Day 36-Winds…Head and Tail

L to R: Bill, Rachel, Jordan, Mike, Doug, and me

Rachel and Mike provided breakfast for us (Mike made eggs for Doug, I had yogurt, granola, and a banana). Really an amazing couple!

Bill was the first to depart, heading up what we had come down. Doug and I left about 7:45, and Jordan left a little after 8:00. Heading out of Ennis, we crossed the Madison River. It was the only time we crossed it, but we rode along it for most of the day. 

Good morning Madison River!

Once we were out of town, things opened up (as they do here in Big Sky country).


Over in them thar hills is where we came down yesterday. 

Big mountain scenery all day. 

We stopped in Cameron for a brief break. I wrote and mailed postcards to the kids. It seemed like as soon as we got back on the road, someone turned on the wind switch. It was really blowing! I was going anywhere from 4.9 mph to a maximum of 6.5. I finally turned my music on. Doug was ahead of me for awhile. I caught up to him, and we had a snack on the side of the road. Once we started going again, I managed to stay right behind him. Ah…that was better!

Stay on that wheel!

At about noon, we stopped at a fishing access called Windy Point. We both needed the potty shack, and decided we would eat our lunch at one of the picnic tables. We filtered some water from the river. As we were eating lunch, I noticed the wind was changing direction. Oh yeah! This was going to be much better! Indeed, once we were back on the road, it was much faster going. 

The Madison is a major fly fishing river. We saw numerous boats as well as people standing in the river. 

See the boat?

Fishermen of a different species…

A river runs through…their legs. 

We stopped for a break at a fly fishing store and resort type place (cabins). My dad would have loved that store! Everything fishing a person could want. I just wanted a Powerade. 

Three miles later, we came to the Visitor Center for Earthquake Lake. 

Quite a tragedy. 28 people died in the August 17th, 1959 earthquake. The quake caused a huge landslide which dammed up the river, and caused a lake to form, flooding campsites that people were camping on. 

Still see the effects of the landslide. 

Earthquake Lake from the Visitor Center. Interestingly, we are camped at one of the campgrounds that was affected by the quake…Beaver Creek. 

Memorial Boulder for those who lost their lives. 

Where the river flows out of the lake. 

Notice the trees still standing, now in the lake. The whole thing reminded me of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. 

About two more miles after the Visitor Center we arrived at the turn for Beaver Creek Campground. Much of the day from lunch on we were trying to outrun the impending thunderstorm. We got a few sprinkles, and could hear thunder, but that was it. Then we made the turn to the campground. It was 1/2 mile to the campground from the road. It started to rain a bit more than sprinkles. That was the longest half mile ever! We turned right into A Loop. As we were riding around the loop looking for a site that wasn’t reserved, we saw Jordan on an open site, but it was a crappy site. I rode a little further and found another open site. It was good enough for all three of our tents. I went back and told Jordan, and he joined us. Once again, Doug’s Golden Pass came in handy, and we split the $10 fee 3 ways. The bad thing was the site didn’t have a bear locker, but I noticed the people in the RV on the site across from us wasn’t using their bear locker. I asked the woman if we could use it, and she said no problem. The good news is that we are right next to the potty shack. The bad news is that when the wind shifts slightly, we get essence of potty shack wafting over our campsite. 

We all cooked our dinners, being very careful to not get food anywhere but in our mouths. The guys even drained their pasta into the vault toilet. I washed out my dishes, and dumped the water down the toilet. 

Now it is 8:00. The ever present evening thunderstorm has arrived, and it is raining pretty hard. No worries though, I am in my tent nice and dry. 

Tomorrow is an exciting day!!!