Ah! Wilderness!!!

Saturday August 6th
Lake Koocanusa
33 long miles:)

Last night I camped 10 miles beyond (east of) Libby MT at Osprey Landing...a boat launch. I know! I know! That's on my list of poor camping spots. But it was so idyllic and some locals promised the boaters wouldn't be there before 6 am. It's a point built out into the Kootenai River. And I had stopped there for a swim...which turned into a dip because the water was soooo cold. Doesn't look like swimming is a big sport in Montana. Water's too cold!

And then I met Alex, a guy from NYC who was bumming around the west scouting out rainbow trout. A fly fisherman that translates old English fishing books into modern English. It's a slow process. If I remember right, it took him a year to do 14 pages! Fascinating guy originally from Korea. He's tracing the lineage of rainbow trout that are now in Korea trying to determine where in the US the original eggs came from. He certainly kept me intrigued:)

Today was a long lonely road down the west side of this very long lake. Reminds me a bit I'd Chelan Lake where I went backpacking. There were so few cars on it that I'd forget to look out for them and then one would surprise me.

I found this dog trotting along the road. (There are no residents along it that I could see.). I thought maybe he was lost. After offering him some of my precious water, which he refused, I read his tags to see if he was local. One tag listed his owner in Jackson Creek "at the end if the small road". And the other tag said "leave him alone!". Ok. Guess he's not lost. It was a couple of miles before o got to the Jackson Road turnoff. He's a ways from home.

The road is a forest service road if sorts, but it's paved. It runs along the water but way high up. That's why I said "precious water" 'cause I didn't know when or if I was going to be able to get more some time today. Finally I came to a boat launch and scooped up some lake water. I have no purification system with me. I had a new (replacement after Nepal) Steripen but I could not get it to operate even once. Arrgghh! So I shipped it with other stuff back to my car. It's pretty remote out here. I'm not worried about the water.

So on I pedaled today I'm the 90* heat. Oh look at that water! I want a cold drink. And I want to swim! Torture to see it and not be able to get to it!

"Fishing Access". I'll take it. To the water! Yippee!! Be careful what you wish for. Down, down, down this dirt and loose stone road. For nearly a mile. Oh how will I ever get Blaze up it in the morning? Who cares! I want water. To drink. And to swim. Down. Down. Oh look at this delight spot to swim and camp. Best spot I think I've had this whole trip. What? What is that I see? Blaze has another flat on the back? How long has that been there? At least I have all evening to fix it.

Delightful evening: swim (water not too cold...yippeee), bath, hair washed, and cold drinks.

Now to hang a bear bag and go read. Yup. Delightful evening. Don't think about that hill until morning. Ok!

Pedal on,

Swimming BagLady


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Serendipity in Eureka

Sunday August 7th
Eureka Montana
42ish

The hill. Remember the hill. I was able to bike it. It took me 17 minutes to get to the top. What a way to start the day. Blaze was amazing!

I really didn't want that empty road to come to an end. Best road I've bikes this whole trip. Nearly a bike path there were so few cars. And the views were amazing! Barb and Bob, thanks for making it possible and suggesting it!!

Hot day! Thank goodness for the umbrella. Could not deal with the sun without it.

Tonight a serendipitous series of events happened. After my usual root beer float break and a 6" sub from Subway and a grocery stop, I finally managed to leave Eureka...about 6 pm. And I wanted to get about 8 miles in before stopping. So about 7:30 I started looking. This is later than my usual quitting time. And since the road is quite busy, I was having to explore side roads. Very residential out here. One spot I started to set up just had too much traffic. And no flat spot. So I packed Blaze up again and continued on. Have faith. Something will turn up. Looking. Thinking. Wondering. Side roads seemed to be mostly driveways. Down another road. Wasting time. Getting later. There's a spot. Not too flat. Too close to highway. Start to move on. Meet Paster Curtis and wife Stephanie out for a walk. "is this your property I ask" explaining that I'm looking for a place to camp. No but you can camp in the church yard...and use the shower...and do a load of wash if you wish. Yippee! The jackpot! Talk about things having to align so that I'm sitting at the end of their road just as they are coming home from an evening stroll! Ya can't make his stuff up!!!

Pedal on,

Serendipitous BagLady


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