Aug. 25th Dupuyer to St Mary 119km, 1487m

Dupuyer B&B

This was our last stage before tackling the continental divide and we were not expecting anything too tough, but we were wroooong. An Indian behind the bar told us that there were some good hills to climb when we crossed river valleys to Browning (set deep in Blackfeet territory) but it was what came afterwards on the rest of the stage to St. Mary that nearly knocked us out. We were served a good breakfast in the B&B and set off in good time again under a cloudless sky and the temp. already in the 20’s. It was so unexpectedly warm that TimB was peeling clothes off before we started pedalling. It really was a great day for riding, no wind, warm with tremendous views over the prairies on the right and the Rockies lined up on the left getting ever closer. After just over 50km we did a long climb out of the Medicine River valley and topped the brow of the hill to see Browning lying 11km away in the prairie and all we had was a long downhill and straight run to the town. We set off rolling down the hill (a nice steady 3%) when suddenly the wind hit us and we had to pedal to get down the rest of the hill. We continued pedalling hard until we arrived in town and headed straight to Taco John’s for lunch. I ordered a large Pepsi to go with the burrito and was given a plastic container that would be sold as a bucket at home. It took 2 hours of pedalling to work off that lunch.

On leaving Browning we turned east to do the 20km to Kiowa and that was dead into the wind. It was a nightmare and when we arrived in Kiowa the café at the RV park was closed and up for sale. (For anybody that may be interested: Kiowa Resort Motel, Store – potential B&B, approx. 2 acres reduced to $179,000).

Well, you know what the song says, “when the going gets tough the tough get going” so no coffee break and after I had unloaded a litre of used Pepsi we turned north to cover the last 38km to St. Mary which is when it got really tough. 
The wind was no longer a problem but we had to climb 4 ridges to get there and after each ridge we dropped about 100m only to climb an even higher ridge. The last ridge peaked at 1827m, which was higher than any pass we climbed crossing Canada and it hadn’t even got a name. The reward was a 10km fast downhill dropping 400m in to the middle of St. Mary. Finding a room was easier and a lot cheaper than expected in this resort at the east entrance to Glacier Park and then it was off for dinner washed down by a pint of…………. MILK!!!!!!! We’d picked a dry restaurant. Both of us would have cried but we were too tired. Night night.

View from St Mary of Glacier National Park