Day 16

Well today was better. It was a little overcast to start with, but it ended up only being a little sprinkly for the first couple hours and then it cleared off and was pretty nice weather to ride in. On my way out of Helena I passed a kid who wsa doing some trail riding on his mountain bike. He was nice enough to to ride for about 5 miles up the mountain out of Helena. He had also done some touring in South America, so it was cool to be able to talk to someone about their adventures while riding. Thanks Aaron.

I must say that this climb was probably the hardest climb yet. I climbed a little over 3000 feet and there were 2 or so miles at the top that were crazy ridiculous. Constant tree roots, rock gardens that I need to think up another name for, more like rock hell, and the steepness of the grade, up and down, was unreal. Wicked hard is all I can say about that climb. Then when I came into Basin I ran into a lady that told me to come camp at their house up the road about a mile. Tom and Cathy were very nice people. I even got a shower and a cold beer. So both a good start and good end to the day.