I studied a street map to get a better idea of how Great Falls is laid out.

The Missouri River bends through town. The river flows north, then east. The downtown area and much of the city lies south and east of the river. This part of town is fairly easy to navigate – it’s mostly a grid with numbered avenues running east-west and numbered streets running north-south.

The river throws a monkey wrench into the scheme though. North and west of the river, some of the roads follow the river’s contour. There are only four bridges crossing the Missouri. On the west end, the Sun River flows into the Missouri from the west and only has two crossings. You have to know where you can cross the river or you’ll find yourself at dead ends.

Yesterday, Donna and I went out on  our bicycles. We rode separately though – Donna on her road bike and me on my mountain bike. We both crossed the Sun River on 6th Street and followed the bike path to Central Avenue West. We crossed the Missouri on a bridge constructed for pedestrians and bicyclists. The bridge is made of wood. It’s wide and well maintained.

Donna headed north and then east on the River’s Edge Trail. I rode south. Although most of the trail is dedicated to cyclists, walkers and runners, there are a few areas that are on roadways or through parking lots. It can be confusing at times as the trail runs into a large parking lot with no clear direction of where to pick up the trail again.

At one point on my ride, the trail crossed a train track next to the police station. I rode through the police parking lot and guessed at the direction to take. I rode down a street, across the tracks again toward the river. I found the trail at the end of the Broadwater Bay Park.

The bike path took me along River Road. I climbed the hill at Overlook, past the Visitor Center and found a gazebo in a park, overlooking the city. You can see for miles from this overlook.

I rode down the hill to the Visitor Center. There’s a sculpture and placard there that I took pictures of.

On the ride back, I stopped and took a picture of a striking building on the east side of the Central Avenue bridge. It’s called the Milwaukee Station. It has a sign on it that says “Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Ry.” It’s not a train station anymore. It’s occupied by various businesses and office space.

As the name implies, much of the River’s Edge Trail runs along the Missouri River. The scenery was beautiful, but some areas of the trail had excessive amounts of goose droppings.

I rode past the Milwaukee Station, north to Gibson Park. There’s a large pond and fountain there and also a small amphitheater. I saw a man setting up equipment. He told me there would be an event later called “Live at Five.” His band would be performing original compositions.

As I retraced my route back to the RV park, I stopped at the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway yard. There was a rail snow plow on a track there. Removing snow from the train tracks is a formidable task in the Rocky Mountains and across the great plains. Most of the time, a simple wedge or blade plow is pushed by a locomotive. Sometimes though, there’s too much snow for this method. In extreme conditions, they use a rotary snowthrower that chops up the snow and throws it clear of the track. Rotary rail snowthrowers are expensive and require much maintenance, which is why they are only used in extreme conditions.

The old plow I looked at was made in the 1940s. It’s weight is stenciled on the side: 280,000 pounds. It appears to be in service still as it had recent inspection stickers.

After my ride, I had lunch and showered. Then I rode the scooter back to the Visitor Center and picked up a couple of maps. The lady there gave me directions to the Parks and Recreation office and also showed me where I could find more convenient shopping.

From the Visitor Center, I went to the Parks and Recreation office to obtain more information about Donna’s bike race. They gave me a map of the course. Then I crossed the river at 9th Street and stopped at Albertson’s. The woman at the Visitor Center was right – this is an easier store to access from Dick’s RV Park.

I came back to our site and picked up Donna. We rode the scooter over the bicycle race course. It starts out at Broadwater Bay Park, then goes south along River Road. This is fairly flat and very scenic. After about four and half miles, Lower River Road becomes Eden Road. The course climbs up Eden for nearly a mile, then it continues to gain elevation through a series of rolling hills. The short climbs are followed by short descents, but overall, it continues to gain elevation to the turnaround point. The rolling hills mean there are some climbs on the way back, but it should be fast coming back down Eden. The total distance is 40 kilometers or about 25 miles.

Last night, I grilled bacon-wrapped filet mignons and sweet potato fries for dinner and we ate outside at our picnic table – a great way to end a great day.