I dallied in the morning before leaving still worried that the Going to the Sun Road wouldn’t open the following day, then at about 10:30 a text from the Glacier NP information service (I signed up for) said that it had opened it today! No chance in getting it in today but that’s okay the weather tomorrow looked much more promising for good views. Beverly told me about a better route to Glacier than I had taken to and from Glacier earlier. It had way less traffic, thank you Beverly.

When I arrived at Apgar campground, I set up my tent in a hiker biker campsite. Essentially they have three or four campers on the same campsite. It might sound less than ideal, but they only charge us eight dollars a night and most of the time hikers and bikers are good people. This night I was camping with two people, Cooper was from South Carolina and had just graduated High School and he was taking a trip to a bunch of different National Parks to celebrate. It took me till after graduating college to do something cool like that. This kids is living right.

The other person I was Camping with was Patrick from the UK. He has been bike touring for the last 6 weeks and had ridden on the coast of Oregon and now was at Glacier and planning to ride Going to the Sun road tomorrow He asked if I wanted to ride together. I thought that sounded like a smashing idea. He had just finished his PhD and was celebrating before he has to defend it and go to a great job in London he has lined up. 

Eating ice cream while looking at Lake McDonald should be illegal.

We were almost packed up at our lovely Airbnb in Whitefish and ready to drive to Glacier to drop me and my bike off, to camp till the road would open and my wife and son would drive back to the Missoula airport to fly home. Then I came to the reality of how uncomfortable it would be tent camping when it was 40 degrees and raining for a couple days. So even though I had made a camping reservation, I was all on board when my darling of a wife found the Montana Bike Hostel. I called and talked to Beverly and she said I would be welcome and gave me her address. I was extremely happy to have a roof over my head and not have to freeze my butt off in a wet tent for a couple days. The hostel may have been a port-a-shed but it was the finest appointed port-a-shed I have ever seen. It has beds, a fridge, a microwave, a hot plate, an electric kettle and a TV & DVD player.

Beverly and her friend German asked if I wanted to tag along to the Kalispell Farmers Market and visit Whitefish. I was excited because I knew a vendor at the market, remember Windy the market baker (Flathead Breads) that I dropped in on and got a bakery tour of her production space a week ago? Both Windy and Tim were at the market and I arrived just in time to buy her last two products an hour and a half before the end of the market. The croissant and orange spice roll. We’re both superb. I really enjoyed the play of the spices in the orange roll.

I made a real dinner in my comfy quarters, watched a movie and slept well.

Day 27 Montana Bike Hostel

It had been raining steady for over 24 hours and when It started to tapper off in the late morning, I decided a ride into Columbia Falls for lunch and to get food I didn’t need at the grocery. After my excursion to Columbia Falls I read some more of the book I found in the bike hostel last night. And then, the sun came out! It didn’t last long but felt so good while it was shining.

This book was recommended to me by the first Warmshowers host I stayed with on this trip. Thanks Liz! The author writes well. He has insight, a good sense of humor and just when you’re laughing, he hits you with a poetic line of truth.

Well, this is the first time I am caught up to date on this blog since the first couple days of my tour. I thought it would be pretty easy to keep up, ha!

Thanks for coming along for the ride so far.

Day 23 This day we really just migrated from Missoula to Whitefish and settled into our new surroundings.

But the next day, day 24, my wife and I got up and went for a walk to Whitefish Lake and fetched some bagels. And in the late morning, my son Leif joined us in going for a hike up Whitefish Mountain. Even though it is a ski resort mountain, it was a wonderful hike. Lots of wildflowers and Views. It was pretty clear and we could see Flathead Lake and Glacier in the distance.

On day 25 we went to Glacier National Park and had a timed ticket to drive Going to the Sun Road. On the way my son spotted a Moose. The cloud ceiling was a little low but it was high enough we weren’t in the fog till we got to the very top of Logan Pass. I was driving and the road is a little hairy at places. Beth, my wife, was a little uneasy about the road, or was it my driving? We will never know. The road bed was blasted out of a cliff in places, it is curvy and has two way traffic so it is understandable that my wife would be worried with a lesser driver at the wheel.

After crossing Logan Pass, we noticed there were a lot of cars parked next to a ravine and I saw there was a bear. It was rather dark for a Grizzly but with that hump on his shoulders and the general body outline there was no mistaking, it was a Grizzly.

This picture is zoomed in and cropped, we were not close to this bear.

The drive through Glacier on Going to the Sun Road was stellar when we got to the other side we had to decide whether we turn around and head back through the park or drive South and circle around the bottom of the park back to Whitefish. We chose the latter with the hope that we might get to see some Mountain Goats at the goat lick right off route 2 on the way back. No goats.☹️

By this time it was becoming apparent that Glacier was going to get a snow storm tonight, less than a week and a half from the 1st of July! Instead of getting on my bike the next morning and riding it with all my gear up Going to the Sun Road and continuing on my tour, I would have to take another zero day or maybe a few….

Decided to breakfast at Lake Baked Bakery in Big Fork. They made monster Cinnamon Rolls but I opted for the fruit, Strawberry roll. There was a little outdoor stage next to the bakery and soon there was some live music. Very nice to happen into.

Then I rode the 10 miles to Somers to meet my friend Bev from Walla Walla who I stayed with 11 days before. She was there visiting her friend Susan who was willing to store my bike for a few days while I was in Missoula. And Bev was driving to Missoula that day to see her sister and was willing to give me a ride! First we went to a local cafe for some lunch. Thanks Bev and Susan! You both are kind and caring and community oriented folks that make our country a great place to live.

I finally got to see my wife Beth at the hotel. It was good to share a long hug.

My son Leif and My sister in law (Evan’s Mom) also flew out. We had a great time exploring Missoula for the next three days.

I wasn’t on top of things in the morning. I had to get my phone and battery charged and plan out my route for the day since backtracking wasn’t in my original plan. I needed power and WiFi neither of which were available at the hiker biker campsite. So after breakfast and packing up camp, I migrated over to the visitor center. Once on the road the morning evaporated pretty quickly and I found myself eating lunch (Mexican PB&J) about 1:00 in a school parking lot. Shortly after which, I saw the most immense Lombardi Poplar I have ever witnessed next to the road.

In an attempt to stay off the busy road I had ridden the other day, I was trying to take the smaller parallel roads but would run into more hills and in some places the pavement gave way to gravel. Eventually I ended up passing the Mennonite Church I had camped at two nights ago and was stopped taking a picture when this guy Tim road up on his carbon fiber gravel bike and asked me where I was headed. He said he would show me a nice route that would keep me off the main highway, was very scenic and would dump me into the town of Big Fork that was right next to the State Park I was going to camp in that night. After a while of trying to keep up with him on my fully loaded touring bike, we were passing a house and he said “That’s my house, let’s stop, I want to give you some cookies my wife baked. She bakes and sells at farmers markets.” I laughed and told him I was a Farmer Market baker for 10 years. His wife Wendy was home and they were kind enough to give me a tour of her well equipped bakery space. Make sure if you’re in Montana, that you get to the Kalispell Farmers Market early so you can enjoy Flathead Bread’s marvelous products.

Tim is an Electrical Engineer but likes making high end furniture on the side and is trying to market his sleek turntable consoles that he expertly creates. Meeting Tim and Wendy was one of those magical serendipitous bike tour moments. They sent me off with some cookies and some route directions into Big Fork. Thanks Tim and Windy!

I had been through Big Fork on the highway 3 days ago and didn’t stop. Tim’s route took me into town on the Swan River Nature Trail. It was gorgeous and ended right in the middle of Big Fork. Big Fork was cute and the tractor beam from the ice cream shop almost pulled me in. The only reason it didn’t was I lied to myself and told myself I would come back after I ate a good dinner at the State Park. While in Big Fork I met a couple from California that was visiting their friend who moved to the area. The husband had ridden a bike across the country a few years ago with his wife and daughter driving an RV supporting his ride. He was a minister and said a prayer for my safe travels.

I had been staying at a few Hiker/ Biker campsites since I was just coming out of Portland but I think Wayfarer State Park is the Zenith when it comes to Hiker/Biker campsites. It had just about everything. The tent pads were level and had a nice layer of gravel that was like pea gravel. There was a picnic table/ shelter that had electricity to charge your devices and a bike stand to work on your bike! It had a water spigot. Bear proof trash cans and food storage boxes. Access to the campground bathhouse. It was all right on beautiful Flathead Lake and only cost eight dollars.!

When I rolled up to the campsite, I met Ed. He is riding the Continental Divide trail in sections. For this current section, he started at the Canadian Border and plans to ride home to Bolder, CO. I was embarrassed by the obscene amount of gear I am carrying on my bike when I looked at his svelte rig. I set up camp, went for a swim in Flathead Lake, took a short hike and settled down at the picnic table to make dinner where Ed and I had a wonderful conversation. I learned he was an Outward Bound Instructor and mountaineering guide. He told me about growing up in Massachusetts and deciding he belonged out West shortly after High School. He worked a number of jobs in different fields before he found himself gravitating toward a career in outdoor leadership. I enjoyed the conversation we had about his adventures and some of my early misadventures. Thanks Ed.

I got up at 4:00 and was on the road by 5:15 which got me to my Nephew’s Forest Service barracks (Hungry Horse, MT) in time to give him a hug and have a 15 minute catch up conversation in the parking lot.

The road got a little bad before Hungry Horse but afterwords, there was a separate paved bike path all the way to Glacier National Park.

My plan was to stop by the Apgar Campground, sign up for a”Hiker /Biker” campsite, climb the Going to the Sun Road unloaded and come back to the campground for the night. I wanted to do this because cars were still not allowed on the upper sections of Going to the Sun Road this season which makes it much easier for a cyclist to enjoy the views. Logan Pass is the highest point of the road but the last five miles before the pass was closed because of bear activity.

There were lots of folks riding bikes and e-bikes up on the section closed to cars. There were buses taking people to a place called Avalanche where the road closure (to cars) began and they would hop on rented e-bikes and go on up. I was thinking it was the way the park should be enjoyed by everyone, all of the time. It would make stopping and enjoying the view so much easier. With only a few scenic turnouts barely big enough to accommodate a couple cars along the road, it is hard to stop and take in the view in a car. I’m sure you could fit 20 or 30 folks on bikes in the same space. But instead the limits put on vehicles are a bit liberal, 8’x10’x21’.

There was a wonderful bike path from the entrance of glacier to the Apgar campground. However, when I arrived at the Apgar campground, I was a little confused about how to register for a hiker/biker campsite. Luckily I ran into Steve riding a tandem bicycle by himself. He and his wife Karen are riding across the US on the ACA’s Northern Tier route. They have been at the campground 6 days waiting for the road to fully open through the park.

I dropped most of my bags (and weight) at the campground once I went to the visitor’s center and used their WiFi and figured out how to download the reservation app and make a hiker/ biker camping reservation. Then I started up Going -to -the -Sun-Highway.

At first the grade was pretty gentle and there was a fair bit of car traffic. But past a place called Avalanche there were no private cars. There were a few of the classic red White Motor Company buses, that Glacier has used for tour buses since the 1930s, coming by and a few other authorized vehicles but for the most part bicycles ruled the road.

It didn’t take too long for the grade to increase and for me to find myself in my granny gear. But that was okay the grade was pretty steady and I just kept the peddles going round and enjoying the awe inspiring view. Thanks to Jeff and Chris at Bike Line in Middletown, DE who helped me swap out my smallest front chain ring to loose a couple teeth and make this climb possible or at least a lot easier.

Eventually I came to a barrier, five miles short of Logan Pass. There were three Park Service Staff answering people’s questions and making sure nobody went past the barrier. It was closed because someone let a black bear get ahold of their backpack and they were trying to trap the bear for relocation.

I had a blast descending the road but unfortunately have no pictures or video. When I got back to the hiker biker campsite I met the rest of the folks staying there. Carrie and Patsee were waiting on an elusive permit to hike the Continental Divide trail through Glacier and continue along the trail to the Mexican border! And Elliot was waiting, like Karen and Steve for the bear activity to end and be able to pass through Glacier on Going to the Sun road and continue on their cross country odysseys.

Good fortune was on their side, late in the day it was announced that going to the Sun Road would be open for bicycle travel through the park and Patsee and Carrie got the permit they were hoping for and would be hitching a ride to the Canadian boarder to start their through hike of the Continental Divide Trail.

I on the other hand would be going backwards to stash my bike in Somers, Montana and get a ride back to Missoula to meet my wife, my son and my sister in law for a week off the bike.

The road from Ronan to Polson has a sweet 12 mile separated bike path. I passed through the town of Pablo the seat of government for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes. They had a beautifully designed pedestrian/bicycle bridge (should have taken a picture) across the highway that connects most of the town to the Salish Kootenai College.

When I got to the edge of Polson I had to decide which side of Flathead lake I wanted to ride my bike on. Both sides are not all that bicycle friendly. The East side was a little more scenic, more direct, no shoulder but a little less traffic so I chose it. It was a little bit of a hair raising ride but with beautiful views of the lake. I stopped on a rock beach and a few more rocks wanted to jump in my bag, only one made it.

I had messaged a Warm Showers host in the morning about possibly hosting me tonight but she was having a busy week and said she couldn’t accommodate me but that there was a Mennonite Church down the street from her that allowed people bike touring to camp in their picnic pavilion, there was a spigot and a porta potty all for free! It was a little weird when I arrived and there was no one around to touch base with but I set up in the shelter and when someone would drive by on the road I would wave and no one came around asking what I was doing there. I was very happy to be under a roof when the sky finally broke open and dumped rain. I hadn’t set up my tent, just laid down a ground cloth, my sleeping pad and my sleeping bag. Luckily the rain didn’t blow sideways enough to get the middle of the shelter floor wet where my sleeping nest was set up.

The sunset lit up the house across the street and made it glow. It also created a red rainbow!

I realized when I was planning my route for tomorrow that I would be going by the town of Hungry Horse, MT where my other University of Montana nephew was staying for his wildland firefighting job. I could see him if I got up at 4:00 am and rode 20 miles to catch him before he shipped out to fight fires in Arizona.

Coming out of Missoula I gained a greater appreciation of the Adventure Cycling Association’s routes. So far I had been following their Lewis and Clark route from the Oregon coast. This morning I was following my own route and just on the edge of Missoula it had me turn onto a Railroad right of way road that proved less than ideal. When I hit pavement, about an hour later, I resolved to be a little more discerning.

The name of the game for the day was where will Carl camp tonight. That’s another thing that the Adventure Cycling Association’s maps help you out with. As the day went on, I rode onto the Flathead Indian Reservation (1.3 million acres!) and discovered that it is hard to camp afforably on the reservation. You needed to get a $100 permit and then pay a camping fee approaching another $100. When I stopped to soak my feet in a stream and eat lunch, I ran into a local rafting guide that had stopped for a swim in the swimming hole. He was very kind and called his boss to ask if I could camp on the rafting company’s land but the answer was no.

I came through a pass and had a dramatic view of the mission mountains. There was a rest stop, and I stopped to get some water. But the only place was a spigot and I was not sure if it was potable water. Then I ran into a couple road construction supervisors that were taking in the view, they had some water on the truck that they were kind enough to give me a couple bottles and they gave me a vague suggestion for camping.

Then further down the road I came across an open gate that said No trespassing but it also said hipcampers welcome. Hipcamp is a website where people list places to camp usually for a fee, think camping Airbnb. I had the app on my phone and I looked to see if this was listed but it wasn’t. I went to a store to ask who owns the land and they said it was part of the reservation and they had never heard of Hipcamp. They pointed me to a store across the road and said they might know more, they didn’t. But they did know there was tent camping down the road at an RV park. So I got back on my bike and started cruising, it was getting late.

I arrived at Ronan, MT and the Diamond S RV park was on the way out of town. The woman in the office, who I assumed was the owner, was very kind and gave me the bicycle rider discount and set me up with a site that had a hammock and view of the mission mountains. Thank you! I had a wonderful stay at the Diamond S RV park and would recommend it to everyone even if you don’t have an RV.

Started the day right with a bakery visit. I know, I am predictable.

Next I went to the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) headquarters. They are a Mecca for bicycle tourists. They are a non profit started in the 1970s in Missoula. They first organized as “Bikecentennial” around getting more folks bike touring and they planned a cross country route and ride called the Bikecentennial to celebrate the Bicentennial of America in 1976. Folks signed up to ride across the country and experienced leaders lead small groups on the route that they called the TransAm.

When I was a kid, probably around 10 or 11 years old, I remember sitting on the floor in front of the book case that held my parents National Geographic collection and pulling out an edition that had an article about the Bikecentennial and seeing pictures of people in tube sox and cut off jeans riding bikes (that didn’t look like they would make it across the country) across the country. I remember thinking “Wow, I guess you could get on your bike and ride it across the country.” I didn’t make a plan to do it some day but a seed was planted.

The Adventure Cycling Association has established over 50,000 miles of routes in America and will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year.

l decided to put my bike in the bike stand outside of the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) headquarters and clean and lube the drive train. Then I realized why my bike was making a creaking sound. One of the support attachments for the back rack was broken! The Good folks at the ACA steered me to a local independent bike shop around the corner called Hellgate Cyclery. And I talked to them about repairing or replacing the rack, ultimately we decided replacing it was the right way to go. And they somehow squeezed me into their busy schedule and called me in a few hours saying it was done. Thank you Hellgate Cyclery!

While I was waiting on the bike rack installation, I caught a ride on Missoula’s free bus system back to my Nephew’s to do some organizing. I took the bus back downtown to get my bike and by the time I got back, my Nephew was just getting home from his job. I wanted to take him out for dinner so we rode back downtown. Missoula’s system of bike paths and bike lanes is pretty impressive. We had a great meal and headed back home. Thanks Evan for putting your old uncle Carl up for a couple nights.

Today was the day our intrepid hero climbed his first mountain pass with a fully loaded bike. In reality, I was climbing this pass yesterday all day too. In the 53 miles I rode yesterday, I gained 2500 feet in elevation. Today in 48 miles I climbed 3,851 feet. So yeah, a bit steeper.

So there’s this thing that a lot of bicycle tourists talk about that I think I’m starting to understand, it’s called second breakfast. And lucky for me there was Lochsa Lodge for me to get a second breakfast from today. The only gas, lodging and food for a great many miles in each direction. My animal brain took over and I ended up ordering a crème brûlée doughnut and fries, a cycle tourist wants what he wants. 

Right before the grade got even steeper, there was a beautiful grove of monster Western Red Cedar.

I have been following the Lewis and Clark Expedition route since the coast of Oregon. Sometimes I get cocky and think I am on a real adventure but when you think about what they faced, my tour pales in comparison as an adventure.

As I climbed higher, it continued to get steeper and more exposed to the sun. Even at the higher elevation it was hot. Finally, after an inordinate amount of climbing, I reached Lolo pass. I’m thinking it should be renamed “Hihi” pass. Crossing the pass I also crossed a couple of other things a time zone and a state line.

So instead of finding the nearest hospital or campground after all that climbing, I decided it was mostly down hill to Missoula and I should ride the rest of the way so I could sleep at my Nephew’s place, get a shower and Pizza. It was a sound decision. I have 2 Nephews in Missoula going to the University of Montana. One is off fighting wildland fires for the forest service this summer and the other one is staying in town and working 2 jobs for the summer.