Epic Great Divide - Day 20

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, stunning!

The morning began rather chilly and windy. I definitely had to wear my Mountain Hardware puffy jacket to eat breakfast! Once climbing, however, the wind was welcome to regulate escalating body heat. Bwahahaha!

In addition to wide open meadows again, our route included rocky craigs and gorgeous hillsides with rockslides and sand dunes. More cows, too! The cows here are not the dairy variety. These cows are organic, free range burly beasts for eating! They’re so lovely, though – hate to think of them as steaks on a plate someday.

While next to the river, I saw two fishermen. Two! That’s it! Crazy! One that I talked to said he was catching Rainbow and Cutthroat trout. Someone else in our group spoke to another who said he was fishing for browns. It blows me away that I did not see at least 20 or more fishermen. It did look like it was going to start raining all along the route but it never did. The fact that it was overcast made temps perfect for riding.

Today’s route ended at a hotel called the Stockyard Inn. My cycling group rented the entire thing! It’s so cool! Our bikes are parked all over the place inside and my roommate, Stephanie, started opening dresser drawers in our room to search for a hairdryer and she found a fishing pole! Ha!

Even though many of us did a load of laundry yesterday, we’ve all pitched our things in together today to do another load because we’re learning that wherever there is the ability to do laundry, you do it! The next three campsites will be remote without electricity and water. Besides a wet wipe type of shower, there will be no cleanliness happening!

Tonight’s dinner was prepared by Jada and Suzanne. They made tacos, salad and Berry Gravy on homemade Indian fry bread for dessert. Yum!

Tomorrow is a 60-mile ride but only 2,200 feet of elevation gain. Hopefully we will once again have great weather and beautiful views. Going to try and go to sleep early since we have REAL BEDS! Wow! Am SO excited! Goodnight again from Montana!