Written by Curtis

Day 22 – June 19 – 58 Miles, 3,650 feet climbing (Darby to Wisdom)

We were in no hurry to get moving down the road this morning because the morning air temperature was in the mid-30’s.  And the local breakfast cafe, Darby Old West Antiques & Candy Store, did not open until 8am, which fit right in with leaving after the sun hit the road and warmed the valley into the low 40s.  

The sign on the door of the cafe, as with many places on this trip, read “Help wanted.”  Judging by the food served in disposable dishes it’s a safe bet that a dish washer is a wanted skill of the needed help.  So an industrious couple with skills to clean canvas tents and wash dishes could seemingly find work in Darby.

The Candy Store/Cafe extended an entire city block and they hoped a cafe patron would be enticed to buy a dancing bear portrait, candy, or maybe some green glass railroad electric line insulators on their trip to the restroom 1/10^th mile away.  Chris also noted that if you think enough people want to buy such random items you can become the proprietor of all 9k square feet for $425k.  If you do then I suggest voting for an open border so you won’t have to keep a “Help Wanted” sign on the door forever, unless you exceptionally good at recruiting.

Out on the road we continued up the Bitterroot valley toward Lost Trail Pass and onto Chief Joseph summit.  Lost Trail is also the name of a ski resort at the top of the hill.  On the way up we could see the size Lost Trail Resort spread quite wide with many runs and lift.  I was filled with regret for ditching my plan to ski there in February when I was in the area skiing a few miles north in Whitefish.

At the high point of the day on Chief Joseph pass a cloud decided to drop some snow on us and then continue to rain on us for a few miles of our decent.  It was cold enough to send those of us with sensitive fingers digging for full finger gloves before reaching the bottom, because this time there wasn’t likely to be another kind stranger with a warm car to jump into.

Before reaching Wisdom, we stopped at the National Parks “Big Hole Battlefield Museum”  where we learned about how Chief Joseph lead the Nez Perce over the Bitterroot mountains into the Big Hole valley assuming they had escaped the cavalry only to be decimated by the cavalry within 3 days.

For the rest of the ride across the Big Hole valley we fought a cross wind while wondering if the storm squalls we could see in nearly every direction were going to transect our path.  But we were lucky enough to make it to Wisdom and get our tents set up with no rain so far.

Today there was an alternate route option, but we stuck to the main route, riding the north/south artery highway 93.  The shoulder was plentiful except for a short 7 mile section but traffic was light and everyone gave our group plenty of room.  We partly attribute this to everyone wearing bright clothes and having 200 lumen rear flashing lights that can be seen a long ways even in full daylight.

For being such a small town, Wisdom restaurants and grocery seem to have everything we will need.  They don’t even have “Help Wanted” signs on the doors.  In the restaurant where we all enjoyed the chicken fried chicken dinner special and some chose the Rueben soup.  They are getting the help they need by getting the kids of the town involved.  In retrospect some of the best places we have stopped have the owners’ kids and their friends helping.