Ok, ride day today! The weather is good – no rain yesterday or today, so even if the trails are damp, they’ll be rideable. Been a long time since we’ve been here – more than a dozen years, I’m sure. Looking forward to it.

Today is Devil’s Den State Park, to do the Holt Road ride. Second ride we ever did here, first guided ride. It was probably 1993 or so, and our first time here. We got a map at the Visitor’s Center, and decided our first ride would be the Butterfield Trail, because it came out of the park and went to the top of the mountain, by the park entrance. Well, actually the whole trail is about an 18 mile loop, but this would be about a 5 mile section, or so. Great introduction, we figured. We had a bit of a hard time finding the trailhead, but finally did, and started the ride up. It was kinda tough. Then it got harder. Then it got really rough. Then it got almost brutal! We were walking as much as we were riding in parts of it. Finally, we got to the top. We stopped to catch our breath, and try to get our legs back. We looked across the highway, and there was a dirt road. Holt Road, it turns out, and we saw two guys approaching, so we thought we’d get some info from them. They stopped, we chatted a bit, and they asked “so, did you ride the road up from the Park?”. No, we did not … “Oh … did you come form town on the highway?” Nope, not that either. “Well, how did you get here?” They had observed no motor vehicle, and we were sweaty and tired. So I replied that no, we had come up the Butterfield. It was priceless! Shocked look on his face, he said “UP the Butterfield? No, man, you don’t ride UP the Butterfield, you ride DOWN the Butterfield. It’s a grueling ride to try to come UP it!” Yeah, tell me about it! First lesson learned. They showed us Holt Road, even though they’d just ridden it, and we had a blast. They lived in Fayetteville, and the main guy we’d been talking to was a chef, who had just moved here … from Dallas! Small world.

So, today, we came back for Holt Road. We’ll do Butterfield tomorrow. But first, let’s get a map at the Visitor’s Center, in case things have changed. We get two tee-shirts, that say “Devil’s Den – 25 Years of Mountain Biking”. Cool. We ask about Holt Road … “it’s not rideable”. Ok, I looked yesterday, and it’s open to bikes – it’s National Forest, for crying out loud! You can do almost anything out there! Yes, “but it’s not rideable – too many storms, too many floods, you’ll have to walk and carry your bike the whole way. Tim, our riding Ranger has tried it and said so”. Ok, how about the Butterfield? Same answer. Not rideable. We’ve driven 10,000 miles, only to get turned away? We are seriously disheartened. Well, let’s go look through the park, try to remember the places we’ve camped, and see how it’s changed. It hasn’t, really. No improvements, though they’ve been working on the dam for many years, it’s their primary attraction, and it’s been shut down for years. Not sure what’s going on here. We decide – to hell with it! I don’t trust the gal at the Visitor’s Center. We need to go look at Holt Road and see it for ourselves. It’s hunting season, but not gun, only bow, and those guys are careful – they don’t just shoot anything that moves – arrows are expensive! It’s usually pretty safe. We park at the top, where the road begins, there’s now a little parking lot – ok, folks always parked there, but on the grass, now it’s an actual gravel lot. We saddle up and head out. Looks just like it used to. About a quarter mile in, we encounter a couple of guys gathering firewood, and I stop to chat – I ask about the condition of the road, and am told it’s fine for a mile, then it gets too rough to get a pickup through. Oh, well, I’m not on a pickup. We can go pretty much anywhere a motorcycle can go, just not near as fast. We ride the length of Holt Road, according to the GPS, and I recognize a lot of it, but there are a lot of trees down. Four wheelers have been here, but they refuse to clean up the road – they’d rather make new trails around the obstacles. Jackasses. Is it really that hard to clean up the road? Oh, yeah, forgot – “not my job”. They want to enjoy the forest, but damned if they’ll do ANYTHING to clean up or fix up anything that needs fixing. I really dislike selfish people, but sadly, the world is full of them. I remember the first time we came up here, with our buddy “Ranger Ken” Roy. We had been on one of the trails (The Yellow Rock Trail – we had ridden it that day as at that time it was open to bicycles – that didn’t last), and a huge tree had fallen across the trail, and it was very difficult to get over it – you couldn’t really go around it where it was. That evening, at a presentation by one of the rangers, a woman, exasperated, asked “What about that tree on Yellow Rock Trail? Is it going to take an act of god to have it removed?” I love what the ranger said (I’m sure he’d heard many such complaints) “Why not? It took an act of god to put it there”. I tried hard not to laugh out loud. Anyway, the next day, we went to see the ranger, and mentioned the tree … he got “that look” on his face … he KNEW what was coming … when we offered to go up there and take it down, if he’d just provide us a chain saw. It was priceless! The look on his face! He was ready to blast us for whining about it being in the way, the last thing he expected was an offer of assistance! He couldn’t agree fast enough, and within an hour, we were off to fix the trail. Funny thing happened – we cut up that tree and rolled it off the trail (most of it – it was huge!), then walked the rest of the trail, looking for other deadfall, and there was plenty. Several folks saw us, we’d pass them, then stop to fix something, and they’d pass us, rinse, repeat. Finally, one of them asked if we worked for the Park. Nope, just helping out. And we could use some help, these trees are heavy. THAT remark got ignored, though they did thank us for our work. You know, just help roll a log off the trail. Just a helping hand. Nope – not their job. But thanks for clearing the trail for us. Jackasses.

Anyway – where was I? Ah, Holt Road. About four miles in, it got very overgrown, and we lost the trail a bit, but kept going, and found it again, but then it went away for good. But still, it was a good eight mile ride. there were some turnoffs, and we’ll probably come back and try them, see if we can’t find the other side of that trail, as at that point it’s a loop. We’ll see what happens. But tomorrow, I think we’ll try the Butterfield. Obviously Timmy the ranger isn’t a real mountain biker, if he thinks Holt Road is unrideable – heck, some of the beginner trails in Montana are harder than that! Only issue I had is my front tire was low at the start of the ride, and got worse as the ride went on. I aired it up a couple of times, really needing to finish the ride – I did NOT want to walk out! I’ll fix it tomorrow.

So, here’s a photo of the beginning section of Holt Road:

Yeah, the road IS that lake on the left. A few puddles here and there! Here’s another shot:

With an interesting story – several, actually, but I’ll spare you. Suffice it to say, we were with Ranger Ken and another friend, Tim Williams, and they were both on Tim’s mountain bike tandem. And on this spot (it was a bit rougher back then, and a bit steeper on the right side), where Tim hit a flat rock at just the right angle, and folded the front fork on that tandem until it was parallel with the downtube! Front wheel went flying, and Ken told us he was probably six feet in the air, still on the back seat of the tandem, looking down on the back of Tim’s helmet when he came crashing down! Nobody got hurt, and it made for a hell of a story! I’m surprised I found the spot, but I’m sure this is it.

I love the Simon & Garfunkel song Bookends Theme:

“A time it was
And what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence
A time of confidences
Long ago it must be
I have a photograph
Preserve your memories
They’re all that’s left you”

That’s why you should always make new ones …