In Browning we got our laundry done, had some good pizza AND slept in a nice soft bed (without the invisible ants!). Good thing the invisible ones only live in Fairfield, MT. We were alittle nervious about riding across the Blackfeet Reservation. But it turned out to be not so bad. The hotel was clean and nice. When we got up in the morning we stopped at the gas station for breakfast. I think this has to be the busiest gas station I have ever seen. It was packed. The weather was really nice. Not too hot for a change. The wind wasn't blowing anything like the day before. We left Browning on Star School road. That way we could avoid the busier highway 89 for awhile anyway. We saw several houses that were pretty run down. We also saw ranging horses. They just let their horses run loose without any fences. I think they do the same with their dogs. We sure saw alot of them. After awhile two of the horses started running along side the bike, it was pret cool. So now we have herded running buffalo, running cattle. How many times have YOU done that. We were riding west so we got great views of Glacier Park coming up right in front of us. At the junction of Rt 89 and Star School we had to stop because ONE of us had to go to the bathroom. I had to improvise alittle but I made it. We were at the junction where Two Medicine River road goes into the park. A fireman, who happened to be a Blackfeet indian stopped to put up signs about fire warnings. He came over and talked for quite awhile. He was super nice, even asking how we liked the reservation. He told us that there was a terrible fire in Glacier Park in 2003. 57,000 acres burned. Part of the park is ont the reservation so he was tellling us that there was an argument over how the fire started, who was going to get the wood and things like that. We left him and rode north on Rt 89 to St Mary's which is on the west side of the park. There were several long climbs which weren't bad. The worst part was all of the people who either passed an inch from our elbows or refused to pass even when there was plenty of room. We also passesd a group of cyclist on a Backroads Bicycle Adventure. This is an organized ride sponsored by a company called Back. Adventures. They had support leaders who carried all of their gear and all they had to do was ride! Mmmm.....who'd have thought of that?
In St Mary's we got something to eat and rode down to the KOA to camp. It cost $28 to pitch a tent! Seemed alittle steep. There was another campgound across the road. I called them and they were only $24 / tent. And they said they had internet access and great views. Because they were on TOP of the hill. We got over there and checked in. I asked about the internet and he said "oh that's $4.00 more sign up and .59 cents / minute to use it. I think they see us coming................. He said the tent sights are down there. We get on the bike ride all the way over the hill and down the back side. So now we are in a field with a few trees and NO view. We set up camp and head for the showers....only to find we needed to put tokens in them!!!!! That was the last straw. We walked UP to the (remember now we're at the bottom of the hill) office. Hap said what do you want to do. I said LEAVE! We went in and told the guy we weren't happy and wanted to leave. He refunded our money, we walked back down to the tent, took down the tent, rode back up the hill (did I mention the gravel), rode back over to KOA and stayed there. The next morning I tried to get online to work on the blogsite. I couldn't get on line. So I asked for a password, she said it was huckleberry. No matter what I did I couln't get on line. She said it must be your computer, cause ours is working fine! Strange that ours has worked everywhere for the last 3 months! Oh well. I went out to join Hap for the all you can eat pancakes. Today was a rest day for us. We left the KOA, went into the park and set up camp at the St Mary's campground that is just inside the east entrance to the park. One thing that seemed altittle odd was that at the KOA we asked them about bear boxes (theses are heavy duty boxes that is provided to put food and any item that has an odor in it at night or when you leave the camp). They replied oh we don't worry about the bears they aren't a problem. When we were acrosss the street at the place we originally set up camp, we asked the same thing, they replied "we don't worry about that too much, we haven't had a bear through here since last month!" Now we're inside Glacier Park (about a mile from both of these other campgrounds) and the "wardens" that's what I called them anyway., Actually the park rangers! told us very carefully in checking in about the dangers of the bears, what to do with food, where the bear boxes were, etc. They walked around the campgrounds making sure no one broke any of the rules with their food. Believe me, we used the bear boxes, I wanted to make sure that if a bear "came walking through" he went to the next campsite and not ours! We rode up to the visitor center for a program at 8pm and then headed to bed.
Sunday morning we got up and went to the church service in the park. It was a beautiful setting for a service. The mountains were all around us. We rode out of camp and headed up over the continental divide at Logan Pass (about 6700 feet). We have climbed it two times before, once on a tour from Calgary to Salt Lake City and another Missoula to Banff to Missoula. I am not sure if it is easier from the east or the west. We saw a sign that said it was 6% grade for 15 miles. It was just so beautiful. We stopped a zillion times for pictures. But I don't think they can do any of the scenery justice. The traffic wasn't too bad. We were alittle surprised by that. We spent quite a bit of time at the visitor center before heading down. On the way down we saw a mt goat. We camped at Avalanche creek, the closest campground to the pass. A nice campground, but no showers for tonight. There are no showers anywhere in Glacier Park. We took a cold bath in the creek.We set up our tent on alittle bit of green instead of the dirt that was there. After we got all set up the "warden" came over and asked us to move the tent off the "vegetation". We did that. Then Hap dumped about a cup full of wash water on the other side of the road. He got busted again by the "warden'. We started keeping our eye out for her!
Monday morning we got up and left for a short ride to West Glacier to meet Bing and Susie who are driving out from Indiana with there Airstream trailer and their four standard poodles. While we were waiting for them we got our laundry done and grabbed some lunch. We met them at Fish Creek campground. It was so good to see them!
Tuesday we got a late start, but Bing drove all of us up and over the pass to Many Glacier. We stopped for lunch in St Mary's. In Many Glacier we saw a grizzly bear and her cub on a hillside. Just the way I wanted to see one, way OVER THERE! We stopped many times for pictures. At the pass we saw a whole family of mountain goats, a mountain sheep (standing in the parking lot) and a hoary marmot. It was a super fun day with some good friends. Back at the campsite we had grilled chicken, broccoli and rice for dinner.
Today's ride was another short one. We didn't get away from West Glacier until about 2:30pm. Today was mail day so we stopped to pick up some mail and to mail home some things. Bing and Susie left town before we did. It was sad to see them go. We took Rt 2 to Hungry Horse and then headed south on Rt 206 to Kalispell. The traffic on Rt 2 was just awful. No shoulders and everyone in a hurry to get little Johnny to get an ice cream cone. And if you have to kill a cyclist in the process so be it. Sorry but it was a rough one. I just felt like a target. But it was only for about 10-15 miles or so. We took another side road and had to ride maybe five miles or so on gravel. But then that's why we bought these heavy duty tires! We got into Kalispell and stopped at the Shady Acre RV park right on the Flathead River. We rode up to the grocery store about 1.5 miles away for supplies. It was really nice to be able to shower.
I hope I can post more often but we are in the mountains now so.....................next time......
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