Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Tracing the 2026 Tour Divide (Part 1): The Long Chase
For the first installment of his annual Tour Divide field report, photographer Eddie Clark spent nine days leapfrogging the race across Montana, Wyoming, and beyond, chasing riders through hailstorms, wildlife refuges, moonlit basins, and remote mountain passes. In this piece, he catches up with race leader Victor Bosoni, Meaghan Hackinen, and Felix Laberge and shares his perspective on the landscapes, trail angels, and fleeting moments that rarely make it onto the Tracker…
PUBLISHED Jun 22, 2026
Another year and another fast Tour Divide with plenty of racers raising the bar on what was already thought impossible.
The race started in typical chilly, wet weather as 230+ racers rolled out of Banff. Due to a rock slide that closed the road from Canmore to the Spray Valley and an additional season closure further south on Highway 40, I opted to start my coverage on a section of the route further south between Round Prairie and Elk Pass that I had yet to photograph. Ten hours of driving and $200 in fuel simply wasn’t a worthy compromise to get a few usable photos in Banff.
The weather started with small cells of light rain and progressed into larger cells of pouring rain with hail, broken up by small windows of sunshine and blue sky. It paid to go fast and get ahead of the bad weather, which also set racers up for a Koko Claims climb and descent in daylight rather than the always-slower darkness. The same held true for me photographing this section, and as the weather deteriorated, so did the scenic beauty. After five hours of photographing racers, I was about 100 deep into the field, and it was time to head south to Fernie.
I arrived in Fernie just after Victor had already stopped for a very quick refuel. At the 7-Eleven, I grabbed some photos of Xavier Chiriboga and Alex McCormack on their first resupply before heading back into the Canadian wilderness. The weather had already gotten considerably nicer with mid-60°F temps, a light breeze, and no rain. This is where the route got fast.
After getting resupply shots in Fernie, it was back to the USA to set myself up for the next morning’s photos around Eureka. Typically, this isn’t the best spot to catch the race leaders as they usually ride through in the dark, but I was more set on the location and getting what I could while learning more about Eureka. Located in the Tobacco Valley, the small town has a long history dating back to the Indigenous Kutenai (Ktunaxa) people (Upper Kootenay in Canada and Lower Kootenai in the USA), who inhabited the area for 10,000 years. Pioneers first arrived to trap beaver in the early 1800s, and by the late 1800s, ranchers moved into the lush, wide, and fertile valley named after the tobacco grown by the Kootenai tribe. The early 1900s saw Eureka become home to the largest lumber mill in Montana, and it was even once called the Christmas tree capital of the world.
It took me longer than expected to get down the Flathead Valley to Columbia Falls, where I’d do a quick photo edit and refuel. From there, it was time to move further down the route to Holland Lake in the Swan Valley, where I’d get my first bath in its very cool, clear waters. For anyone considering this route, the swim beach at the lake is just a few hundred feet off it and is worth every bit of time lost for a swim to get cleaned up. After a quick dip, I got myself to the other side of Richmond Divide for some evening and night photography in the big, clear, and dark skies of northern Montana.
At this point, it was a tough but necessary decision to skip a large portion of the route from Ovando to Butte so I could grab photos of race leader Victor, who was setting a blistering pace that only previous winner Robin Gemple had been able to maintain. A delay on this mission would mean an even more costly drive to photograph him again before the finish, and this was the section to do it with, I-80 intersecting the route several times here.
I caught up with him on Big Sheep Creek, Lima, and just down the route from Lima, all the while being extremely considerate not to upset or negatively impact his rhythm. It was the first real chance I had to observe how he looks on the bike, his kit, and even exchange a few words with him off the bike about his ride so far. I was impressed. On the bike, he looked damn good and extremely fast, riding with a fluidity seen only at the highest level among World Cup professional racers. His bike was also equally fast, very aero, and extremely dialed, with no detail overlooked. Most importantly, he was having fun and enjoying the ride—impressive to say the least!
After getting some parting shots of Victor, it was off to a nearby reservoir to catch up on some much-needed sleep. When you’re up before sunrise, going all day, and shooting photos until after midnight, the sleep deprivation wears on you, and I was tired. I got some more work done the next morning and took a quick dip in the cold reservoir before heading out to work an area of the route in southern Montana.
When I was learning the route, I used to follow the racers wherever, trying to get nice photos where they were, but now it’s become more about the bigger picture, spending time in my personal favorite areas of the route and trying to get photos of the racers as they pass through. With advances in technology, modern internet access, and a broader understanding of the race and its personality, my strategies and personal goals for photographing the Tour Divide have evolved. This day would be spent photographing a section of the route that I love from Medicine Creek Lodge Rd into Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.
I spent most of the next morning enjoying myself in Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge was created to preserve the habitat used by trumpeter swans to nest and raise their young. It serves as—in my opinion—one of the most majestic refuges in the Lower 48, where countless species live year-round, and birds and waterfowl use it for nesting and migratory stops. Not to mention, there’s no pavement in the entire refuge, and the closest store is 45 miles away in any direction. It’s about as wild as Montana gets, one of the more beautiful and expansive sections of the route, and easily one of my very favorite places to immerse myself with nature.
After some deliberation, I set my sights on Union Pass in Wyoming for my next photo destination. Driving up to Union Pass always puts a smile on my face, and it was the farthest north I worked when I shot the Tour Divide for my second time in 2010. This time, I’d approach from the north after getting some photos on the preceding Togwoteed Pass. I put my truck in 4×4 low to crawl my way up Fish Lake Mountain Road, going full send through some mud bogs, and eventually making it to the high point of the route at 9,600 feet, just at dusk. The views were dramatic, as was the light, and I enjoyed the silence while waiting for a racer to arrive, which didn’t happen until after dark again.
I drove back down the route to spend the night next to Fish Creek Bridge, partly to not sleep so high, in part to save time in the morning, and most importantly, to stay out of the way of racers heading down that tight and rough 4×4 road where my truck would certainly impede their progress since they could descend it far faster than me in my truck. Next was another big highway jump to get to the basin for another night in another one of my all-time favorite places, the Great Divide Basin. Yet again, I missed sunset photos, but I got something I’d never ever expected: a photo of a beaver running next to a racer in the Basin.
A few riders passed in the dark, while I sat in my truck with the lights and motor off, just a couple of hundred unsuspecting feet off the route. It was chilly, and I found myself questioning my decision on where I should sleep until I was so sleepy it no longer mattered. Of all the places I could park, pretty much anywhere out there, I unknowingly parked right next to a grave, which made for a different start to my day. It was a solid seven-hour sleep, and with no dots to stalk, I slowly made my way out of the Basin, stopping to glass the hillsides and observe the numerous wild horses in the Flattop Buttes area. I also found part of the reason for where I saw the beaver the previous day. Still a bit perplexing considering how dry the Colorado and Wyoming winters were, the Basin was holding more water this year than I can ever recall seeing since my first jaunt into it in 2009. It makes no sense, I don’t get it, but maybe it’s not for me to understand.
I only stopped to refuel in Wamsutter, which I still consider the armpit of the Tour Divide. Maybe one of these days the route will go back to its origins with a full 140-mile pull across the Basin to Rawlins, Wyoming. With a full tank of gas, Brush Mountain and a hot shower were next on my list.
Brush Mountain Lodge is unquestionably the best racer stop and sanctuary on the entire route, and home to the original trail angel, Kirsten Henriksen. I’ve been here for a day, resting, recharging, catching up on work, writing this post, talking with racers, and, most importantly, hanging out with my friend Kirsten to catch up on life and talk about the evolution of this race. The verdict isn’t in: it’s still a work in progress, and it’s definitely become bigger than all of us combined.
Lastly, I get plenty of messages and comments about photographing and telling stories of mid-pack and back-of-the-pack racers, and there are certainly stories there to tell. It’s awesome that so many folks challenge themselves on the Tour Divide, but unfortunately, I don’t have the bandwidth for everyone out here. The racing does not stop for me, and the math is inescapable even when I’m able to blast down the interstate, off-route, at 80 miles per hour. In the last nine days, I’ve driven 2,722 miles, spent $686 on gas, and the race leader is already 861 miles ahead of the second-place woman, which is approaching my limit for driving on the interstate in one day. As always, only my wife really knows where I’m going, but I’ll do my best to get the good photos and stories I can before I point my truck home in another week.
Have fun, ride fast, and be safe!
Stay tuned for more from the 2026 Tour Divide, and be sure to tune into our Tracker to follow the dots!
Check out the 2026 Tour Divide Tracker page to follow along on the live tracking map, and stay tuned in for more event coverage. Find it here.
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