Day 12 – Missoula to Darby – Safe Return Doubtful

66 miles (106 km) – Total so far: 713 miles (1,147 km)

Just packing the bike outside the Hostel this morning and a scruffy and half-inebriated guy politely excused himself and asked me if I knew what day it was. I thought for a while, but I didn’t. It’s as well to know Friday and Saturday though as campsites fill quickly and after I consulted my records I bore that in mind.

Today’s riding was slightly uphill along the Bitterroot River and initially on a busy dual carriageway out of Missoula. There is a bike lane in the city but that goes after a mile or so, and at Lolo, about 8 miles out, the Bitterroot Trail Path starts and continues for about 50 miles. As bike trails go it’s pretty ordinary as it runs alongside the highway 93 but it does keep you away from the road. After Hamilton there is less traffic and the road is a single carriageway with shoulder.

This will be one of the easier days with fast riding and also a bit of a tailwind. There’s a good RV site with a tent area. The owner, Jim, has enough space to keep cyclists away from other tenters. It will be busy later. There is another group of cyclists here riding their own route across the US in 3 months, from Seattle to Boston. There are 6 of them and they are on mountain bikes, and will head off-road tomorrow on the Divide route. They have a vehicle support, so it’s a different sport really. They arrived about 15 minutes after me also from Missoula and left about the same time, so I got a good run, and also today didn’t break very much.

Excellent breakfast at Market on Front – view over the road to the Insectarium and the sun coming up on another smokey morning

Market on Front – very recommended

More railway angst.

Literally hundreds of these carriages parked up along the disused line I rode along today.

If you’re a ‘railway person’ or just enjoy a good story, read Train Dreams by Denis Johnson. It’s about 120 pages and a real treat. Johnson died earlier this year.

The Bitterroot bike path extends from Lolo to Hamilton, about 50 miles – not beautiful as so close to the highway, but great to be away from the road at all