Holland Lake to Ovando

Breaking camp at Holland Lake

This morning we woke up at the Holland Lake campground with a brisk 48 degree temperature. Not horrible, but it got your attention, for sure. It was nice to dry the tent out overnight by keeping the fly (the rain cover) open. That certainly meant a cold tent last night, so the down sleeping bags certainly did their job.

Up the mountain

After packing up our stuff we bid Robert, our campsite-mate, good bye. We got on the road about 8:30, not early but not late. We knew we were in for some climbing this morning, and weren’t disappointed. We hit a 850 foot climb over about a mile and a half, so I thought we were through. About 3 miles later, we had another 2,000 foot climb in 6 miles. Just like at Ferndale, but this time it wasn’t raining. Like always, it starts out benign, then begins to tick upward, steeper and steeper. We stopped a number of times to catch our breaths as the mountain climbed higher and higher. Finally, as we got near the top, the road quickly turned and we were in single-track trails. As we got to the top we had to stop to take in the view. It was absolutely spectacular. We could look down and see Holland Lake where we had stayed last night. Then we turned down the trail, and it was some of the best riding we had done in some time. Mostly downward, the trail followed along the edge of the forest, a few feet from plunging down hundreds of feet. The views were great, and the riding was fast! At one point I was following a deer, who kept leaping and running, thinking she would get away from me, but I was flying down the trail behind. Oh, for an action video camera! 

The view back down to the campsite from the mountain 

Beautiful scenery on the single-track at the top 

After a while, we came to the end of the single-track trail, back onto a regular (gravel) road. We continued to go downward, and all of a sudden our GPS units started saying we were going the wrong way. We went back, and it started chirping again. We couldn’t figure it out. Finally Jerry spied a little tiny trail going through a burnt-up area of woods. We didn’t know what else to do, so we followed it, and of course were on the right track. We rode through thousands of acres of burnt trees, through what likely used to be a great forest. Now just burnt trees, with some young trees starting to take root. We guessed maybe 5-10years ago this burnt, by the size of the new trees beginning to grow. 

Acres of burnt forest 

Finally we needed to get lunch with our sandwiches from the Hungry Bear. We ran into two women riders on the road talking. One woman, from Australia, was heading north. The other young woman was headed south like us. We said we were looking for a shady spot to eat, and she asked to join us. Her name was Marika, and she is from Bozeman, riding from the Canadian border to Helena. She typically runs and climbs, but decided this was something she wanted to do. We ate lunch and headed on our way to Ovando along with Marika. Well, being mid-20’s, and being a climber and runner certainly meant she could ride. The first hill we hit she rode steadily away from us. I caught up (I think she let me) and said that she was certainly not obligated to stay with us if we were too slow. She said she was happy to ride with us, but a few miles later the two folks from Munich, who we had met last night and camped at Holland Lake, also cruised by. Marika went with them, as she ought to. Then I spied a sandal in the road. Figuring someone ahead had lost it, I picked it up. Sure enough Marika came back for it, and rode with us the rest of the way. The afternoon was a good ride, mostly downhill, but as every day has brought us, hot, dusty, tired with sore butts. 

Riding this afternoon

We got into Ovando, which is sort of a Divide legend. There’s a small general store with an Inn attached (that’s for us), but there’ also an old jail, a teepee, and a couple of other places where you can sleep for the night (yes, the old jail). Just be sure to sleep indoors, as this is where a woman, camping outdoors with food left in her tent, was killed by a grizzly two years ago. The bear had come by, they scared it away, but decided to stay anyway and it came back and did its damage. Very tragic, but it informs how we treat food and camping in bear country. We keep bear spray with us everywhere we go, and keep it in the tent at night. Park the food in bear proof containers or over the branch of a tree. 

Our home for the night in friendly Ovando

So we got into Ovando, population about 50, with about 100 dogs, according to the sign. Jerry and I got a room, showered (thank goodness), washed out our disgusting clothing, and are soon to go across the street as Ovando is holding a block party for people all around here, with food trucks and some music. No doubt you know what kind of music we’re going to hear out here in Ovando, Montana. 

So we head out tomorrow for Lincoln, and eventually Helena, the state capital. But that’s for another day.