St. Mary to Cut Bank, MT

Miles 63.9
Ride time 3:54
Elevation gain 2562'

We left St. Mary this morning under cloudy skies and wet roads, but no rain. We had an immediate 6 mile climb that was brutal to our not warmed up legs. As we climbed out, we had the views of the glacier valley to our right. It looked as though there had been a fairly recent fire through the area. The tall trees were still standing, but without any branches so they looked like matchsticks. All the other plant life was very healthy especially all of the wildflowers. One that I had not seen before until yesterday was all over the place. It is a tall plant with a large white flower on the top. It is called Bear Grass is a favorite of the bears to eat. From a distance it almost looks like a white rose. We did not see any bears this morning. We have not seen any bears, elk or any of the mountain goats that live in the area so far on this trip. What we did see was a small herd of wild horses, eating right near the side of the road. It was so cool. It was a herd of about 4 mares and a stallion. The stallion was a short distance away from the mares who were huddled close together. The stallion eyed us as we stopped to take their picture, but did not run away. What a treat!
We had series of downhills and a few shorter climbs then we dropped out into the plains. The mountains were now behind us. We have crossed over the Cascades and the Continental Divide on our bicycles! We are now over halfway to Fargo. It truly has been an amazing adventure so far.
We had a great tailwind that zipped us along with little effort at over 25 mph. All was going quite well until we were about 3 miles away town. The wind turned and blew sideways and it began to rain. The rain was pelting us so hard it stung my cheeks as it hit. We had one last hill to get into town. We powered up that and headed to the hotel as fast as we could to get out of the rain and wind.
Our rooms were ready so we were able to change into dry clothes. A bit of bike cleaning and laundry duties consumed the rest of the afternoon. Cut Bank has the privilege having a large fake penguin within sign that says that the town is the coldest place in the Nation!
Hopefully that won't be case as we ride out tomorrow morning!