West Glacier NP and then Homeward Bound

Monday, July 13^th – West Glacier

Interesting sign as we ride up the west side of Glacier NP

Today was a transition day as we moved camps from the East Glacier to the West Glacier area.  Because of the height and length of the RV we were unable to drive across the Going to the Sun road and instead had to drive around the park on Highway 2.   Once we found our RV park, we stocked up on groceries and did laundry before heading into Whitefish for some sightseeing and dinner.

Tuesday, July 14^th

Our ride this morning was in a “less-traveled” section of West Glacier.  Leaving from the Apgar Visitor Center, we took gravel roads through the southwest side of Glacier on “The North Fork in the park road”.  The sign posted at the beginning of the ride says it all.  This area suffered from a massive fire about 13 years ago and it was interesting to see how the forest is rejuvenating.   We saw only one car driving on the road and three parked at Camus Creek.   At that point the road was closed to motorized traffic.   At 12 miles we turned around and headed back.  We passed two other bikers on our way back... a really quiet and peaceful ride in the wilderness.

A buck that was hanging out along our ride

After returning to the Visitor Center we rode the free shuttle to Logan Pass.  After riding up the other side of the mountain we wanted to see how this side compared.  The last 10 miles up to the pass is an engineering marvel of carving a road into rock for the 3000' ascent to Logan Pass. Most of the organized bike groups ride up to Logan pass from the West Side and then down to St. Mary’s.  Both sides are impressive and beautiful.  But compared to our morning ride, the “Road to the Sun” is like being in Disneyland…cars and shuttle buses everywhere.

Weds., July 15^th – Time to Head Home

It’s been a great time traveling around the northern plains states and seeing some areas we haven’t visited yet but it is now time to head home.  We are both looking forward to a little more space!  So it was time to pack up once again and this time head south.  We drove to Missoula, found a city park, had lunch and fooled around on the river trails before driving into Idaho.  We are camped just outside of the Salmon, ID along the Salmon river.

Total Bike Miles – 9.5

Thurs., July 16^th  - Idaho Falls and on to Ogden, UT

The falls in Idaho Falls

After the night in the fishing campground, we headed on to Idaho Falls.  We dropped the road tandem and took a quick tour of the “greenbelt” in downtown Idaho Falls.  After the ride we had a really nice lunch at the Snow Eagle Brew and Grill.  The food here was really good even though it was rated below several chain restaurants in the area.

We moved on to the Ogden, UT area to the Willard Bay State Park Campground.  This is a nice state park very close to I-15 with full RV hookups which is really good since it was 90 degrees when we pulled in at 5:30 PM.

This will be the last post as we slog our way back to ABQ and real life for a while.

Total Bike Miles - 12 miles