Jon & Carla's Great Divide Mountain Bike Adventure
2006
(or, Two Tails on the Trail)
 In
1998, we rode across the United States from Oregon to Virgina with our
children, Jodie, age 15 and Todd, age 12. Read about our trip
using the links below. Now the kids have grown up and left
home, so we we are taking the dogs. This time it's a mountain
bike trip through the Rocky Mountains, roughly following the
continental divide, called the Great Divide route, mapped by Adventure Cycling.
We are driving from our home in Gaylord, MI on July 29th for our
starting point in Rooseville, MT, on the Canadian border. From
there we will travel roughly 2470 miles to our destination of
Antelope Wells, NM, on the Mexican border. The route will be
about 85% dirt and gravel roads, 10% pavement and 5% singletrack
trails. We will carry all of our gear for camping in two "BOB"
trailers, plus panniers. We hope to average about 40 miles a day
and have three months to complete the trip. Lander and Afton,
our English
Cockers will run about 20 miles per day and ride in the trailers the
rest of the time. We will experience wilderness, scenery and
wildlife. There will be many hard times, but many exhilerating
m  oments as well. Why do we do this? Because God has given
us a wonderful country and this is the best way to be thankful for
it. We will be posting blogs as often as we can
get on the internet at a library. Check in frequently to see how
we are doing. Feel free to post a comment as well. We'd
love to share our trip with you. Jon and Carla Elenz, Lander
and Afton (aka, Two Tails)
PHOTOS
We will be posting photos periodically from the road. Check back
often. Be sure to scroll to the bottom for the latest ones.FAQ Everything you've always wanted
to know about bike touring. |
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ARTICLES ABOUT US
Summit Daily News article |
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Finally got a chance to put on some photos. Check them out from the link at the top. |
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| Posted by Carla Elenz at | | | |
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Aug 12 29.7 miles to abandoned homestead in a cow paddie field
Fact: it's easier to ride a bike up a hill than walk it. Fact: When it is literally impossible to ride, what next? We had a 4.4 mile climb that the map said was Very Steep. The first couple miles weren't too bad, in fact, quite scenic, with trees covering the road and a couple of streams we had to ride through. However, the last 2 miles --the bikes just wouldn't go. We pushed, slowly, the whole way. I couldn't even push it part of the way and Jon had to take his bike up a ways, then come back for mine. Over and over again. After all this, our first CONTINENTAL DIVIDE CROSSING, of about 26. But there wasn't even a sign, so we just took a picture in the general area near a sign for the Continental Divide National Scenic Hiking Trail, which follows the divide much more closely than we do.
We camped off the road near an abandoned homestead. It was a great site, except the field was full of cow paddies, some fresh. We hoped they wouldn't visit in the night. The homestead had a nice post above the gate that was perfect for hanging our bear bags.
Aug 13 31 miles to Helena (motel)
Took us 11 hours to do those 31 miles, with a few detours. We did our 2nd Continental Divide crossing this morning. It took awhile, but rather routine (just turn the cranks over and over again) compared to the one yesterday. We rode most of the day through free ranging cattle land. Cows were meandering over the roads and fields and didn't seem afraid of us. There are numerous cattle guards we have to cross. Afton was ok riding over them then a trailer. Then we crossed one while she was on foot. Lander just picked his way over it. She tried to jump it and landed smack dab in the middle on her belly like Bambi trying to jumb over the log. The next one we put her in the trailer for, but she was afraid now, and jumped out with the same Bambi effect. We've been working with her, walking her over slowly, and she's getting better now.
After about 14 miles, we crested a hill and saw smoke from a forest fire in the general direction from where we were going. While debating what to do, a rancher came by and offered to drive us past the fire. At this point, we still had a fairly sizable pass to go over. So we loaded the bikes and trailers in the back of his horse trailer with the horses (there was a divider between them) and the dogs and us sat in the back seat of his pickup. The dogs promptly fell asleep. Thank goodness, they said. Back to a real vehicle. We only went part of a mile when the DNR fire fighters stopped us. The fire was right on the road we needed to go. Much talking to them, worrying, debating what to do (the ranchers were in a worse bind, as they were waiting for medicine to come up through the pass for their livestock). An hour and a half later or so, we decided to go back a bit over an alternate pass (our 3rd continental divide crossing)which came into Helena the back way. I think the pass was probably easier, and it was followed by a long (15 mile) downhill. Easier than uphill, but considering it was on rock and gravel, we had to hold the brakes the whole way down. With my left thumb and index finger basically useless, my hand was severly cramped by 7 pm when we finally got to town. A motel and pizza were welcome. Oh, they said the fire probably started by a spark from a train. Fire is a real concern here, kinda like our blizzards and ice back home. |
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| Posted by Carla Elenz at | | | |
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Aug 9 24 miles to Seely Lake (Motel)
We had a four mile ride on a narrow, rocky ridge at the edge or rock
slides going downhill circling an alpine meadow appropriately named
Grizzly Basin. Riding on sharp rocks is hard for us Michigan
riders used to sand. I'm glad I have some experience mountain
biking in Arizona. Again, we were in an area closed to all but
foot or bike traffic and we got the idea that there wasn't much traffic
except a few Great Divide riders. Not that we are paranoid, but
we saw MANY piles of fresh bear scat. Our comment-keep Grizzly
Basin for the Grizzlies! At one point I was negotiating a narrow
turn on foot when my bike and trailer and I went tumbling down a rock
chute and stopped when my left knee (remember that when you read the
next day) embedded in the rock. Jon had to extract my bike and
trailer from on top of me. Later, trying to hurry down a long 3
mile downhill because of the bears and being tired and hungry, I
crashed twice more, both on my left knee. Plus, with all the
bouncing over rough terrain, I lost a water bottle from my trailer, my
washcloth that was tied to my top tube, and my mirror that got plucked
from my helmet by a tree. I was bummed about the mirror, as that
was the one that I bought with my first bike way back in 1980. Oh
well, time for change.
Don't think everything is bad. They say Montana is Big Sky
country. Well, I say it is big scenery country, big mountain
country and big animal country. You can't look anywhere without
seeing beautiful scenery. At the end of every road, at every turn
is a mountain, a valley, a vista. Wait till we get home and you
see my pictures. I'm afraid my little camera just isn't doing it
justice.
Aug 10 27.5 miles to Ovando, population 50 people and 100 animals (that's what the sign said).
Afton has a habit of wiggling in the trailer. When we are behind
(which is most of the time), she leans from side to side looking to see
how far Lander is ahead of her. When we get too far back (which
is often), she cries like a calf crying for his mama. I tell her
she sounds like an animal in distress and the bears or mountain lions
are going to come eat her. All this tends to throw my bike back
and forth. I've been dealing with this the whole trip. Nine
miles into today's ride, we were going down a gravel road, fairly
fast. I looked at my speedometer afterwards and my max for the
day so far was 18 MPH. I don't know if that's what I was doing
then, but for dramatic effect, we'll say I was going 18 MPH, and
whether Afton wiggled or I just lost it, but anyway, I went down hard,
and let me say, it was not a pretty site. Shock, nausea, the
whole nine yards. The whole right side of my body is scraped or
shredded, plus several fingers on my left side, including one I
basically removed the knuckle from. Jon was a great nursemaid, as
I laid on the gravel for about an hour. The abrasions we can take
care of. I am more concerned about my left thumb which is either
jammed, or sprained or dislocated. Hopefully not
worse. Somehow I also shredded the nipple on my camelback,
leaving my high and dry had not Jon brought along an extra one.
He's always prepared. Oh, during all this, Afton came out sitting
right next to the overturned trailer, still leashed to it, and not hurt
at all. And she still wiggles.
I managed to climb back on my bike. I can't grip the handlebars
with my left hand. I just lean my palm on them. I can only
brake with three fingers. Luckily that is my front break. I
can downshift with my fingers, but upshifting takes my thumb. I
have learned to do it awkwardly with the back of my hand. If my
thumbs not much better when we get to Helena in a couple days, maybe
I'll go to the hospital. For now, I'm all bandaged up (TJ and
Steffany, I used the Strawberry Shortcake bandages) and using the good
collagen wound care treatment that we have been using on the dogs pads.
All my mountain biking friends know I am known for some spectacular
crashes. This was one of the better one. Luckily, I have
some prescription strenght ibuprofin left over from my broken ribs from
doing an endo last year.
We camped that night on the lawn of the museum at Ovando, MT.
(Jodie and Todd, think Mitchell OR). There was a general store
across the street, a cafe that closed at 3 PM and a couple knick knack
stores. Can you imagine camping at the Museum in Gaylord?
Or even a city park? We stayed with other bikers for the first
time. Ira and Andrea were a young couple who started from Chicago
3 months ago and have a year to go all around the US. They have
no schedule and no planned route, only go from day to day. I'd
like to be that carefree. Really felt like we were back on the
Old Transam trail, visiting last night. A couple of brothers also
pulled in for awhile to visit, then continued on. They are doing
the first part of the Great Divide in a week and will be done in
Helena. They had heard about the couple that was traveling with
their dogs. During the 98 trip, we were known as the "family on
the TransAm". Now maybe we will be known as the "people with the
dogs on the Great Divide".
Aug 11 25 miles to Lincoln. Private campground
We cheated (no, not doping). We took Mt highway 200 all the way
from Ovando to Lincoln, instead of going up and over a mountain pass on
gravel. It was all paved and cut 8 miles off the day. It was
fairly flat and followed the Blackfoot river all the way. Had
some beautiful views we would not have seen up in the mountains.
We justified it by saying I was still recovering from injuries.
The point is to get to New Mexico and have a good time,
anyway. It also got us here early enough to take a shower
(yea!), do laundry and blog in an internet cafe.
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| Posted by Carla Elenz at | | | |
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Aug 5 24 miles to Waferers State Park at BIgfork
Another take it easy short day to let the dogs rest up. Most of the roads were on rural roads, not too many hills. Bigfork, MT was having their summer arts fair on the main street, which we walked right through. Created lots of attention. We have possibly the best camping site I've ever had-all by ourselves right on the shore of Flathead Lake, the biggest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. Unfortunatly, it was hazy due to smoke blowing in from forest fires in Washington.
Aug 6 39 miles to Cedar Creek Campground. Six mile climb with a 2000 ft elevation change. You engineers figure out the grade. On gravel, I average about 2-3 MPH. Figure out the time, and don't forget a stop every 1/2 mile or so to water the dogs and a lunch break in there somewhere. Needless to say, it was a long, hot climb. Then a breezy 45 minutes down the back side. It's always a shame to loose all the elevation you work so hard to gain. This was our longest day yet and didn't get to the campground till 7 PM. By the time we get all out chores done (cooking, filtering water and filling all the bottles, hanging our bear bag, cleaning up and taking care of the dogs) it's dark. We are in a state forest campground ( the others were National Forest). We haven't paid for one of these primitive sites yet. There's tables and outhouses, but no water, except the lake or stream. We have a very pretty site tonight, right on a creek. And no one else aroung. However the outhouses leave much to be desired-a pit with a wooden box on it. Jodie and Todd-remember Muddy Gap?
So far, all the roads have been the same. There's rough gravel and then there's small boulders to navigate around. And sometimes there's small boulders you can't navigate around that really give you a pounding. Everything is very dry here, which means dust. Our panniers, which are blue, red and orange, are now all a fine gray. And when a car passes, they can't help but create a dust storm to clog your lungs and turn your hair dirty gray. But dry and dusty is better than the alternative-wet and muddy. Believe me, I could live without rain on a bike trip.
The dogs are faring well. The old man (Lander, not Jon) seems stiff in the morning, but then again, so am I. So he gets this aspirin and I get my Advil and on we go. Their pads look good-dry and dusty, but we treat them everyday with stuff called "blue foot". They both have raw spots on their chest from their harnesses, but they are not open or bleeding. We have some good wound care cream we put on it. And they get their nightly brushing, which they love, and sometimes a doggy massage. They have taken ownership of the trailers. They actually jump in there and ask to ride when they are tired. Unfortunately, when it's uphill, they have to run, and we hate to explain that to them as we kick them out again. It is really getting hot and that is getting to them, not to mention the rest of us. We stop at every mountain creek we can to let them get wet. Sometimes we take our shirts off and wet them as well. It's painfully cold putting them back on, but sure feels good a few minutes later going down the road.
Aug 7 21,8 miles to a motel north of Conden.
The heat seems to have swelled to an abnormal high of over 90 today. The hills were only moderate, but we were too hot to pull the dogs up and they were too hot to run. At 3 PM, we still had 18 miles to go to our destination. So we bailed out and ran 2 miles off route to a motel. We picked up hamburger at a market and cooked on their grill. And had a real shower!
Aug 8 29.9 miles to Clearwater Lake "Fellows it's too rough to feed ya"
Since we cut yesterday short, we got to last night's original destination about noon today. It seemed way too early to stop, and yet the next campground was way too far. We we decided to head to Clearwater lake, where we could camp undesignated (meaning there' no campsite, we were just on the shore of the lake). It also knocked off one hill, only leaving one instead of two for tomorrow. We finally hit pay dirt-a couple miles of old two track that had been closed and grown in with weeds and trees, making it a singletrack trail only. Unfortunately, we are both unfamiliar with and parnoid of bears and this was a little too desolute for our comfort. At the same time, a thunderstorm hit. Not much rain but lots of fireworks. So here we are, all by ourselves, in shoulder-high weeds, with booming and cracking all around, ringing our bear bells and clutching our pepper spray, imagining a grizzly at every turn. We were glad to get back to "civilization", where we may not see a car, but we could.
Clearwater Lake was a beautiful mountain lake, 1/2 mile down a steep path (which we had to push our bikes up in the morning). The loons were singing all night long, in a number of different cries. I have never heard them so loud. In the morning, we saw four very close to our site.
We had just gotten there and cleaned up a bit, when dark clouds moved in. (remember I said I could do without rain on a bike trip). So we hurridly set up the tent when a huge gust of wind blew the bikes over and took away clothes, helmets, maps and anything not anchored down. The booming was starting again as we hurriedly threw stuff in the tent, tied our bikes to a tree and crawled in the tent. The wind was really whipping, first from one direction and then from another. Jon, the weather channel junkie, suspected that the entire low was passing over us very quickly, and that's why the wind did a complete 180 turn. After a couple hours, there seemed to be a lull, in the storm, but the rain was still coming. We emerged from the tent, but then the wind whipped up the other direction and we decided dinner was not going to happen that night. So after 8 long hours of riding, we quick had a piece of bread and PB-hardly enought to replenish our depleated stores. We knew we had to get the food hung in a tree, quite a feat with the wind and the rain and the skinny, spindly trees with dead branches. Our first attempt got it about 7 feet off the ground-any self respecting bear could have gotten it. We retreated for another hour into the tent. Then, during another break, we tried to fix our poor, sagging bag. Not much better and the wind was picking up again. We had to give up and just do a lot of praying that no bear lived in the area. We slept in our rainsuits that night, afraid that the whole tent would go. Finally, the storm died in the middle of the night, the bear bag survived intact, and we survived another (hungry) night in bear country.
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| Posted by Carla Elenz at | | | |
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Aug 4: 22.5 miles to Tom and Pat Arnone's home\
Last night, we enjoyed our first shower in three days at an RV park and
had pizza with Dick and Jan, who stayed in the area. This was the
last chance we or the dogs had to bail out. Now we are committed.
The dogs seemed very tired last night. In fact, Lander crawled
into the tent as soon as we set it up and only came out to eat or do
his business. In fact, he even stayed in it while we collapsed it
around him this morning. We think they are sore plus their pads
are just slightly worn. So we decided to make it an easy
day. It was 20 miles to the home of Tom and Pat Arnone, who offer
their yard for cyclist to camp in. It was fairly flat, much of it
city riding today, so we pulled the dogs in the trailers the whole
day.
Tom and Pat have a lovely home at the base of the mountains.
Since we pulled in early, we had a semi-rest day enjoying their yard
and just relaxing. Then she offered us fresh veggies from her
garden-beans, snow peas, cucumbers and carrots. A nice change
from dehydrated vegetables we've been eating all week.
Tom and Pat are big into racing. Their son used to race in Europe
and now works in a bike related industry. They also do quite a
bit of serious racing themselves. So we have alot to talk about.
It is so wonderful to stay at homes and get to meet the people of the
area. We still remember the people we met from our last trip in
98.
PS: Jon just calculated the total weight we are carrying.
He has 65 pounds of gear and 24 pounds of water he carries. I
have 35 pounds of gear and 12 pounds of water. Plus each of us
has a 30 pound dog half of the time.
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| Posted by Carla Elenz at | | | |
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July 31: "Tommorrow's the Day" actually became today. We got to Eureka,
10 miles from the Canadian border, and checked into a motel early
enough on Monday that we decided to knock off the first 10 miles that
very day. So we suited up and Dick and Jan drove us to the border
and we did our obligatory photos and we took off for a short
ride. Kinda anticlimatic to what were anticipating.
However, in those 10 Miles I managed to commit a federal offense, we
met a friendly local and were chased by a deranged chihuahua.
Just as we were pulling away from the border, an agent came running out
of the border patrol building waving his arms wildly. Since we
did not actually ride into Canada and over the border, I took a picture
of the whole border area to show where we were starting.
Evidently, since 9/11, it's a federal offense to take a photo of a
federal building. Oops. So he made me delete it. Then
he let us come into the building where he stamped our journals to prove
we were really there, and wished us good luck.
Down the road 3.8 miles, we were stopped for adjustments and a local
guy in a pickup stopped and asked about our trip and gave us his
business card in case we needed help down the road.
The chihuahua, well, he didn't have a chance.
Aug 1: 33.12 miles to Tuchuck Campground. The first real
day. It was 44 degrees when we left Eureka this morning. 20 miles
of pavement and the rest was gravel, no, small boulders to navigate
around. Fourteen miles was uphill to Whitefish divide. We
were both nervous about the bears, especially grizzlies. We saw a
nice fresh pile of scat (droppings, for you non-wildlife folk) in the
middle of the road. We had our bear spray in easy reach and our
bells jingling constantly. Every stump, rock and bush along the
side of the road looked like a bear. The roadsides were
thick with ripe huckleberries, the bruin's favorite food. The
scenery was postcard perfect, with steep walled canyons thick with
tall, straight, thin lodgepole pine (I think that's what they were-if
not, maybe you forestry folks can correct me). The dogs ran a
good portion of the day tied to the trailers. The national forest
campground was not too crowded, so we were by off by ourselves. I
took a sponge bath in a mountain creek. Brrrr. Again, we
were nervous about the bears. We were meticulous about keeping
out campsite clean, and we pitched our tent way off in the woods away
from the table and cooking area. When it came time to hang our
bear bag (all our food and smelly things to up in a tree), we had a
delimma, as all we had were these lodgepole pine, with few and thin
branches. Our campsite was at the edge of the loop, with a horse
loop next to us and no one in it. So at dark, we put our food in
the outhouse over there (it was very clean). Our food was all
packed in special smell proof bags, supposed to be 2000 times more odor
proof than zip lock bags, to keep the critters out. Well, tell
that to the mouse who managed to chew through our special bags to get
to the dog food!
Aug 2: 20 miles to Red Meadow Lake Campground. We survived
our first night in bear country (except for the mouse in the
outhouse). We heard something off in the woods near our tent and
the dogs uttered a low growl, but nothing else. It was probably a
deer. We've seen lots of them. During breakfast, we heard a
low hum that gradually got louder. It was a humming bird.
About the last thing I'd expect to see in a lodgepole pine forest about
5000 feet. Maybe he was attracted to Jon's red fleece. It
was very cold again. I'm wearing all my clothes in the
morning. Maybe I need to have more sent to me. It was
downhill and flat the first half of the day, so the dogs had to
ride. Lander cried all the way. He didn't understand that
the last 10 miles was uphill and they would have to run.
Afton doesn't seem to mind riding. Stopped at a historic
homestead and read about the trials of the family who homesteaded there
in the early 1900's. It wasn't open, so we sat on the porch and
had lunch. We met a hiker going from Glacier to the Pacific Ocean
and three gentlemen going north on the Great Divide trail. They
had been working on it for four years, a few weeks a year, and were
about done. The campground was right on the shore of a mountain
lake, with steep hills all around and avalanche chutes which the
grizzlies like to travel through. By the time we got to camp and
got all of our chores done, it was time for bed. It cools off
quickly at night. The dogs are supposed to sleep at our feet in
the tent, but have decided that it's much nice to snuggle between us on
the down bags.
Aug 3: 31 miles to Whitefish. Today was mostly downhill, so
we made good time. Time to stop at the pulic library and post
this. Will get a site at a private campground so we can have
showers (yea!) and maybe hit a restaurant. Three days and have
seen no grizzlies. We are convinced that the locals are not near
as concerned as us about it, as we have seen numerous people picking
huckleberries, biking and hiking with no bells. They even let
their dogs run loose. We are getting darn sick of the constant
jingling of the bells. Mine is around my neck and I hit it with
both knees on every pedal stroke. I'm about ready to through it
at the bears!
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| Posted by Carla Elenz at | | | |
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We are in Whitefish, MT, about 60 miles from our starting point in
Rooseville, MT. We will drive to Eureka, about 7 miles from the
border to stay tonight. The butterflies in our stomachs have been
growing as we get closer and closer. There is little time
to turn around now. We stopped at an outfitter and bought our bear
spray and got instructions on how to use it, which we hope we won't
have to. By tomorrow at this time, we will be committed.
The dogs are antsy after three days of sitting in the van. A
drive like this makes us realize what a large and diverse country we
have. Dick and Jan have been great in getting us out here
safely. We thank them.
After driving through 100 degree heat in the plains, the weather here
at the higher elevations (where we'll be) is pleasantly cool. We
may even be cold in the evening. We will get back to you as quick
as we can.
Carla
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| Posted by Carla Elenz at | | | |
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Although the planning for this trip has been almost a year, it seems
that everything has to get done in the last few days. It seemed like
departure day would never come and now we’re only a few days off. Let
me fill you in on some of our planning.
Since early spring (late April here in Michigan), we’ve been in
training, including the dogs. We began with riding our normal
singletrack trails, about six miles a couple times a week. Soon, we
started pulling our BOB (“Beast of Burden”) trailers, gradually adding
more and more weight. We found that 25 pound bags of dog food offered
good “dead weight”. Later, we added panniers (saddlebags) with bladders
of water for a weight of up to 50 pounds. Hopefully we won’t we
carrying that much weight on a normal basis, but there are some “dry”
days where we will have to carry up to 8 gallons of water.
In June we started increasing our mileage. We don’t think the Great
Divide Trail is going to have a lot of technical singletrack like our
home trails, so we started riding the abandoned railroad grade north of
town, 20 to 40 miles per day. It has some slope, but nothing in
Northern Michigan can really simulate the long passes we are going to
encounter in the Rocky Mountains. We can only wait for our final
conditioning when we are out there.
Let me fill you in on some of the
pros and cons of taking the dogs. Lander and Afton are our mountain
biking family. They love nothing more than running with us, and all we
have to do is get out the spandex shorts or camelback and they are
beside themselves with joy. We have thoroughly discussed this with our
Veterinarian and read up on first aid. They’ve trained every bit we
have, running about 20 miles per day and riding in the trailer the rest
of the time. They are not always happy about being in the trailer
because they’d rather be running, but they are learning to deal with
it. We did a 3 day practice trip and they quickly adapted to the
“run/eat/sleep/do it over again” routine. We have been conditioning
their pads and bought them reflective collars, harnesses and bear
bells.
Now the biggest con is the possibility of bear encounters. We have read
exhaustively about how to deal with the critters on the trail and in
camp. We have heard the advice that “bears and dogs don’t mix”. But we
have also talked to a couple of experts from that area that indicated
that it should not be a problem if the dogs are on a leash, and in
fact, their smell or barking may deter a bear. So, with three days
until we leave, our inclination right now is to take them. They will
have to be tied to our trailer when they run, not as fun as running
free, but necessary for their safety. Our friends who are taking us
have also agreed to stay in the area for 3 or 4 days, so that if it is
just not working out, they can pick up the dogs from us in Whitefish,
MT.
And so we are in our final days of packing, paying bills, closing up
the house and finishing up at work. We will also be posting a FAQ.
Check it out for answers to many of your questions or send us a
question via our comments. Once we leave for our trip (July 29th), we
will only have internet sporadically as we stop at libraries, so be
patient waiting for an answer.
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| Posted by Carla Elenz at | | | |
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