The Angler's Song

Sunday, July 26, 2026 – Day 20 Dad’s Creek Cabin, Dillon, MT to Stockyard Inn, Dell, MT 40.5 miles/65.2 kilometers 1745 feet/532 meters elevation gain Indoor lodging. Flush toilets, showers, electricity, potable water, full indoor kitchen. Laundry available. Elevation – 6004 feet Today was my favorite route so far! Other than an initial wakeup climb, we had all rolling gravel with stunning scenery. Quite a bit between miles 25 and 35 was alongside a river. Stunning, stunning,

Saturday, July 25, 2026 Beaver Head River RV Campground, Dillon, MT to Dad’s Creek Cabin, Dillon, MT 56.5 miles/90.9 kilometers 3902 feet/1189 meters elevation gain Camping around rented cabin for amenities. Flush toilet, showers, electricity, no potable water. Laundry available in cabin. Elevation – 7000 feet This morning, Clint and I had breakfast/lunch duty. I woke at 5:00 am and was dressed and making coffee by 5:30 am. I heated up leftover pancakes, kielbasa and pierogi.

Friday, July 24, 2026 Beaver Head River RV Campground, Dillon, MT 0 miles/0 kilometers 0 feet/0 meters elevation gain Full-service campground. Flush toilets, showers, electricity, WiFi, potable water, picnic tables, swimming pool, mini golf, river. Laundry available at campground. Elevation – 5200 feet Today is a rest day, no riding. Everyone is catching up on laundry and shopping in Dillon for shampoos and what-have-you. I’ll be going food shopping at 2:00 pm because I have

Thursday, July 23, 2026 Little Joe Campground, Wise River district, MT to Beaver Head River RV Campground, Dillon, MT 51.8 miles/83.3 kilometers 2766 feet/843 meters elevation gain Full-service campground. Flush toilets, showers, electricity, WiFi, potable water, picnic tables, swimming pool, mini golf, river. Laundry available at campground. Elevation – 5200 feet The day began with crisp temps in the 40s as we packed up our completely wet tents. No one was too grumpy, though

Wednesday, July 22, 2026 Beaverdam USFS Campground, Butte, MT to Little Joe Campground, Wise River district, MT 35.9 miles/57.8 kilometers 2966 feet/904 meters elevation gain Primitive camping. Vault toilet, no showers but water pump (very cloudy), no electricity, no potable water. Elevation – 2820 feet Fleecer Ridge. Woah, baby! This route began with an eight mile climb, the last ½ kilometer bike-hikeable only. Once at the top of the climb, the route leveled out only tempora

Tuesday, July 21, 2026 Butte KOA Campground, Butte, MT to Beaverdam USFS Campground, Butte, MT 37.6 miles/60.5 kilometers 3523 feet/1074 meters elevation gain Semi-primitive camping. Pit toilets, no showers but water pump, no electricity, no potable water, picnic tables, trash cans. Elevation – 6605 feet Another shorter ride today. Not exactly sure why but regardless, it was quite scenic. Last night we stayed at a KOA campground that for some reason, had bright lights shining

Monday, July 20, 2026 Merry Widow Mine, Basin, MT to Butte KOA Campground, Butte, MT 35.6 miles/57.4 kilometers 2329 feet/710 meters elevation gain Full-service campground. Flush toilets, showers, electricity, potable water. Laundry available at campground. Elevation – 5482 feet This morning was a bit cooler than all of our mornings so far but it was pretty great for riding. I suspect it was in the low 50s? I slept quite well last night camped next to a river. There were chil

Sunday, July 19, 2026 Fairmont Marriott Inn and Suites, Helena, MT to Merry Widow Mine Basin, MT 46.1 miles/74.2 kilometers 3957 feet/1206 meters elevation gain Semi-primitive campground. Two outhouses, no showers but stream nearby, electricity, potable water, picnic tables, community hall. Elevation – 5287 feet Today’s ride was a slog. We had a choice between another death-defying technical single-track route and a safer option along a river. The group chose the river. Headw

Saturday, July 18, 2026 – Day 12 Barbara and John Nye’s Llama Ranch to Fairmont Marriott Inn and Suites, Helena, MT 38.8 miles/62.4 kilometers 3129 feet/954 meters elevation gain Indoor lodging. Flush toilets, showers, electricity, WiFi, potable water, pool, hot tub. Laundry on site. Elevation – 4046 feet Not going to lie. I’m exhausted. It’s late. The ride today again was way more technical than I expected and once done, we had to dry out all of our rained on gear. Tonight w

Friday, July 17, 2026 Lost Moose Meadows RV Campground, Lincoln, MT to Barbara and John Nye’s Llama Ranch 28.9 miles/46.5 kilometers 2634 feet/803 meters elevation gain Camping at privately owned Llama Ranch. Pit toilet, sun showers, no electricity, potable water at house. Elevation – 4715 feet Today’s ride was short. Wait. No, it wasn’t. It was actually the longest 29 miles I’ve ever ridden in my life. The scenery was stunning and the ascent up the mountain was manageable. T

Thursday, July 16, 2026 Seven Timbers Campground, Seeley Lake, MT to Lost Moose Meadows RV Campground, Lincoln, MT 67.7 miles/108.9 kilometers 4609 feet/1405 meters elevation gain Full-service campground. Flush toilet, showers, electricity, potable water. Elevation – 4500 feet Phew! Long ride today! We were told it was going to be pretty sunny and hot so we all agreed it would be best to roll at 7 am instead of our normal 8 am. Good call! The first 25 miles were incredibly be

Wednesday, July 15, 2026 Seven Timbers Campground, Seeley Lake, MT 0 miles/0 kilometers 0 feet/0 meters elevation gain Camping around rented cabin for amenities. Flush toilet, showers, electricity, potable water. Laundry available in Seeley Lake at the Filling Station. Elevation – 4019 feet Today was a rest day. Felt very good to catch up on my blogs and not ride. I did wash the Cutthroat, though, and lubed the drive train. Very much needed! Also cleaned my muddy shoes and ti

Wednesday, July 15, 2026 – Day 9 Seven Timbers Campground, Seeley Lake, MT 0 miles/0 kilometers 0 feet/0 meters elevation gain Camping around rented cabin for amenities. Flush toilet, showers, electricity, potable water. Laundry available in Seeley Lake at the Filling Station. Elevation – 4019 feet Today was a rest day. Felt very good to catch up on my blogs and not ride. I did wash the Cutthroat, though, and lubed the drive train. Very much needed! Also cleaned my muddy shoe

Tuesday, July 14, 2026 – Day 8 Lindbergh Lake State Park, MT to Seven Timbers Campground, Seeley Lake, MT 43.2 miles/66.7 kilometers 3291 feet/1003 meters elevation gain Camping around rented cabin for amenities. Flush toilet, showers, electricity, potable water. Laundry available in Seeley Lake at the Filling Station. Elevation – 4019 feet Yep, another day of no blogging! We have a rest day and electricity today (July 15) so I’m catching up. The route for Day 8 was phenomena

Monday, July 13, 2026 – Day 7 Cedar Creek State Park, MT to Lindbergh Lake State Park, MT 39.3 miles/64.5 kilometers 3379 feet/1030 meters elevation gain Primitive campground. Pit toilet, no showers but on Swan river, no electricity, no potable water. Elevation – 4475 feet Oh, boy – it happened again . . . couldn’t blog on this day. The night before was ROUGH! When I went to bed, my stomach was in pain. This was strange because dinner consisted of just grilled cheese sandwich

Sunday, July 12, 2026 – Day 6 Wayfarer State Park, Big Fork, MT to Cedar Creek State Park, MT 36.4 miles/58.6 kilometers 3225 feet/983 meters elevation gain Primitive campground. Vault toilet, no showers but two streams nearby, no electricity, no potable water, and picnic table. Elevation – 4475 feet Today’s ride was quite enjoyable! Before we left, we saw off our “adopted” solo rider – John from Fort Collins, CO. He rode into our breakfast spot with his American flag knee so

Saturday, July 11, 2026 Whitefish Lake State Park, MT to Wayfarer State Park, Big Fork, MT 47 miles/75.7 kilometers 1552 feet/473 meters elevation gain Full-service campground. Flush toilets, showers, electricity at RV site, potable water, covered picnic table, fire ring, lake. Elevation – 2923 feet Today’s ride was pretty easy, very enjoyable. I passed a small lake that was the most beautiful aqua color ever! Although there was a fair amount of blacktop, the gravel roads we

Friday, July 10, 2026 Tuchuck USFS Campground, MT to Whitefish Lake State Park, Whitefish, MT – shorter, no Polebridge 62.1 miles/100 kilometers 3081 feet/939 meters elevation gain Full-service campground. Flush toilets, showers, electricity at RV site, potable water, lake. Admittedly, I am writing this blog two days after the fact. In addition to the ride being a little bit longer, I had dinner duty. Paired up with Stephanie from the UK, we rose early in the morning with hop

Thursday, July 9, 2026 US/Canada border in Roosville, MT to Tuchuck USFS Campground, MT (Flathead National Forest) 42.1 miles/67.7 kilometers 3546 feet/1081 meters elevation gain Semi-primitive campground. Vault toilet, no shower but river/creek nearby, no electricity, no potable water, picnic table. Due to construction, we didn’t make it to the start point until 10:00 and didn’t start riding until after 10:30. In addition to having to take the bikes off the top of the van, w

Wednesday, July 8, 2026 Whitefish Lake State Park to Beaver Lake via the Lion Mountain trail 20.3 miles/26.5 kilometers (my ride was 27 miles) 1772 feet/540 meters elevation gain Full-service campground. Flush toilets, showers, electricity, potable water. Today’s ride was short but not easy. It was all single-track and quite technical in more places than I expected. We had five people take tumbles and I personally got off the correct track for seven miles. Was admittedly unne