Day 22 - Missoula to Lincoln
Stats:
I left early Sunday. The traffic was light and it was a cool, 52F morning. The ride followed the Blackfoot river through the rocky canyons (signs warning to be aware of big horn sheep…didn’t see any) and up into a long, green valley; home to several cattle ranches. The route then veered away from the river and into the upland mixed range of grassland and ponderosa pines. It was very much like a scene from the Ponderosa/Bonanza. The route continued to climb into the higher, drier grassland and by 1:30PM I pulled into my original destination for the day, Ovando (pop 81).
Ovando is a curious place. It has a General Store & Inn (3 rooms), the Stray Bullet café, a volunteer fire dept. and a museum. The town is notable in the cycling community since three popular routes go through it.
When I pulled up to the Stray Bullet for lunch, a couple cyclists (the 1000cc kind) on the patio invited me to their table. John was from Vancouver BC and Bill was from the Grand Junction CO area. They had started near Glacier NP and were riding various routes through the Rockies for a week. John was particularly interested in my ride, setup,…etc, since bicycling the Great Divide Route was on his plan for next year.
Lunch was a great Rueben sandwich and a cold beer. I had decided, since it was early and the weather was decent to eat & rest for a couple hours and if all felt good, press on to Lincoln, which would have been my next day’s location (28 mi). While I was hanging out I met a cyclist from Australia who was riding the Great Divide solo. I also met a woman who was driving the support vehicle for her husband and a couple buddies who were riding the same route (population 80, on a Sunday afternoon, in the middle of nowhere).
There is a sad Ovando bicyclist story. Because of the common location on the routes a number of cyclists opt to overnight there. In addition to the inn, there’s the option to sleep in a teepee, a chuckwagon, the hoosegow or camp in the park. In 2021 a group camped, and during the night a grizzly bear came into camp. The 63 year old woman, whose tent was ‘investigated’ by the bear, scared off the bear. After all the commotion the campers returned to their tents. About an hour later the bear returned, attacked and killed the woman. This was a case of unusual circumstances, since bears, especially grizzlys, usually don’t bother the town, but it has raised awareness/concerns. I will admit it was a factor in my decision to press on to Lincoln.
The rest of the ride was uneventful and I arrived in Lincoln about 6:30PM. After a quick bite to eat at the convenience store “deli”, I set up camp at the city park campground. It was a nice place with a couple other cyclists tenting and a number of families RVing. I talked with one of the cyclists. He was from Spain and was riding the Continental Divide Route. He started in Banff and was headed to Denver to catch a flight home in two weeks.
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