima MT. Just rolled into town this evening and heard there is a bus shuttle to Idaho Falls st 9am and then on to Salt Lake City. Don't want to bail out but if I want east into Wyoming it's be at least another week as there are no other transportation options on the Wyoming portion of the divide. Lima is one scrapy little town. Like it. There is not an ounce of tourism here. It's the real deal. It is a key stop on the i15 corridor just north of the divide pass into Idaho and so far as I can tell that is its key business. It is of great importance to dividers as the next town east isn't for 100 miles. Indeed Elkhorn/Polaris was 100 miles back.

Another factor in my bailout is the winter advisory warning. It rained all day today and yesterday and snowed up in the mountains continuously. There is the potential for 6-12 inches by tomorrow morning. Given time I could have gear mail dropped and the weather would eventually swing back more toward the seasonal averages. However due outside pressures I have not the time even though I might myself have the patience. The weather is an acceptable and fun part of the equation. But I'm already a week overdue in my 3-4 week window.

[mmeiser]

Anyone know any good bike shops in salt lake city?

I had to bail on the divide in Lima. Purely a time thing. I lost to many days due the cracked frame. Once I got into Wyoming I'd be all in until Denver. Best logical place to pull out.

Was enjoying myself even as weather went south. It would have redirected more toward the seasonal averages but I didn't have the time to slog through the snow and colder temps. If I did I'd just have someone mail drop me my snow gear which was ready to go.