Yesterday Phyllis and I left Deer Lodge in the morning and drove to Liberty Lake Washington. This morning I rode away from the hotel at 7:30, found the Spokane River Centennial Trail and rode west.

The trail went through Gonzaga University.

Downtown, Riverfront Park.

At this point I was still downtown and lost. Time to look at a map on my phone and figure it out.

Eventually I made my way to Fish Lake Trail. The smell of pine was wonderful.

Phyl picked me up about 9 miles down the trail and we started our drive to Bend Oregon. 31 miles today.

The sun goes down in Deer Lodge at 9:30 and it takes a long time to actually get dark. From my upstairs bedroom window, looking south toward town, you could see at least 7 different locations shooting big fireworks into the sky. It was quite the show!

A beautiful one-hour drive to Helena today. At a scenic overlook near MacDonald Pass.

Our primary goal was a trolley tour of Helena.

Several homes in the Mansion District were made of Montana rose granite.

Last Chance Gulch:

After the tour, we had a really good lunch at

Yummy ice cream! “Hi Phyllis” when we walked in. Small town friendliness!

For being a small town, Deer Lodge is lucky to have two trails. I started at the Washington Street Trailhead. Almost 12 miles to Garrison. The trail surface: cinder, crushed stone, dirt, gravel. Not my favorite but I thought I’d see how far I could go.

A confusing sign. No bikes? The Grant-Kohrs Ranch is a National Historic Site, once the headquarters of a 10 million acre cattle empire, now commemorates the role of cattlemen in American history.

Those clouds to the west looked a bit dark. No worries. I still have 3 hours before the thunderstorms might arrive.

The property line of the G-K Ranch was just ahead. The trail became much more rutted and overgrown. Time to turn around. The scenery was beautiful. I hope this trail is improved soon.

A quarter mile later, time to turn around.

Uh .. is that thunder I hear? I rode a bit faster.

About one mile from Dave and Phyl’s house, I felt the first sprinkles. At 3/4 mile, I saw lightning strikes. Time to go turbo. I raced home at 27 mph. Later, Phyl told me the temperature dropped 20 degrees in 45 minutes as the brief storm approached.

Located in Butte, a former open-pit copper mine, closed in 1982. The pit is laden with heavy metals and dangerous chemicals. It is one of the largest Superfund sites.

After you pay a modest admission, you exit the side door and enter what looks like a mine entrance and then a long tunnel.

One mile long, a half mile wide, 1780 feet deep, filled with heavily acidic water to a depth of 900 feet. Too many birds have died here. A type of sonic bird scarer goes off periodically to keep birds from hanging around.

The first five trails were connected to each other. Oak Street Trail = 1.9 miles along a busy traffic corridor with many business driveways to cross.

N 19th Avenue Trail = 0.5 miles, another busy traffic corridor. Abrupt end.

Front Street Connector = 0.3 miles, too short for a picture. Story Mill Spur = 1.7 miles.

In a distant field, a huge bird with butterfly wings.

Bozeman to Bridger Mountains Trail = 2.1 miles.

I’m not sure how far I got, but the trail began to narrow and big rocks showed up. Turn around point:

I took a bike route to the start of the next trail. To the left of the building is a beautiful start to the Gallagator Trail = 1.6 miles.

Sculpture park.

All those trails, out and back, one return trip to the hotel in the middle of the ride, and I rode a total of 16 miles. Note to self: don’t ride off with the car keys in your pocket if someone (Phyl) is supposed to pick you up at the end of the ride.

Phyl and I drove to Bozeman, known up here as the Los Angeles of Montana. Apparently a lot of people from S California relocated here or have second homes. In the afternoon we went to the Museum of the Rockies.

This guy looked up occasionally to see if anyone wanted to talk:

On one side:

On the other side:

There was also a great Da Vinci exhibit with 60 fully built, life-size inventions,

many of which said “Please touch.”

Outside, there was a living farm. In the kitchen, volunteers in costume were making chokecherry syrup.