Three states and three national parks today and I land in Butte.

I say my goodbyes to the Teton Mountains with a parting photo and head for Jackson Hole, WY. I ride through a massive elk refuge along the way, but unfortunately don’t spot any. I spend the early morning wandering around the quaint town square in Jackson and sampling some of their great coffee. Antlers gathered from the refuge create the gateways to the central park. The town is very nice and is an interesting hybrid of ski-town and wild west.

[goodbye Tetons]

[Jackson Hole, WY]

[elk antler gateways]

As I head over the Teton Pass to Idaho, I have a bit of parting sadness over leaving Wyoming. It’s a spectacularly beautiful place and it’s hard to imagine roads and mountains which will rival what I’ve ridden and seen over the past few days.

[summit of the Teton Pass]

I ride into Idaho and the scenery immediately becomes farmland. I eventually hit the Targhee National Forest and the the pine trees abound. I ride the winding route 20 through a portion of the 2.6M acre forest and then into Montana. I touch the western edge of Yellowstone one last time before heading north on Gallatin Road, which tightly parallels the Gallatin River. The winding road is fun and the sights of fly fishermen, whitewater rafters and even a grizzly bear taking advantage of the quickly moving river is entertaining.

[hello Idaho]

[Idaho farmland]

[potato country]

[Targhee National Forest]

[Gallatin River]

I jump on Interstate 90 in Bozeman, MT to head west. The good thing about Montana’s big sky is that it is very apparent when a storm is approaching. I get rained on pretty hard for about twenty miles before popping out on the other side of the storm only to see another one on the horizon.

[big sky, big storm]

I decide to call it a day and check out the town of Butte, MT. As I ride into the historic core, I’m struck with the amazingly rich building stock. It’s immediately obvious that this was once a very rich town that is now down on its luck and fairly depressed. I ride a few laps around the town and I’m intrigued by the turn of the century brick structures and the hill beyond the town that is covered in tall steel towers. I find one of the only hotels in the old core that shows any sign of life and get a room for the evening.

[downtown Butte, MT]

[downtown Butte, MT]

[cigar store]

[headframe]

After talking to a few locals at the town watering hole, I learn that the steel towers on the hill are called headframes and once served as access to the source of what built the town- it’s mines. I meet a grizzled character named Gary who tells me the history of the town as well as his personal saga of moving to Butte to open a boot shop in town. The shop never came to fruition. In response to my story about the journey I’m on, his response is: “You’re the young man I should’ve been. Enjoy the hell out of it.” I appreciate his sentiment and buy him a Budweiser.

The locals I meet are all very excited to talk to someone who came to visit them in Butte on a Monday night.