Epic Great Divide - Day 7

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 sandwiches, tomato soup, and an arugula salad. Everything tasted great and it went in gently.

Unfortunately, it came out violently! Somewhere around 11:30 pm, I woke abruptly with a mouthful of hot stomach acid/tomato soup! I have never gotten out of a sleeping bag and tent so fast before in my life! Holding my breath, I ran to the nearest building with a bathroom in it and allowed the entire contents of my stomach to exit. Holy cow! That was so disgusting! Came out of my nose and out of my ears, too, I think! I’m pretty sure that it’s been at least 45 years since I last vomited anything! GUH!

Because my stomach still hurt afterwards, I thought I should stay close to the bathroom for a while. I sat on a bench nearby for about half hour and then decided to go back to my tent and fetch my cot and sleeping bag. I then set up write next to the bathroom and slept a bit fitfully until morning.

Once awake again, my stomach had stopped hurting and I felt fine. No one else had gotten ill. I have no idea was caused such a gastronomical raucous! For breakfast I ate just a half english muffin with peanut butter and then didn’t eat again until dinner … just in case. I was hungry all day but at least I didn’t get sick again!

The ride on this day started out amazing with at least a million little flowers everywhere! It was exquisite! Once the route turned into single-track, however, things got difficult. A storm at some point had blown over at least 50 large pine trees and I’m not exaggerating. Four of us had grouped up together and we had to climb over and around every one of those coniferous beasts! I got poked and dripped blood on the Cutthroat!

It was a wok out for both upper and lower body!

Once finished with the ride, we camped again in a remote camp site. It was on a lake so washing was doable and there was a vault toilet within walking distance. Was very private! Nice! I froze again but slept well until I realized I was freezing!