June 20, 2020
Day 7: Stanley to Deadwood River wild camp
Today was rather uneventful in comparison to previous days, partly because there are no hot springs on the next 70 miles of the route, and partly because we left behind the grandeur of the Sawtooth Mountains.
The sunny skies we awoke to were quickly dampened by a thin sheen of gray clouds, and we left the lodge donned in our fleeces. After a few miles on secondary gravel roads, we encountered our first (and only) creek crossing of the route. The water came up to our knees as we waded through the icy waters.
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3 years ago
We continued down rutted roads until lunch, when the sun finally broke free and shined down on us. We ate along the side of the road in the company of a pronghorn antelope, who stared us down from 50 yards and grunted at us, clearly annoyed by our presence. We had a much friendlier encounter with a fawn during a snack break many miles later, as the fawn peeked at us through the undergrowth, curious as to what we were doing in his territory.
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The scenery today consisted largely of rolling forested roads with brief interludes of open meadow. We made excellent progress and chose to push on past our intended destination so as to provide us with more time to soak tomorrow. We eventually made camp alongside the Deadwood River only a mile south of Deadwood Outfitters. Here, at our forested site, we were quickly inundated by mosquitoes and reminded that we were back to roughing it in the wild.
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Our early arrival to camp this evening afforded us the time to have a particularly long, thoughtful conversation with one another, a conversation that was raw but also clarifying. We have been using this shared experience to reflect on our relationship with one another and think critically about what we truly want from one another as we move forward in life. As much as we'd like to be with one another, life seems to be pulling us in different directions with ever greater force, and we feel powerless to stop it. Bikepacking is such an unfiltered and visceral experience, and is allowing us to be all the more open and honest with one another. It is refreshing, although difficult, for it to be this way.
And so we sat, watching the clouds drift east over the mountaintops as the fire died down.
Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 307 miles (494 km)
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3 years ago