Frizbo Fifty: Idaho / Montana, Red Rock Lake Wildlife Refuge

Yellowstone Road Trip -- Day 5: At last I was free to do some serious riding and today would be the featured ride of the whole road trip. The RV park agreed to let me park for the day, so I jumped on my bike and headed up the Red Rock Pass.

Burning sunlight, let's get going!

Range land north of Henry's Lake

This horse appeared lost wandering along the road.

After all the warning signs, I see bear at last. On Red Rock Road just below the pass, I rounded the bend and there it was rambling down the gravel road. Admittedly, it was a smallish black bear, but still a thrill. It paused long enough to check me out and for me to get a photo before it disappeared off to the side. I paused long enough for the bear to put some distance between us and then rode on to the continental divide.

A bear!

Free range cattle

Bear warning signs are as common here as no parking signs in Chicago.

Riding over the continental divide always suggests a herculean effort, but this was only a 1000 ft. elevation change.

A friend of ours, Ruth Gray, shared her bicycle blog (www.ruthgraytravels.blogspot.com) and, what do you know, we were in the same place a year apart.

Montana!

OK, now I'm getting a little nervous.

This refuge is considered one of the wildest places in North America.

Very cool remote campus!

So after touring the small visitor center, I turn around. But before I head back to Idaho, I decide to check out some potential single track.

The map in the visitor's center shows the Odell Creek Trail runs several miles into the woods which might be the perfect spot for lunch. I turn off the gravel road and immediately I'm riding a sliver of trail through dense underbrush. "It's too hairy!" After a few feet I turn around and return to the road.

As soon I get the road, I turn around again. "Come on, man! You've driven four days to get here." And with that I turn around again and ride determinedly through the underbrush.

Wham! Whoa! Endo!

After a 100 feet, I hit a hidden log and I endo over my handle bars landing on my back spread-eagled in the undergrowth with my bike perfectly balanced on its seat and handlebars. Undamaged, I pick myself up and keep riding. Soon the underbrush gives way to a nice piece of single track. Riding on, I climb into the Centennial Mountains looking for a nice lunch spot.

The perfect spot for lunch!

Alone in the woods, I try to contemplate the meaning of life -- but mostly I'm thinking about bears. Not smallish black bears that run at the first sight of me. I'm thinking about Grizzly Bears. Grizzly Bears that think what a mountain biker might need is a good gnawing. Quietly I chew my turkey wrap keeping a careful watch and after a few handfuls of trail mix, I ride back down the trail. Unlike the slow climb, now I am quickly descending, jumping rocks and flying through the turns with the speed sure to surprise all but the quickest of animals. If I ride up on a Grizzly this way, it's sure get annoyed. Unsure if it will warn or infuriate, I whistle loudly every few seconds until I reach the relative safety the of the road.

Upper Red Rock Lake

At one of the primitive campgrounds, I stop to get water where I find the following warning, "Caution Grizzly Bear in vicinity of Odell Creek Trail." In my mind, I picture a large Grizzly Bear munching on some berries in the undergrowth while watching a brightly-clothed whistling biker riding by. "That jackass might need a good gnawing," thinks the bear, but before it can decide the biker has disappeared down the trail. "OK, but next time, definitely gnawed."

Now you tell me!

Centennial Valley,MT

Heirloom cattle with an attitude

Over the pass, I fly down the road using all of my bike's shocks and knobs. Back to the RV park, I load the bike into the Family Truckster and start the long drive back to Chicago. Was it worth four days of driving for this day? Hell Yea!