{"id":768,"date":"2012-07-02T10:31:11","date_gmt":"2012-07-02T14:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatdivideride.com\/?p=768"},"modified":"2024-04-08T21:07:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T03:07:31","slug":"day-6-sunshine-and-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatdivideride.com\/unicycle\/2012\/07\/02\/day-6-sunshine-and-wind\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 6 – Return to the Dirt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Day 6 – Return to the Dirt<\/h2><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

June 28, 2012<\/strong>

Start:<\/strong> Causeway Bay Hotel, Sparwood<\/em>
Finish:<\/strong> Pollock Creek<\/em>

Today’s miles:<\/strong> 38.6<\/em>
Total miles:<\/strong> 178.6<\/em>

Splats:<\/strong> 0<\/em>
Divide crossings:<\/strong> 0<\/em>
Wildlife:<\/strong> momma moose, baby moose, bear, tour divide racer, bunny<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada –> Mexico<\/span><\/div>
<\/div>
6%<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>
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Got a late start this morning after my post-breakfast food coma. I can\u2019t recall any meal I\u2019ve been unable to finish, but the restaurant at the Causeway put more food on my plate than I could handle for both dinner and breakfast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back on the road, I found myself once again amongst big mining trucks. The first half of today\u2019s ride was on pavement, and I was excited to finally be back on dirt in the afternoon. I won\u2019t be on pavement again until just a few miles before crossing the border. While I was still on the paved mining access road, I happened upon a cow moose and her calf! I tried to snap some pictures, and just as they disappeared, another cyclist pulled up. He lives nearby, in Fernie, and he joined me for the last few miles of pavement. It was nice to have a few extra wheels along for a little while.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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On the dirt road, I began climbing up to Flathead Pass. I needed to fill up on water, but when I came to a stream, a warning said that so much as touching the water could result in death! Apparently, blue-green algae had been found in the area. I was thirsty, so I took my chances and filtered the water with care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after, I came across a blob in the trail. It took me a minute to realize it was a bear! I stopped to say hello so that he\u2019d know I was there. He stood on his hind legs to give me a once-over before meandering into the woods. I took the bear spray out as I walked past his last known location. From the angle I was at, I couldn\u2019t tell if he was a grizzly or a black. He sure wore the finest brown coat I\u2019ve ever seen, though.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Half a mile before getting into camp, I happened across Chip, a Tour Divide competitor! Mountain bikers race the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in the Tour Divide every year. They started about two weeks before I did, and most head southbound. Chip was one of the few that went north. He\u2019ll be finishing up in Banff in about a day and a half (that just took me six days).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m stopped at another awesome campsite tonight at the confluence of the Pollock River and the Flathead River. As I ate dinner, I was visited by a snowshoe hare who seemed to want to play. After I snapped a few pictures and she finished running laps around me, we both resumed our dinners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After dinner, I went to hang my bear bag but couldn\u2019t find the line! I thought I would have to climb a tree (it wouldn\u2019t be the first time), but I eventually found the rope. The food is hanging way up there now. I even smoked the bags in my campfire smoke. That\u2019s right; I have a real campfire tonight!! I\u2019m sitting next to it as I write this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the dirt road, I began climbing up to Flathead Pass. I needed to fill up on water, but when I came to a stream, a warning said that so much as touching the water could result in death! Apparently, blue-green algae had been found in the area. I was thirsty, so I took my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-container-style":"default","site-container-layout":"default","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-transparent-header":"default","disable-article-header":"default","disable-site-header":"default","disable-site-footer":"default","disable-content-area-spacing":"default","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canada","category-riding","post_format-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdivideride.com\/unicycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdivideride.com\/unicycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdivideride.com\/unicycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdivideride.com\/unicycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdivideride.com\/unicycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdivideride.com\/unicycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1648,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdivideride.com\/unicycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions\/1648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdivideride.com\/unicycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdivideride.com\/unicycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdivideride.com\/unicycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdivideride.com\/unicycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}