A weekend to remember: beauty in life and death.

I went to Wallace, Idaho for two key reasons:

1. I love historical towns
2. It was a convenient pace to stay as a base to ride the Hiawatha trail, rated as one of the best Rail Tails (railway lines converted to walking/cycling trails) in the US, it had been highly recommended by numerous people.

I didn't, however, expect to be deeply touched by such beauty in life, in death, and in friendship & openness.

I rejoiced in the magnificent setting of the town (it's in a small valley).  Whether I looked North, South, East or West, all I saw was mountains and hills within a mile (the highway is above the northern part of town because there's no room for it else where - the valley is that small)

I delighted in the beauty of the preserved historical town

I was taken by the sights and smells of the Hiawatta 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 marvelled 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 2 percent grade - remarkable). 

I shook my head at the toughness of the miners that worked in such regions as this, "the silver capital of the world"

I was inspired by the attitude and energy of Dave, who makes & sells t-shirts in town.   He's a cancer survivor, and had one of the bones in his lower leg removed so that his jaw could be reconstructed.  He was formerly the head of Ski Patrol in the area.   Dave's shop was closed on late Friday afternoon when I wandered by, but he noticed that I liked the look of a few t-shirts, showed me in, then offered to print some for me on Saturday so I could buy some Huckleberry related t's for Chad, Tracy and Randall. 

I was taken by the friendship and openness shown by Dave and Margie.  Margie is a friend of Dave's, she lost her husband to cancer a scant 3 months ago.  Dave led both of us on the walk/hike to the Pulaski, and gave the type of running commentary that only an outdoor-focussed local can.

I was deeply saddened to hear that Connie, Randall's wife, passed away on Saturday night after a mighty 15 year battle with cancer.  Rest in Peace Connie.

Upon my return to Hamilton, Montana I was happy to again meet Randall's son, Doug, and his wife Amy.  Like Tracy and her family, Doug and his family are a tribute to the wonderful person that Connie was and that Randall is.  It's a privilege to be able to spend time here with all of them.

I'll post separately about Wallace, and the Hiawatha trail, and I'll squeeze the Pulaski walk in somewhere.

A quickie about today

Today.

Here are some photo's from today, you're not getting an account of today, only some images and select commentary.

I drove to Wallace today.  Wallace is a small historic town in Idaho, and is close to the Hiawatha Rail Trail, that I'm riding on Saturday.

Before I left I noted Chad's Ford Ranger, LOADED with wood that he and Randall collected yesterday.  This is the 2nd load they collected yesterday...those Mountain Men were busy.



...
....stuff
...
....more stuff
...
.....driving
...
....other stuff

Historic Wallace.  Here's a few pics that relate to me heading out for dinner after I scouted 'round town by bicycle.

I had dinner at the 1313 Club....one rumour of its naming is that at its founding in the early 1900's there were already 12 bars add 12 brothels!!  Here's 2 pics from outside.....

....and before I forget, there are lots of these vehicles parked, and being ridden around.

The 1313 Club is far from spartan....

I ordered a vodka, along with a Buffalo Burger and fries.  2 hours later I can still feel the fat working through my system!!

As I regularly do, I read before / during / after eating.  Tonight I finished a fascinating book written ~80 years ago on the topic of the history of Montana, and specifically of copper mining in the town of Butte and how it founded and then drove Montana's economy.   This was the period of the copper hungry period of the adoption of electricity and the telephone, so copper was in high demand.

The book tells the story from the "wild west" days ending in the late 1800's through to the early 1900's and massive stock market manipulation (once Standard Oil became involved with the likes of JP Morgan an the Rockerfeller's).  It also depicts the political and legal corruption of the time - and from what I can gather still exists today with less-than-upright Senators and political appointments of Judges.

Three men made Butte and Montana what is was/is, and what seems surprising, but probably isn't, one of the men - Marcus Daly - founded Hamilton as a logging town.  You'll remember that Chad's "Ranch" is in Hamilton.  There is a Daly mansion in Hamilton, I'll visit it.

My interest in this book came about because of another book that examined the dreadful and long term environmental damage that was done by the processing in Butte and surrounding towns, and how toxic chemicals spread into rivers and water supplies downstream of Butte.   

I'll do a separate post about books that I've read and that I'm planning to read.  If you could remind me about other posts that I've said I'd do, that would be much appreciated!!  I just remembered, US "trucks", and Chad's vintage bikes....are there any more??

A final picture.  This is relevant because there are many small breweries and brew pub's, and presumably there were many more back in the day.  Even now there are two in Hamilton.  Rob (I can't show you his face) who was mentioned way back in my Warm Springs Shuttle post, and who was also at the Lost Trail Festival on the weekend works in one of the brewries.   Back to my original point...the 1313 Club has these posters on a wall.

Lost Trail MTB Festival

This past weekend I went to the MTB festival at The Lost Trail Mountain

You may remember that a month or so ago I rode the "Warm Springs Ridge" trail.  This trail starts at Lost Trail.  See link to my post about this ride, if for nothing else than the photo's.  http://daisyalpha.blogspot.com/2013/08/warm-springs-shuttle.html


I didn't ride, even though free shuttles were being run all Saturday.  I slept incredibly badly on Friday night (in a borrowed tent and sleeping bag).  Let me tell you about Friday.

Lost Trail is at an elevation of 2200m, high by Australian standards, so it was cooler than in the Bitterroot valley within which Hamilton sits.  I wasn't prepared for the cold.  By about 6pm (a full 2 hours before sunset) I started to feel the cold. So, I changed my thongs (flip flops) for socks and shoes...and that was great..but I didn't feel warm for long.   In order, I then added:

• a fleece jacket
• a pair of woolen socks and my hiking boots
• long pants instead of shorts
• wool socks instead of cotton socks
• a second wool t-shirt under my fleece jacked
• a pair of long wool socks over my short wool socks
• my cycling arm warmers and knee warmers.

By this point it was 8:30'ish, and I was warm enough.  However, I was feeling incredibly tired.  I hung around the collective camp area surrounding Chad's truck, but went to bed after a while...then slept badly.  It was cold, really cold. I needed a beanie.

Here's a pic of "Camp Chad & Friends and Family" Tracy and the kids were there too - staying in the camper that I stay in back at the ranch.

On Saturday I hung around with Chad, who wasn't riding - he was minding his twin girls - and hung out with everybody else who floated through the area before or after their rides.

I also hung out with this little dude.

Come the evening..



... everybody headed up from the car park / campsite, shown on the right of the first pic...and the body of the second pic

to the Lodge / event central

...the lodge

...event central

...where I was introduced to a man I'll call Bazza.  Bazza shared some WineShine with me.  Man that stuff is rocket fuel.  It's twice distilled wine, and Bazza reckons that is about 180 proof.  It warmed me up quickly and way down to my stomach....not that I was cold...Sat night was warmer, thankfully.

I can't tell you Bazza's name, making WineShine isn't necessarily legal.  Here's a partial pic of Bazza on the right of Sam, Chad's dog.

By the end of Saturday (but before the WineShine) I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to ride on Sunday at Coyote Coulee - see this post for a previous ride at CC.  http://daisyalpha.blogspot.com/2013/08/change-of-plans-coyote-coolie-ride.html

My ride at CC on Sunday was awesome.   What else did Sunday entail???  Chad and family cut some trees up for firewood on the way back from the festival (the 'barn is solely heated by firewood - I'll take a pic of the amazing heater).  One Chad and Randall had further cut and split the wood, I helped stack those bad boys.  I think we did more of this on Monday.

At the festival there were some interesting people, some you've met, some you haven't

• An amazing character camped next to me - Jon Turk.  Many moons ago Jon was an organic chemist, and even obtained a Ph.D.  After a while he gave it up to become an adventure seeker & adventure traveller, and a writer about both.  http://jonturk.net
• Skip (the one with the Corvette) who was mentioned in my "Day in the Life" post was there.  
• The "Mountain Man's" Mountain Man.  He was present.  Enough said.

Here's another couple of pics from the festival that have nothing to do with my tale about the weekend.

And finally here's a close up of the little fella you met earlier.   Dude, where's my nut??

Note, this post is drier than it could be, but my editor is not available.  Sorry.

EDIT: Tracy has sent me some pics of the trail and of her son Caelen, who on Saturday did the Warm Springs Ridge ride, his longest so far, and aboard one of Chad's old bikes no less...it seemed that most of Chad's previous bikes dating back for 5 or so years were at the festival!

I seem to be running 6 days behind

Despite elbow issues, I went for a great ride around Lake Como with Tracy on Monday last (a public holiday here).

Como is technical, very technical.  Quite a bit of it is tight, it's rough, really rough.  It goes without saying that it is very very rocky, and of course these rocks aren't like the rocks we seem to get in my normal riding locations, they're baby head sized and are scattered all over the trail, but they're not smooth and round like baby heads.  They can also be bigger and be still be scattered all over and beside the trail. It's awesome.

Here's a few pics.   I didn't take many of the setting (which of course is quite beautiful), but Tracy was kind enough to take some pics of me...

These first 6 pics capture a short but STEEP  "s" shaped climb, that of course is rocky, and as an added bonus has loose rocks and dirt...

Me at the bottom of the climb

After what for me was the most difficult section, a 20-30cm step up done at low speed having just turned.  It took me 3-4 attempts to make it up the step - and then to make it with sufficient control and on the correct line to be able to navigate the small kinks you see in these first 3 photo's

The view up the second section of the "s"

Me riding this second section of the "s", taking the initially steeper but more predictable line with no loose rocks or dirt.

me past the worst of it, but note the rocks still to be navigated at the left turn 5 metre's up the trail

...and here's a selfie from T, taken from the same spot as the previous 3 photo's, with guess who up the trail in the background.   How's this for an amazing photo!! Nice one T :)

A section of trail, T had stopped to take some happy snaps of me riding.

Here's a creek with me crossing it.

Note the rocks, not on the trail at that point - what a nice change!

At the far end of the lake there is a waterfall (and creek) that feeds the lake, and a bridge crosses it

Here's a creek with me crossing it.

Consider yourself updated on my ride from last Monday.