Peaceful night at the ranch - I didn’t see a single other person the whole time I was there. Really heavy dew overnight so I tried to let the tent dry out a bit before packing up. But I was very grateful for the heater in the bathroom so I could at least dry my sodden shoes from yesterday. The mud seems to have done something to my front mech so will be another thing for the bike shop in Butte to deal with. The shops along this route must do really well as the bikes take a complete battering. 

 

Out onto the trail and then made a stop at Bannack ghost town. A former mining town, it’s more unusual than some of the other places I’d passed through as people were living there until fairly recently, with the school only closing in the 50s. Many of the buildings have been preserved and are open to walk through. I particularly liked the saloon and imagining the scenes in there over the years. 

After leaving Bannack there was a fairly torturous highway section into a headwind as I began to climb into the Pioneer Mountains. As I climbed the increasing tree cover gave some shelter from the wind. A really beautiful section, especially over the top of the climb and on the way down as the road crossed rivers and creeks.  

 

Continued to descend all the way down into Wise River. The community centre here is left open for cyclists to sleep in, complete with kitchen and bathrooms. As I sat outside eating an ice cream, two southbounders arrived. They were particularly excited as they were big fans of the Mat Ryder videos who had stayed here when he was doing the Divide. They asked if I wanted to join them for some food so we walked over to the restaurant/bar together. 

 

There was also another southbounder called Lisa who was staying that the guys had already met along the way. People climbed into their beds about 8ish so I did the same and read for a bit whilst one of the guys snored gently.