Biking in Glacier National Park
Off we go for the summer up to Canada. Because of a late afternoon doctor appointment for Donna for her 6 week post op check up, we didn't leave Denver until 5 PM on a Friday - needless to say, nasty traffic leaving town, but after Fort Collins it was smooth sailing up to Buffalo, Wyoming (beautiful mountain range to the west of Buffalo and Sheridan Wyoming, the Big Horn Mountains - no pics this time though, although I backpacked here about 5 years ago - very nice). Then another long days drive through Montana up to Kalispell, Montana (drove through Livingston, Bozeman, Butte, Missoula, and past beautiful Flathead Lake; Montana generally has bigger valleys than Colorado in the mountains and is definitely less populated - a very scenic drive). The plan was to drive the Going to the Sun Road through Glacier National Park (about 35 miles outside of Kalispell) and then on up to Banff, Alberta and the Canadian Rockies, but when we pulled up to the entrance to Glacier, there was a sign that said that Logan Pass was closed - which meant that we had to go to plan B. Having the road closed, however, ended up opening up a unique opportunity. The road was open for 16 miles, and when we drove to the end, we found out the road was open another 8 miles for hiking and biking. Well, we had our bikes with us as we plan on biking later in the trip, so we decided to bike the 16 miles RT up the road - a wonderful chance to bike in Glacier without any cars. Apparently there is a 2 or 3 week window most years, usually in May/June (although usually earlier than this) where you can do this. We thoroughly enjoyed the ride - magical.
McDonald Lake
McDonald Lake
Donna at McDonald Lake
Bike ride thru Glacier National Park
Bike ride thru Glacier National Park
Bike ride thru Glacier National Park
Bike ride thru Glacier National Park
Bike ride thru Glacier National Park
Bike ride thru Glacier National Park
Bike ride thru Glacier National Park
Bike ride thru Glacier National Park
Bike ride thru Glacier National Park
Bike ride thru Glacier National Park
Bike ride thru Glacier National Park
Bike ride thru Glacier National Park
These mountains are absolutely breathtaking! Great pictures as always. My only complaint is that there aren't enough pictures of you. :)
ReplyDeleteDon,
ReplyDeleteKen Vaught provided your blog address so I plugged in and enjoyed the pics of your glacier trip. Riding that road without traffic had to be a unique experience.
You know how to enjoy retirement!!
Retired here in Grand Junction. Most notable was a 17 day trip down the Grand Canyon back in April '14. The best part as spending 2+ weeks with our son--something I hadn't done since he was a teen 20 years ago. Njaquet
jaquetng@aol.co