June 22- Hamilton to Sula, Montana

The ride today was only 35 miles, but puts us in position to do a long ride tomorrow, with two major mountain passes to climb over.

The route was simple, gently climbing along the Bitterroot River. The only place to stop in Sula has cabins, but they are all full today, so we are camping by a pond alongside the river. There is a store here so we don't have to live on granola bars. And they even have a hot tub where we enjoyed a long soak this afternoon.

While we ate lunch, we were entertained by a hummingbird feeder outside the window.

One other wildlife spotting of note: a few miles before reaching Sula we passed a bighorn sheep drinking from a puddle alongside the road. It scampered effortlessly up a steep cliff, but not before I snapped a picture, below. The sheep hadn't shed all of its winter coat, so it looked ragged. But it was nimble enough to reassure us that it was healthy.