Friday, July 20, 2012


Day 61, July 20th, Circle, MT to Wolf Point, MT.  I was up early but unsure what to do today.  I only had 50+ miles and didn’t want to rush.  I also was feeling the 80 mile day yesterday.  I decided to get on the road but take it slow.  I found some coffee, ate a little and headed toward Wolf Point.  It was a good thing I started early.  The route to Wolf Point was quite hilly and a lot of them.  It was a rolling ride and the wind was not in my favor.  It was gusting fairly hard at about 2 o’clock from the Northeast.  It was a slow go and my legs really didn’t want hills.  I did take it slow and stopped often.  There is no much between Circle and Wolf Point except wheat fields.  This is what I expected in North Dakota without the hills!  The wheat is being harvested and there were too many trucks on Route 13 but the real danger is the tourists pulling travel trailers.  The tourists don’t know how to handle the trailer and won’t slow down!  There wasn’t much shoulder so I had to watch closely.  I had no incidents but I hope U.S. Route 2 going west has a better shoulder.  My first long stop was in Vida, but there were no rest facilities.  I continued on and had about 3 more ridges to climb and then (halleluiah) it was all downhill to the Missouri River.  The old Wolf Point Bridge is a historic landmark and built in 1930.  Wolf Point is inside the Fort Peck Indian Reservation so the town is full of casinos but otherwise has a hard edge to it.  I was scheduled to camp in the City Park but found a hotel (sound familiar?).  Right next to the motel was the Wolf Point Historical Society Museum.  Inside an old International Harvester Showroom is a wonderful collection from town residents dating back to the 1880s when the town was founded.  I was the only visitor and got a one-on-one guided tour from the Rigsbys, volunteers.  Tomorrow it is on westward to Glasgow, MT and a possible visit to the Fort Peck Dam.  Mileage for the day was 57.61.  Oh, did I mention, the route is back following the Burlington Northern Railroad!   



3 comments:

  1. Found the same thing about the town in the Indian reservation we drove through when we left Glacier-lots of casinos but a rough edge to the town.

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  2. O beautiful for spacious skies, and amber waves of grain.....just like the song! Hope your day goes swimmingly!

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  3. I just left the Denver area from visiting my gf, who is currently training for two weeks there. We went to the top of Mount Evans (highest paved road in North America, 14642ft-ish). Anyways, they have a Bob Cook Memorial bike ride, whi h we happen to stumble upon and it is 18 some grueling miles up to Echo Lake which is near the entrance to Mount Evans Park. Tons of riders were having a great time and I shared your story and they felt like wussies even though this climb can put some tour de France climbs to shame. Fantastic views though and a very fast decent back down. Keep grinding it out Iron Man!

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