Day 18 Wolf Point to Butte, MT

The plan for the day is to ride from Wolf Point,  to Butte, MT some 480ish miles and 7.5 hours ride time.

I had fueled last night thinking I would grab breakfast at the hotel, but after seeing the offerings, I chose the Old Town Grill instead, basic breakfast with gravy, then I was ready to launch.

The day started cold (43 degrees) and I was in full leathers for a good 2 hours before dropping my leathers in Malta, my first fuel stop. I kept my jacket on as it was now about 60 degrees.

A couple more hours and I made it Havre (2nd fuel stop), and I took the liner out but kept my jacket on (nearing 70 degrees – I must be getting old…). Around Fort Benton 90 minutes later, I couldn’t take it anymore (85 degrees) back to t-shirt weather, but I didn’t want to roast my arms so I pulled my SA sleeves on.

About an 40 mins later, thanks to some construction the last 10 or so miles, I made it to Great Falls (3rd fuel stop). Only 2 hours left today, and just over an hour put me in Helena (4th and final fuel stop today).  An hour later I arrived back in Butte, MT.

For years I’ve believed the area north and east of Butte to be off limits for riding, but was actually amazed at how nice the ride was today, many differing features, plenty to look at and the ride from Great Falls to Butte through the mountains was epic. I only saw smoke after Helena and caught a glimpse of a fire high above Jefferson City.

I believe this area requires further exploration and can’t wait to ride up here again. Riding in Montana has always been among my favorites, today made it that much more so.

Tomorrow I complete this trip some 460 miles to get me home, the bike is running flawlessly and I’ve enjoyed the entire trip, but it’s time to get back to the heavy grind of retirement at home… See ya again for one last blow by blow of my final leg of the trip, and be sure to check out some of our other adventures on Livin4Today, and please share.