Odometer: 308 – 383 ( 75 miles, 121 kilometers)
I packed up and said goodbye to Laura and Michelle. I left the retreat at 10:20am and cycled along the familiar highway back to Whitefish.
After you pass through Whitefish there are paved bike trails for a short distance before the main trail follows scenic paved country roads.
South of Whitefish toward Columbia there were plains with expansive open fields and slight rolling hills interspersed with clusters of spruce and pine reminiscent of the BC interior, surrounded by distant mountains. If the mountains were removed it might look like the area around Peterborough Ontario.
The roads south of Whitefish along the GDMBR were a mix of gravel and asphalt, almost deserted and either planned in a grid or winding to make way for streams and hills.
I reached Ferndale by about 3 and chose to take the main highway because it afforded more services and stops. I had supper, hamburger and beers, at a restaurant/bar about 4:30pm.
The restaurant was empty which worried me. It was looked after by a waitress, who was also the cook. I didn’t see whether she washed the dishes too but she seemed to be the only one there. I asked whether a lots of people stopped by. She assured me that the restaurant was full at lunch. She told me that everything on the menu was good and I told her she was paid to say that. Then I asked about whether there were any reports of bears in the area. She said that the bears were still in the mountains eating huckleberries and I wondered if she was paid to say that too.
I was told by someone else in town that there was a nice camp spot called Point Pleasant 7.1 miles further. “Be careful,” they said. “The signs aren’t very clear.”
I got on my bike and rode 7.1 miles further. There happened to be a road with some signs but nothing saying “Point Pleasant”. After three more miles I figured I had missed it and so I stopped for the night at a deserted logging road just off the highway.
