We arrived safe in Whitefish for a rest day and family funday! Week one riding the divide with the family did not disappoint. The first weeks adventure was punctuated with Bears, Snow and Smiles as we navigated our way through very remote and beautiful country.
Disclaimer
I am slightly malnourish and exhausted from my time in the saddle so please pardon any typos, unclear ramblings, partial thoughts and grammar / spelling errors.
Bears
We are in the thick of Grizzly country. In fact this route tip toes near the “Grizzly Bear Highway” a region that holds the largest population of inland grizzlies in North America. I have read accounts of riders who have completed the entire divide route without ever seeing a Grizzly Bear… that will not be our story! Before we get to our encounters so far, let me first layout some background.
First, Yes, I knew this was a real risk going into the ride. Second, I have had other Grizzly encounters in Wyoming in the past so I thought I knew how I might react if I encountered a Bear on the trail. Third, I have taken many precautions to avoid a bad situation including outfitting my bike with a Mountain Timber Bell, randomly yelling like a crazy person on the trail “HEY BEAR!” and “HUP HUP” to make constant loud noises and arming myself with a canister of bear spray on my side at all times.
After speaking with the conservation officer in Banff about the heightened bear risk due to all the cubs in the area I was on full alert as I pedaled off and left civilization and my family at the trail head..
The first 18 miles of trail winds over two river drainages and my head was on a swivel as I passed pile after pile of bear droppings on the trail. The little bell ringing on my bike brought me a little comfort in the silence of the woods as I made my way up the switchback and over the pass. Around mile 19 I met up with Brittney and the girls for lunch as the trail connects with a gravel road around spray lake. The girls took off for camp and I began to pedal the remaining 31 miles to our camp for that night.
This is a pretty well trafficked gravel road so I turned off my bear bell and was enjoying the views as there seemed to be a postcard picture around every bend in the road, it was truly stunning. As I came over a rise in the road I saw him a Grizzly Bear about 100 yards away. He was eating grass on the right side of the road (for context the road is about 30 feet wide). It took me exactly 28.4 miles to have my first bear encounter. I unholstered my spray and continued to ride closer thinking I would ride past on the left side of the road and he would just continue grazing. As I got to about 40 yard he seemed to take interest in my approach and walked out onto the road. So there I stood like a high noon standoff in an old western movie, me at full draw feeling very inadequate with my little can of pepper spray and the bear standing there not afraid of me staring at me like he was saying “make my day biker” I froze..
Meanwhile back at the van Brittney and the girls were arriving at our designated meeting and camping spot for the night and as they pulled into the campground the first thing they see is a large Grizzly Bear standing on his hind legs! Screaming ensued and even through they were in a hard sided vehicle Bryar and Paisley freak out. Brittney: “let’s get a picture” Bryar: “Keep going mom don’t stop” As they pulled into a camp spot for the night the girls felt and enhanced sense of bear awareness and would not walk further than a few feet from the van without bear spray and a companion.
Back to my standoff, so there we stood man on bear right in the middle of the road. I realized this had a potentially poor ending for me; so I did what any rational person would do and I backed off to about 100 yards. The bear went back to feeding.
About 5 mins later a lady in a small truck came down the road and I asked if I could ride on the side of her truck and pass the bear together, she graciously agreed. So we started back towards the bear, the bear again noticed us approaching and walked right back into the middle of the road full standoff only this time we were only 40 feet away. After a moment, felt like 10 mins) the bear decided that the truck was too big to take on and he started walking off to the left side of the road. I was on the left side, so I backed around the truck and moved to the right side of the truck and we slowly went past the bear at 20 feet as he began moseying up into the forest. As we got about 500 yards down the road I took off pedaling and the next mile might have been the fastest mile of riding I have done the entire ride! (Fueled entirely by adrenalin) Bear sign has remained ever present on the ride and each day we are reminded that we are still in Grizzly country.
Snow
When we were planning for the ride we thought through all of the potential obstacles that might cause issues on our ride and tried to build redundancy and alternatives. I tend to have an above average risk tolerance in the outdoors and Brittney has a more conservative tolerance. So we agreed at the start that given this was to be a family adventure I would use an abundance of caution (for me) when making decisions along the route. On day 2 we had our first chance to exercise this framework.
As I mentioned, Canada and Montana had a very late spring, as a result there is still significant snow at elevation and in some of the passes. I went to the ranger station to ask about Elk Pass my first crossing of the continental divide. The ranger showed me pictures of her and her dog hiking up in the snow on the pass in knee deep snow and blown down trees for miles on the trail as it crosses from Alberta into British Columbia. She strongly encouraged me that if I had the option of skipping that section, especially on a bike, I should. She also told me about the rescues the week prior of others attempting the route. I was torn, I was sure I could physically hike a bike over the pass and get to the trail on the other side to ride down but it certainly involved significant risk and I would be at least 300 miles away from the route Brittney and the kids needed to take around the mountain in the van to get to our meeting spot. After, deliberating over dinner we decided that it would be best to skip this section. I was disappointed but content knowing it was the right decision to make, it also gives me a great reason to come back next summer and complete that section.
The late spring has caused all sorts of other navigation issues, mud boggs, bridges out and landslides, but we have been able to navigate our way safely so far. (Video’s to come, as soon as we figure out the best way to share them) Brittney even drove the van on a white knuckle backroad over the whitefish divide where after a very narrow part of the road that traversed a cliff Bryar said “that was a heart attack”. Pretty sure it is the first time a van went over that pass!
Smiles:
The slowest 6 miles of the route so far were also the most rewarding so far. The girls rode over the whitefish divide with me, it was a big hill with lot of rocks for their little legs to navigate.
Their was laughter, snacks and some tears were shed as they pushed to the top, finally at mile 6 they said they needed to stop because there legs were Sooooo sore! I finished out the remainder of the 50 miles solo.
It is so amazing to have the family along for a ride like this! Each day meeting up with the family is one of the best parts of the day, we share stories about the day, cook dinner together, prepare and review maps for the next day and play uno till bedtime. Having the family along for an adventure like this makes the long days in the saddle melt away and I am filled with gratitude to be able to have this experience with them.
Ride stats to date:
· Mountain biked 223 miles
· Climbed over 12,000 feet (about 3k per day)
· Spent over 24 hours in the saddle. (Longest day was just over 7 hours)
· Burned over 17,000 calories in the saddle
We have arrived in Montana across the boarder.
We are looking forward to the next leg of our adventure from here in Whitefish to Helena 267 miles of dirt to cover over the next 4 days!
Onward and upward,
Ben