Day 5 - Virginia City, MT. [under construction - pics coming]

We awoke early, as usual, and packed up the bikes. There was nowhere to get breakfast or coffee this early in Virginia City or it's suburbs, so we decided to make some tracks for a while and see what came up. We had enough fuel to go 50-75 more miles before panicking. The 950's fired up, but the R1200GS wouldn't start. So we push started the mofo and all was well, although I suspected this wasn't a random incident. We traveled westward in the cool 40 degree morning to Ruby and fueled up, then rode another 15 miles or so until we found a nice looking cafe that had permeated the local air with the smell of bacon. We went in and the place was bustling. A sole waitress was scrambling to satisfy perhaps two dozen customers - and the weirdest thing was she only had one coffeepot, part of a very vintage and yellowed looking Mistah Coffee. While we were waiting, tossing out some ideas of where to go, Mark and I noticed the paper placemat. It was an artist's rendering of the geographical highlights of the area, and it had a route on it called the Old Stage Route. Mark nearly kicked over his chair in his enthusiasm, and went out to get his GPS off the bike to start cipherin' A great meal was had - pretty much breakfast was the only meal of the day most days - and we set out on the old stage route, bellies full and minds bristling with caffeine. The old stage route turned out to be Ruby River Road, and it was a nice ride on an early morning. When we reached Twin Bridges, we avoided town, and went west again on Melrose/Twin Bridges Road, which turned to dirt and began to climb towards a saddle. We regrouped under the I15 overpass, and decided to investigate some charcoal kilns nearby. My GPS indicated the road went on through, while BigDog's indicated it was a dead end. I guess we'll figure it out when we're there. And off we went up Trapper Creek Road to the ghost town of Glendale. There wasn't much left of Glendale, but it housed three smelters to support the mining industry in the late 19th century. A little further up the canyon, on Canyon Creek Road, were the charcoal kilns. It really was no wonder most of the forests were denuded of timber. These guys were hammering out 35 cords of wood per day in these kilns. There was even a log flume to bring the timber from the ridgelines, high above. BigDog also had a waypoint for a forest service cabin that could be rented. It was early in the day, so we dismissed the idea - but decided to check it out anyway. It was in a beautiful valley, with a Canyon Creek burbling 100 yards away, and surrounded by rock faces. We decided to climb the ridge up to Vipond, as it looked like the road indeed went up and over the mountains to Dewey. It was about here that we noticed it was early afternoon, and that cabin really started to sound like a great place to hole up - a long way from people, and in a fantastic place. So, that became the plan. We'd ride into Wise River, rent the cabin, get some provisions, and ride back to the cabin. And put our feet up for a while. 'Chollo and BigDog took off, but I couldn't help but to stop and check this out. Derelict structures left behind at Lone Pine Mine.... Time to catch up with the other fellas, and head into town.....

We stopped at the Wise River Ranger Station, and did the requisite volumes of paperwork required to rent the cabin. Although the fee was $20 for the night, it probably cost $3,680 to process the $20 fee. We filled up our camelbacks from the outdoor hose spigot, and headed to 'town' to get groceries. Town was a single general store and gas station. We topped off on fuel, and got ourselves the fixin's for a campfire dinner, and headed back to Dewey and Quartz Hill Road. Taking no chances, I handled the precious cargo. After riding across the 8,500' high meadows of Vibond, Canyon Creek Valley comes back into view. The road below is the road we came up the valley on this morning. The branch to the left takes us back to the cabin. Only we have to ride down 1000 feet of switchbacks. Whooop! I got the feeling that this was going to be a good night.

Before we even got the door unlocked, the beer was being consumed. Maybe we should have bought a whole case El Capitan Junior stood vigil over the cabin to the south. I didn't see any mountain goats at all, although I was fairly certain the chupacabra lurked up there. Maybe that's why there are no goats..... We wandered over to the creek to fill the coffeepot with water, and then got a good fire going. BigDog went trawling in the underbrush for grizzlies....unselfishly using his own carcass as bait. It was quiet and beautiful here. A fella would almost never want to leave. We roasted hot dogs over the fire, and enjoyed them with some chili and beer. It really was pretty good. Think we got the fire big enough yet to boil the coffee water? 'Chollo and I split a lot of wood for the Rangers, leaving them easily twice what they'd left for us. A little good will will hopefully pay off for the next souls that come through here. We sat out around the fire until fairly late, hoping for Sasquatch or the Chupacabra - or even any manner of lesser boogeymen, but none ever showed. We moved right in, and the place looked like we'd lived there for years in under three minutes.

Tale of the tape today....probably only about 150 miles, maybe less....but it didn't matter. We had a great time.