Going Over the Top: Going to the Sun

Day 12 07/11 Libby, MT to Rocky Gorge Campground (Eureka, MT)

42 miles

The main attraction on our route today was the Libby Dam. We ended up at Rocky Gorge campground, which was another great USFS campground with a lake to ourselves.

Libby Dam high side...

Libby Dam low side...

Rocky Gorge Campground - on a lake formed by the Libby Dam.

Day 13 07/12 Rocky Gorge Campground (Eureka, MT) to South Dickey Lake Campground (Fortine, MT)

45 miles

Today's ride took us to our most northern point, about 15 miles from the border with Canada. We saw a border patrol truck in Eureka, MT.

Scenes from today's road:

Dickey Lake - we had to walk a block to use the beach, but still a nice campground.

Day 14 07/13 South Dickey Lake Campground (Fortine, MT) to Whitefish Bike Retreat

30 miles

We booked 2 nights at the Whitefish Bike Retreat. This place caters more to mountain bikers. They have a mountain bike trail system and lots of people use it as a launching point to ride the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. But they had camping, showers and most importantly a shuttle to Glacier Park. We had planned to ride to Glacier and end our trip there. But we were running short on time so we decided to stay here and have them shuttle us to Glacier. This saved 2-4 days of riding and camping in or around crowded Whitefish.

I didn't take any good pictures on the ride, mostly just shoulder of a highway. But here are some pictures of the entrance to Whitefish Bike Retreat.

They have lots of families with little kids riding bikes so there are lots of signs for cars to slow down coming into the camp.

If you can't read the yellow font it says "Slow the F Down."

Day 15 07/14 Whitefish Bike Retreat to Glacier Park/Going to the Sun Road

93 miles by shuttle

42 miles by bike

Shuttle route (both ways):

Bike route (elevation included):

Going to the Sun Road is a well known road for cyclists to bike. The park lets cyclists use the road long with cars - but bikes have to reach the top by 11am (when traffic picks up). Marlene was feeling sick, so I did this day by myself.

Here is some info about the road from Glacier's website:

"Much of the climbing, however, occurs over the last 10 miles where the road tops out at the pass at an elevation of 6646 feet. The average gradient for this section of the ride is roughly 5.7%. To put those numbers in perspective, L'Alpe d'Huez, one of the most famous and notoriously difficult climbs in the Tour de France, climbs roughly 3770 feet in 9.4 miles, has an average gradient of 7.6%, and tops out at 6068 feet. It's likely the Going-to-the-Sun Road climb would rank among the top 20 toughest climbs in the Tour de France, and would likely be a category 1 climb."

Lots of pictures:

Down by the river is the road I started on.

Despite the 90-100 degree temperatures in town, there is still plenty of snow up high.

Almost to the top here.

Made it!

Day 16 07/15 Whitefish Bike Retreat to Kalispell, MT

22 miles by bike

Marlene left the night before. On the last day I cycled to Wheaton Cycles in Kalispell who helped me box and ship my bike home. I stayed the night in Kalispell and flew home the next day.

The ride into Kalispell was not exciting - a little bit of farm and a little bit of housing developments.

Julie's Cafe in Kalispell, great breakfast.

FINAL STATS:

17 days (15 biking, 2 at either end of trip)
23,711 feet (4.49 miles) total climb
23,970 feet (4.54miles) total descent
570 miles total distance
FINAL ROUTE (2 maps)

Day -1, 06/28/21:

We are planning a short bike loop around part of Montana and Idaho. Below are details and a map of the rough plan:

Participants: Brian, Marlene, Matt, Jules (Ol' Gal)

Impetus for ride: This ride stems from Covid Cabin Fever and Matt's desire to ride 3 trails: Route of Hiawatha, Couer d'Alene Trail and Going to the Sun Road.

Dates:

06/29/21 - 07/06/21: Ol' Gal and Brian will depart for home around Coeur d'Alene on July 6ish.
06/29/21 - 07/19/21: Matt and Marlene will continue on hopefully reaching Kalispell around July 19

Route (Approximate):

Preparation Pictures (Matt & Ol' Gal only, Brian and Marlene are prepping at their home in Seattle):

Stuff going on Matt's bike (part 1):

tent
clothes
sleeping bag, pillow, sleeping pad
camp towel
water purification
headlamp
bike pump
first aid stuff

Stuff going on Matt's bike (part 2):

Bike tools (spare tubes, multi tool, spokes, pedal wrench, chain tool)
Laptop
Bannanagrams
Lock
Stove/dishes
Electronics (camera, solar charger, cords, headlights, etc...)

Stuff going on Ol' Gal's bike:

Solar charger
Sleeping bag, sleeping pad, pillow, bug net
Camp towel
2 Camp chairs
Clothes, iPad (not pictured)

Here are the bikes loaded to make sure it all fits (bags not rolled shut).

Matt's bike:

Ol' Gal's bike

Day 0, 06/29/21:

I forgot to take a picture of the bikes boxed up and ready to fly. But here is a picture of us unboxing the bikes in our Missoula hotel room and assembling the bikes.

The chess trophy is supervising.

Day 1, 06/30/21 Missoula, MT to Alberton, MT

31 miles

Today's trip was a combo of back roads near the airport and a bike path along a frontage road near I-90. (Due to the 100 degree weather we are keeping the mileage low)

As an fyi - there are several chess trophy pictures in this blog. I won the office chess trophy and get to travel with it all summer.

Cool old house right outside of Missoula.

Bridge to nowhere.

Requisite old barn shot.

Chess trophy getting thirsty...

Rest stop at Frenchtown State Park.

You can swim at Frenchtown State Park, but another sign warned of parasites and said to shower immediately after swimming. So we passed on that.

Chess trophy wants to swim.

We camped at an RV park which was not great. But a mile away was a private sandy beach on the Clark Fork River. This has been the best "swimming hole" so far on the trip. We mostly had this beach to ourselves, with a few local kids popping in.

Here is the chess trophy enjoying the sun and sand.

The crew on the beach.

Look closely for the bald eagle. He sat in the tree right above us.

Day 2, 07/01/21 Alberton, MT to Spring Gulch, MT

35 miles

Today we were routed on some back roads, gravel roads and through some private property. It was hard riding - rocky, dusty and hot.

Information about part of a historic trail - we didn't know we were on it until seeing this sign.

Old tunnel.

Marlene and Ol' Gal on a typical road for today.

We crossed through a lot of "no trespassing signs" and "stay off my property" signs. This was the most creative - read the yellow part under Mead Ranch.

We do not all live in a yellow submarine.

The chess trophy loves old bridges...

Tonight we camped on someone's property using a site called HipCamp - think Air BnB for camping. It was.... interesting. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Entrance to the property...

Sorry for the dark picture...but requisite used cars and Don't Tread on Me flags...

Day 3 07/02/21 Spring Gulch, MT to near Haugan, MT

27 miles

Today we picked up the Olympian Trail. It was a little rougher than desired, but took us through some nice scenery. I saw 3 moose which were too quick for my camera.

Leaving the HipCamp site, the owner showed us a short cut which involved more hiking than biking but saved us 8-10 miles.

Here is how the path started.

Then we had to hike down a hill. Ol' Gal is leading the way.

Due to a routing error by Matt we reached a point where we had to either hop on I-90 or back track 15 miles. We decided to take I-90. Speed limit is 80mph in this area of Montana...

Entrance ramp:

Much to our surprise, one side of I-90 was closed due to construction so we ended up having a 2 lane interstate to ourselves to ride to our midway point. Here is Marlene and Ol' Gal riding right down the middle of I-90!

The Olympian Trail was pretty rough, we had to do a knee deep crossing with our bikes and gear.

There was no official campground and only one crappy motel. So Brian found us this free campsite by the St. Regis river. There were a couple of kids swimming but they left near 6pm and we had the river to ourselves.

As a side note, Brian has been driving a support vehicle. He decided not to ride but kindly offered to shuttle our gear for the first leg. So on this day he drove ahead and scouted camping.

Day 4 07/03/21 near Haugan, MT to Route of the Hiawatha

20 miles

We skipped about 10 miles of the Olympian Trail. We learned yesterday that it is mostly bumpy, dusty and increasingly full of ATV riders. (Although all the ATV riders were polite and slowed down so as not to dust us out). Brian shuttled us to the Route of the Hiawatha.

You can check the website for more info. But this is an old railway line that is a very nice bike trail now. Most people bike from the east to the west, which is downhill. Then there is a shuttle back to the start.

We biked both ways and Brian found us a great, free camp spot near the east end.

I took a lot of pictures and I'll let them describe the day. This is the best bike trail I have ever ridden.

Marlene...

Ol' Gal

That's Ol' Gal in the distance...

I have not been respectful of the chess trophy.

Day 5 07/04 East Portal (Route of Hiawatha) to Wallace, ID

27 miles

Today we took the Nor-Pac Trail and the very beginning of the Trail of Couer d'Alene to get from the Route of the Hiawatha to Wallace, ID.

The Nor-Pac involved 1100 feet of climbing. This is not a big deal to people who ride hills a lot. But for Ol' Gal and Matt I think this was a personal record.

The trail started with a dead end sign, but we tried anyways and were able to find a route around the closed portion.