Day 76: Forest Friday

Today I biked through two national forests: Flathead and Lolo. The route I’m on right now is called “Great Parks North” and prioritizes going through national parks and forests. It’s very pretty riding with lots of forest and lakes and mountains in the distance.

I woke up this morning in a cozy bed and slowly got up and had some breakfast. Tom brewed coffee for us all and we hung out waking up and chatting. Between the cozy bed, coffee, and good company I got a later start than I had planned, but it was very much worth it.

I biked down to Swan Lake hoping for a coffee stop, but the convenience store there hadn’t brewed any coffee yet so I ended up with a Gatorade instead. Tom and Kara had recommended a market further down the road so I had a good lunch stop to look foreword to. It exceeded my expectations. I got a Reuben and a chocolate milk and sat on a shady patio surrounded by lavender plants with a horse paddock beyond that and mountains framing the view. It was quite idyllic.

The route today was mostly on a state highway, but got on a side road for about five miles towards the end of the day. I took a rest at a forest service campground along that stretch. I found a nice picnic table by the river in the day use area. Some of the clouds were impossibly puffy.

From there it was ten miles to the campground. This stretch of the ride was not my favorite as there was almost no shoulder. There were pretty views, so that’s something. The campground itself is really nice. It has the best hiker/biker site I’ve ever run into: tent pads for every person, bear boxes, a covered picnic table, right on the lake, a water spigot, and even electrical outlets! I’m the only one here tonight so I spread out all over the picnic table between charging, cooking, and drying clothes.

Tomorrow I head to Missoula. I’m hoping to visit the Adventure Cycling Association headquarters, poke around town a bit, then bike bike to my cousin’s house which is a bit out of town.