We’ve now traveled more than 1,600 miles (about 2600 km) on the Western Wildlands Bikepacking Route (WWR). That means we’ve passed the half-way point from Canada to Mexico. Leaving Idaho behind, we cycled back and forth across the Utah/Wyoming border through parched, sagebrush prairies and frontier towns. But this is the WWR. And before long we were back into the mountains, where we cycled over high ridges, through scenic groves of aspen and spruce on remote gravel roads.

We’re finally cycling on the Western Wildlands Bikepacking Route. It wasn’t long before we were experiencing both the joys of the gorgeous Montana and Idaho backroads, as well as the tribulations of laboring up rugged mountain roads. But we eventually found our climbing legs, so that we can more easily tackle the region’s iconic mountain passes.

We’re off to Montana, to cycle the Western Wildlands Route (WWR). But first we have to get there. Along the way we stopped to sample some of America’s most iconic cycling paths: the Katy Trail (Missouri), the Mickelson Trail (South Dakota), and the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park. Like the prologue of a multi-stage cycling event, these stops both whetted our appetite for the WWR, and helped us prepare for the miles in the saddle to come.