30 August 2006 – Chinook, MT, to Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs, MT

I woke up at 7:00 and was on the bike by 8:30. Headed east from Chinook and noticed the tail wind was helping me out. Shortly after leaving Chinook, I guy pulled up next to me and started asking me about my trip. His name is John Tomaska and he was riding a Trek 520. He is traveling about 25 mph. We chatted for a half hour and it became apparent he was interested in riding faster than I so I told him to go ahead. I then endeavored to keep him in sight the remainder of the day. He slowly pulls away from me and I eventually lose sight of him but meet up with him again at the grocery store in Malta. It took me 3.5 hours to go 70 miles. Incredible. I also met up with the couple from Chinook the night before. They had already left Chinook when I woke up. We all headed out and were soon strung out over the distance between Malta and Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs (SBHS). The couple said they were going to try to make it to Linsdale. I told them I did not think there was camping there and the next verified camping was 50 miles past SBHS. Off we went with a killer tail wind. I passed a solo female tourer who was going west and had that shell-shocked look of someone biking all day into 20 mph headwinds. She was headed for Seattle. I got to SBHS (89.9 miles) in five hours. It was an amazing day of riding.

John Tomaska and I camped there and took advantage of the hot springs. This is a really depressing place. Billed as a resort it seems like someplace the Griswolds would have stopped on their way to Wally World. The water smells like rotten eggs (common to hot springs) and there is an outdoor pool (long since funct) with a water slide, etc. but the infrastructure is all crumbling. Still, a nice lawn to camp on underneath some trees (see photos).

I struggled with the decision of going on to the next stopping point or stopping here and decided not to chance it.