Change

Change.

Change is a constant.

Hare are some images that for me, represent change over the past 3 weeks.

I finished this book over 3 weeks ago - its focus is on the environmental impact of mining in Butte Montana (for my Aus readers Butte is pronounced as beaut).  The book inspired me to read a further two books about the history of Montana and it's resources.  

The first follow-up book focussed on mining: it described into the characters, the greed, the politics, the corruption (financial, legal and political), the roughness - it really was the wild west until the early 1900's.  It also described how primitive and difficult life was in those times - and how easy we have it now.

The second told the tale of the birth and growth of the National Parks under Teddy Roosevelt, and the unprecedented 1910 bush-fires that swept Idaho and Montana.  Again, I was struck by how primitive life was for some.  Look at the second picture - this was a recruiting poster for forest rangers.  

From reading these books I see the roots or some evidence of the decline of the US.

I saw this second picture during my ride of the Hiawatha Trail that I did the weekend I was in Wallace, Idaho.  I really enjoyed my time in Wallace.

The start and finish of the Hiawatha Trail.   This is the last ride I did that was an adventure.

This is a view from the Railway Station in Wallace....the covered rear entrance indicates that the closest building was was a brothel.  Why do the rear exits need to be covered?  So the respectable men of town, including the Mayor and Police Chief could exit discreetly!

I've been told that the building that you can see across the road had a brothel upstairs.  Just out of the range of the camera are two other former brothels.  One book that I'm still reading says that in the old days miners did 3 things, and they did them hard.  1. they minded hard,  2. they drank hard, and 3. they f****d hard.   They came into town with full pockets, and left with empty ones.  Such a different life.  

I spend the better part of an afternoon reading in this park.

Here are Dave & his dog Jack, and Margie & her daughter.  Dave is a cancer survivor, and Margie's husband died of cancer 3 months ago.   I was touched to hear about their stories.

  This pic was taken at about 8pm on the Saturday night.  Connie, Chad's mother in law, Tracy's mum, Doug's mum, and Randall's wife, passed away from cancer not 4 hours later after a 13 year battle.  

A few days after my return to Chad's from Wallace there was an impromptu "camp" fire and the drinking didn't stop 'til 3am.  Haven't done that for ?? years.  The first pic shows a rain storm nearby - this was the start of the weather getting cold and rainy.  

The fire.  I love fire.

Glacier National Park

Per my General Update post, I was uncertain about my plans, but I decided to go to Glacier national Park in northern Montana.  I principally did this to drive the "Going to the Sun Road" that I had been advised was spectacular.

Chad advised me the morning that I left that the pass at the high point of the road - the Continental Divide - was closed due to weather (presumably snow).  This was confirmed when I entered the park.  Change - no magnificent drive across the park for me.   I'll do some longer hikes I thought.  I dropped in to chat to the Info Centre folks, and Ranger Doug attempted to match me with two 45-55 year old women - who were married it turns out.  He must have been 70 if he was a day, but he had a great twinkle in his eye.  Anyway, my hiking plans were developed.

To the photo below.  I've never seen scenery or mountains like this...even in books, magazines or TV.  I was blown away.  Blown away.

1st Hike at Glacier

Bears, bears....I was nervous.  No bears in Australia.  Big bears can weigh 300kg.  Word on the street is to make noise to keep the bears away, but the noise should be irregular...like talking.  So...every once in a while I'd call out for Skippy ... *coughs*

It was a long, steep'ish, unceasing climb - 7 km.  I wasn't used to this hinking business...it was tough! At times I had to say to myself "just one more step", in the same way that when I'm on a push bike and I'm not enjoying it at that moment, my attitude is "just one more pedal stroke"

Up in the snow line...being snowed on.  WOW.  Not being a skier, and coming from Melbourne which is at sea level, I'm not used to snow....so this was exciting!

I saw unexpected visual delights

At the high-point of the hike.  Made it!   Cold...had 4 layers on upper body...I should have been wearing gloves.  I paid for it on the way down.

I was stuffed by the end of the hike.  I really enjoyed it though, enough to hike again the next day despite my dead legs, big blister and desire to stay in bed where it was warm!

2nd Hike at Glacier

Filthy weather, it rained all day.  I loved it.  

 The falls near the start of the 2nd hike.  Wonderful

 The lights at McDonald Lodge in Glacier.  I was staying in the motel part of the Lodge, but I hung out in this communal main area after dinner.  

I didn't want to leave the Lodge or the Park.  As I mentioned in my recent "General Update" post, some magic happened when I was in the Park.  I entered late last week as a man taking one tentative step at a time.  I left on Sunday as a man on a mission.

Leaving for Canada

The pic below depicts the changing landscape of the mountains that can be seen from Chad's place - compare this to the photo's that you've seen tens of times on this blog.  The snow line and snow capped peaks were non existent 2 weeks ago.  I took this pic on Tuesday morning.  This amount of sunshine was the most that had been in at least a week.  I was tempted to do a nudie run.

This pic was taken along my drive to Whitefish as the road dropped in to a valley. 

Snow on the mountains. Busy sky. Summer is no more.

The weather further into the valley. Rain.

The colours of Fall in Whitefish

I took the rest of these photo's today in Whitefish, my current location (I enter Canada tomorrow).  The photo's all depict the changing of the season from summer to fall.

A series of trees outside the "mall", then a close up of one tree.

A different tree

A bush outside the shopping centre, then a close up of said bush.

A tree outside McDonalds, then a close'ish up (have no fear I didn't eat at Maccas!)

Another bush, and a close up with the sunlight shining through it.

A bush again, don't say I don't look after you!  

General update

So what's my news?

I'm amazed at the change in the weather, in the space of a week or so, it's changed from a Melbourne summer to a Melbourne winter.  Nights are now down at freezing point.  Brrrrr.   It's a shame that I didn't have the inspiration to head to Glacier National Park and to Canada earlier when it was warmer and when less snow was about.

However, I'm on my way to Canada now.  I'm currently in Whitefish, Montana, and after travelling through the regions of the Banff and Jasper National Parks in Canada, will end up visiting Sean (a former work colleague) in Squamish.  Can't wait.  Unfortunately at the moment I'm fighting off some kind of virus thing - which means that I can't do an MTB ride that I planned to today.

When I was in Glacier National Park last weekend I met an awesome couple, Sonia and Steve, they invited me to dinner last night - which was great fun - and I was going to ride with Steve today.  Both S & S work in the Parks/Forestry Service, so we also had a great chat about how MTBers and Govt agencies can work together, and and I gained a lot of insights that I can use in the MTB advocacy plans that I have.  As an aside, when we were talking last Saturday I learnt that one of their friends works as a Ranger at the You Yang's in Melbourne.  Small world.   Last night we watched a movie called Pedal Driven - which is about Govt agencies and special interest groups working together.  One of the featured areas was Montana....and guess who was in the movie...none other then Chad of Red Barn Bikes, the shop I purchased my awesome Turner from.  Smaller world!!

How are my elbows you may ask (you'll remember that when I was in Oregon in August they flared up badly)?  I haven't mentioned them for a long time.  The short answer is troublesome, and there isn't an easy fix

• I haven't been doing much riding recently.  I think I've ridden 3 times in the past 4 weeks,  with two of those rides being technical.. and I haven't ridden for two weeks.  My elbows are liking the rest, but the right one isn't recovering as it should.  It still makes itself felt doing day-to-day activities.  
• Why do I not keep riding you?  It's not because of the discomfort, it's because i don't want to inflame it to the point where it takes months and months and months to settle it.
• 3 weeks ago I went to see a doc about having a further cortisone injection.  At that time I was told that I'd have to wait another couple of weeks until 3 mouths had passed since my last injection.  It also meant that it would be a further 3 months until I could have a follow up if the elbows continue to be troublesome...which I consider likely even though I'm doing strengthening exercises and focussing on posture.
• 3 months has passed since my original injections, so I can now have them.  I'm not sure of what to do though.  To settle my elbows down, it's likely that I'll need to have 2 months of "non-cycling" rest following an injection.  
• If I have shot now, then 3 months is the start of Jan, two months off the bike takes me to the start of March....prime riding time in Aus   Otherwise I could wait until end November when I'll be winding down my trip - two months from then would be the start of Feb..that's not so bad.

On the plus side, I've "discovered" hiking, and I loved the two hikes I did in Glacier, and I'm looking forward to more in Canada (Banff and Jasper are allegedly even more amazing than Glacier...) and then other parts of the US.

The repeated bad news I've had about my elbows (that has blown-up my trip plans) combined with the passing of Connie (Chad's mother in law) - which took me back to the passing of my father, has had a severe impact on my mental state.  For a while I was very seriously considering coming back to Australia.  When times were bad I was taking things day-by-day, hour-by-hour and sometimes minute-by-minute.  

I'm incredibly fortunate to be able to hang out with Chad and his family.  Without them it's highly likely that I would have headed back to Australia - hotel rooms can tend to be soulless places, especially the cheap & dodgy ones that have a weird smell and extra loud air-con.

Something occurred in Glacier, and I either found something or lost something, and I'm now pretty much back on track.  

I'm looking forward to the stunning scenery in Canada, meeting some Canadians, hanging out with Sean and his family, doing some riding...maybe testing the limits of my elbows again, then heading back to the US.  In the US I'll head down south to Colorado and Utah, probably to Arizona, and perhaps to Texas.  I want to experience Texas live amongst the accent. 

I'm also really looking forward to visiting and riding at Ray's indoor MTB park in Cleveland, Ohio....even though it's at least 3 days drive from other locations that I'll be visiting.  Ray's is the inspiration for the indoor MTB park that I'd like to set-up in Melbourne.  

https://www.facebook.com/RaysIndoorBikePark

So this is about 3 weeks overdue! From my trip to Wallace

As mentioned in a past post about the town of Wallace, on Saturday several weeks ago, I rode the Hiawatha rail trail.  It was recommended to me by many people, and I was excited!

It was well and truly worthwhile.  It was an experience.  As I said in a post just after the ride:

"I was taken by the sights and smells of the Hiawatha Trail - when I was riding through tunnels or over wooden bridges I could smell the soot and charcoal embedded in the wood in the tunnels.

I marveled at the endurance and toil of all who surveyed, and then built the railways through terrain such as the Hiawatha's (~10 bridges and tunnels within 15 miles…and all of it a conistent 2 percent grade - remarkable). 

This post is picture heavy, and I could have included many more.  It contains...

wonderful bridges...

 AWESOME tunnels

stunning scenery & landscapes

cute chipmunks!

and fascinating signs along the trial.

Let's talk about the tunnels first.  There are ~9 along the trail, 3 of long enough that a headlight is required.   I LOVED riding in these pitch black tunnels.  I was hollering with joy.  They seem to affect others too.  Several people's first question to me was "what did you think of the tunnels?"

Here's a sequence of 2 pics exiting one of the tunnels

Here's a sequence of pics exiting the long tunnel (3km!) at the start/end of the ride

Here's the entry/exit to 3 of the short tunnels (excuse the poor pics, the camera didn't like the light...)

The scenery and some features along the way were stunning

 There were chipmunks small and large, somewhat friendly ones, that scoot around a lot..and scoot really quickly!

There were bridges, really interesting bridges

looking down...

Here are some pics from afar of the bridges

As with all of the photo's, click this to see a bigger image, and to check to see if YOU have what it takes to be a Ranger!  I've just read a fascinating book about the 1910 bush fires in the area, the book includes a description of the fledgling Parks and their services at the time - these criteria are accurate!

Here's a couple of other interesting posters along the way

It's me!

30 miles / 50km, not a bad effort.

That's all folks!