Day 30—Wednesday, Aug 31—Lima, MT to Red Rocks Lake Wildlife Refuge
59 miles
After camping on a grassy patch next to the gas station in Lima, we set out on a longer ride through a very high valley. The path/road crisscrossed the valley—apparently adhering to ranch property boundaries—so it was not a very direct route (which is typical of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Ride). TJ and I left together and pretty soon he took off and we each biked solo for most of the day. There were no trees for miles so the exposure to the sun was intense and relentless. I grabbed a frozen burrito in the narrow shade of a log pig sty (not used for decades) and had to “borrow” water from a house along the way that had an available garden hose!
The road varied between rocky gravel (fist sized rocks) to smaller stones (1” or smaller) to sand to a fine dust that was very difficult to navigate and almost stopping me dead in my tracks. Ugh.
For wildlife TJ saw antelope and a bald eagle…I was probably too focused on the road!
We arrived at Red Rock Lake which is home to thousand of trumpeter swans who must have left for the long weekend. The lake was full of ducks, herons and other waterfowl. At 6,500 feet in elevation it looks to be surrounded by high desert but the hills are grassy and we finally saw stands of Aspen and pine after such a barren landscape.
We camped in the shadow of Taylor Mountain (almost 10,000 feet at the campground). We chatted with two retired couples camping nearby and after they ate dinner they offered leftovers: roast chicken, salad from their garden, and baked beans with a cup of red wine! The food and the company were lovely.
They also were very knowledgeable about the area which helps. Apparently we are heading into a more dense grizzly environment the next few days. We caught the sunset and I am adding a photo of the sunrise from this morning (Sept. 1) as a comparison. Also a cow moose and calf wandered through the campground this morning to get to the lake.
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