Day 13: Bannack State Park to Lima (80.5 miles)
Leaving Bannack State Park we made our way south along a wide, sparse valley. Slowly, we rode into ranch country, passing cowboys and cattle on either side of the road.
A brief section of pavement took us to a Bureau of Land Management Backcountry Byway, and we continued south up a similarly wide ranch valley.
Gradually, we made our way to the day’s only pass and climbed steeply over the last 1.5 miles to the top. Just before the pass we got caught in a spattering of rain that quickly past.
After a few miles of ups and downs, we made good time going down the valley on the other side of the pass. Eventually, we turned east and entered a tight, winding valley.
Passing several beautiful primitive campsites, we eventually exited the valley and came to interstate 15, where we followed a frontage road south to Lima (pronounced Lie-ma, not Lee-ma).
We met Anna and the rest of the support crew at a very reasonably priced RV park ($5.00 a tent plus tax), just in time to set up camp before a thunderstorm passed over.
