Epic Great Divide - Day 4

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 hopes of leaving before the others so that we could potentially finish before them. Our plan did not play out well. Once up and ready to roll, we were told that we had to wait until breakfast finished so that we could take stock of what items needed to be replaced. So, we waited. We made a list and also included the groceries needed for the meal we decided to prepare for everyone: spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, french baguette with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and fruit pies for dessert. While we rode, our leader Richard went and shopped for everything we needed. I didn’t think he bought enough sauce but he actually did. For sure, he nailed the fruit pies!

On this day, we had a riding incident in the group. On the descent after a pretty lengthy climb, the terrain was quite rocky and washed out in many places. One of our college riders, Bailey, wiped out going more than 20 miles an hour. She hit her face, got an instant black eye and road rash all over. Because she also hit her head, she had to go to an emergency room to get checked for a concussion. After a very long wait, it was determined that she didn’t have one. She was not in any shape to keep riding, however, so a friend of hers picked her up from the hospital and made arrangements to drive her all the way back to her home in Lander, Wyoming. I do not know if she will meet up again with the group or not.

Due to all of that drama, half of the group was very delayed eating dinner. Stephanie and I were thus very delayed in getting everything put away for the night. Our campsite was right next to multiple train tracks so ultimately, neither of us got much sleep. We also had to get up early and get all the breakfast and lunch food out by 6:00 am in the morning. Oy. That was not great. Oh well, we get to try dinner and breakfast again in seven days!

Well, as I kind of thought would happen, if you don’t write down things the very day they happen, it’s almost impossible to remember. Soooo . . . I think I’m out. Time to go to bed.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to stay on top of blogging better going forward. I think I’ve got a little routine going on now. I actually now sleep in the kit that I’m going to cycle in the next day, I get out of my tent, grab my toiletry bag out of a bear box, go to a bathroom and brush my teeth, etc, go back and pack up my tent, go to breakfast, make a lunch, and then ride.

In case anyone is interested, a one-man tent is ultralight and packs small but is nearly impossible to do anything in except sleep! An ultralight summer grade sleeping bag also packs small but is definitely not warm enough for sleeping in Montana in July! Brrr! Luckily, I brought my Mountain Hardware puffy pants and jacket which acts like a second sleeping bag. Once we get into higher elevation in Colorado, I suspect I will don the puffy pants and jacket and long tights and thermal long sleeve shirt and rain jacket and a towel and my extra ground cover as well!

Oh, yea … I have discovered that I am “the princess” in the group … I’m the only one who brought a cot! Seriously??? I also brought an inflatable 4” matt to put on top of the cot! There’s no freaking way I’m going to sleep on the ground for 65 days! Nope! Not negotiable!

With that, good night! Zzzzzzzzz.