Bikes, Bears, and Brews in Missoula 7.11.08

After staying our first night in a hotel, you could say that we were well rested. The Econolodge in Missoula allows dogs and they have continental breakfast where you can make your own Belgium waffles. Yummy! We woke up just in time to get the tail end of breakfast and then decided to go for a mountain bike ride. We were headed to a place called Rattlesnake National Recreation Area which is just 2 miles from downtown Missoula.

As we arrived at the trail head, the parking lot was already crowded (by Montana standards) and I was thinking our day would be spent passing/yielding to others on the trail. We headed out on a ride called Spring Gulch. It basically climbs up a creek drainage, crosses over the top of a mountain, and then descends down another creek drainage. 10 miles total with about 1400 ft of climbing.

This trail was awesome, super smooth single track greeted us after ½ mile of pedaling. The trail was probably 10 inches wide and it cruised through pine forests and meadows filled with wildflowers. I can say that this is the best smelling mountain bike ride I have ever been on. The trail climbed gradually up the creek drainage with a few super steep spots towards the top. We only saw one other person out here which was great because we felt like we were truly in the wilderness.

After turning right at the final trail junction towards the summit the trail starts to switchback through tall trees. At the second switchback, something caught my eye and I stopped pedaling and told Becca to stop too. Just down slope from the trail about 30 yards away was a BEAR! Becca thought I was joking with her because I know she is scared of bears, but when she looked again, there it was. Good thing we left the bear spray in the car. Becca was freaked! She began pedaling ahead and this was the fastest I have seen her ride when not in a race. I stayed to watch the bear for a bit. About 10 seconds after Becca sprinted away, the bear stood on its hind legs with its mouth open. I took this as a sign to get out of there.

I cruised ahead to catch Becca, but she was way up there. We made the final few switchbacks to the summit and I had to keep looking over my shoulder to make sure the bear wasn’t following us. So far this has been a pretty sweet ride!
The descent from the summit was the best part. About 4 miles of sweet, smooth single tack awaited us. Sweet it was! It seemed like a playground for bikes. I almost felt like I was snowboarding on a fresh powder day, smooth turns and big smile. The trail took us al the way back to the car. Becca agreed with me that this ride was awesome. If you are ever in Missoula, go ride it.


We spent the afternoon hanging around downtown Missoula. It reminded me of Boulder a little bit. It is a college town, University of Montana, situated alongside a river (the Clark Fork). There were a lot of cool shops and restaurants in the town and the people were really friendly. There also happen to be a ton of hippies hanging out which I don’t like too much. This city has a great park system and a trail that goes up and down the river. We watched the kayakers play in Brennan’s Wave and then some crazy guy started surfing the wave on a boogie board. It did not look as fun as it sounds because it is hard to move against the river using your arms as paddles. We took Payton for a long walk along the river and then started thinking about dinner.

We went to the Iron Horse for dinner which was packed full of people due to the live band playing out front. This place reminded us of the Southern Sun in Boulder.
They served the best beer in town: Kettle house brewery cold smoke scotch ale and the best French fries too. These titles were according to the Missoula news best of 2008. We had a great time here, but we were tired and could use some more sleep. Tomorrow we are headed to Glacier National Park.