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.

Across the street from the Old Montana State Prison,

is the Deer Lodge Art Club.

Dave joined the art club. Today was his day to volunteer. The gallery currently has a showing of wood block prints by Frederick Remington. This one was titled “Thanksgiving Dinner.”

In the back is an artists studio where classes are held or community projects are restored.

When I looked up trails near here, the first trail that popped up was the Great American Rail-Trail. The preferred route of the Great American Rail-Trail connects 145+ existing rail-trails, greenways and other multiuse paths spanning more than 3,700 miles across the USA from coast to coast. And this 1.6-mile section in Deer Lodge is part of that system.

In the background, the Old Montana State Prison. This was a fast photo stop! Mosquitos descended on me.

The southern trailhead.

Suggestion: when the next a bridge is built, lay the planks perpendicular to the path of a bicycle tire. Riding on parallel cracks or grooves is destabilizing for some cyclists.

The northern trailhead. The Old Montana State Prison.

I rode the trail several times, then rode around the downtown area and eventually ended up riding 11 miles.

It is an other worldly landscape. Craters of the Moon National Monument is a 618 square mile lava field in southeastern Idaho.

I stayed in Bellevue at the southern end of Sun Valley. The trail was just across the street.

I rode north toward Ketchum, slightly uphill all the way.

Spur is the name of the sculpture created in 2016 by John Grade. It was inspired by Grade’s visit to Craters of the Moon where he digitally mapped the inside of a lava tube.

It’s motivating to ride to a delicious place to have a coffee and cinnamon roll before heading back.

The ride back was fast, downhill with a slight tailwind. 37 wonderful miles.