8 days, 7 States, 5 National Parks

Saturday, June 25

While doing my morning bike check and maintenance I noticed that my chain had stretched quite a bit since the previous day’s ride. I gave it a good clean & lube and adjusted the tension. I also noticed a big difference between the chain’s “tight spot” and "loose spot". This made adjustment difficult. I then loaded up my gear and headed immediately into Glacier Park.



I took the “Going to the Sun Road” from St. Mary to Apgar, a marvelous stretch of road with simply stunning scenery. The road is about 51 miles but still took me over 2 hours to complete. I stopped a LOT to take pictures of the lakes, streams, springs, mountains and wildlife. The first nine miles of the road follows St. Mary Lake -- yup, the lake is 9 miles long. I was very pleased to find that I had a nice calm morning.

Chilly and somewhat overcast, but the calm was very peaceful.


As I continued following the lake I saw the next view and had to circle back for a photo op. A ranger drove past just as I was backing the bike through the barriers for the photo, but didn't stop or return.

St. Mary Lake and Wild Goose Island.


Continuing on I rounded a corner and saw a bighorn sheep checking out the early traffic, which consisted of me and one other car. I suspect the sheep had a GPS tracking device around his neck. Although he was a pretty worn-looking older animal he had no problem jumping a large ditch and running up the hill when more traffic came along.



I motored on to the top of the park to “Logan Pass,” where I crossed the Continental Divide once again, back to the west side of the Rockies.



About half a mile down there was a parking lot/vewpoint. As I approached I saw 7 or 8 cars parked and people gathering in the parking lot. Curious, I slowed down and pulled in.

This guy getting a lot of people’s attention. Lot's of cameras clicking away here!


Some people were walking up to within 3-4 feet of the mountain goat. I could hardly believe it. These are wild animals whose space should be respected. I actually had to ask a lady to move so I could get a photo without her in it.

The road down from Logan Pass was very scenic with many twisties, vistas and waterfalls. No high speed runs here. I took it slow to enjoy the spectacular views.





One of the many stair-step waterfalls along this road.


This series of falls is called the weeping wall.


And some smaller ones.




There were also some big waterfalls.


That’s Bird Woman Falls, with a 495-foot drop. It was created by a small glacier joining a large glacier, leaving what is called a hanging valley.

Bird Woman Falls (left, above my mirror) and McDonald Creek (down in the valley).


McDonald Creek (left) and the road down.


Heavens Peak. I must be getting close!


Well, since my last name is Logan I just had to get this photo of “my” creek.


McDonald Creek.


They do tours in Glacier Park in these rigs.




I took Hwy 2 out of the west side of Glacier Park toward Hwy 93 south. Then it was on to Hwy 35 to Hwy 83 south, which passed Swan Lake and Seely Lake before ending at Hwy 200 which I took west to I-90 and Missoula. At Missoula I got onto Hwy 93 south to Lolo and Hwy 12, known as the Lolo Hwy. This simply should not be missed if you are anywhere in the vicinity. I sure wish I would have taken a picture of the sign that indicated 77 miles of windy roads. This long stretch of road should cure just about anybody’s desire for twisty roads.

Just before the Lolo Pass I was behind a car that was cruising at about 50mph. I had followed the car for miles, looking for a passing zone. On a fairly long open section I decided to make the pass. Just as I pulled out to pass the car a very large (over 200 lbs) Mountain Lion appeared out of the bushes to the left. This was probably bout 20 feet in front of the car I was getting ready to pass.

It took this big cat 3 bounds to go from the left side of the road into the bush on the right side. The first jump the big cat made was to the center line. He was dead ahead of me and close. The lady in the car started applying her brakes, as did I. The second jump was from the center line to the right side of the road. I saw him through the cars window. The third Jump took him up into the bushes and out of sight! Now that was just too cool! This took all of about 2 seconds.

I continued with passing the car. We were both lucky that we weren’t closer, or that the big cat didn’t stop after his first jump.

Within a few miles of dodging the mountain lion I stopped at the Lolo Summit Lodge and to got some literature on the area. This was also the border crossing into Idaho.



I also asked about the dirt bypass route I had heard about and was told that it was still snowed under at the higher elevations. So much for trying that one out this time! Too bad. I'd heard that it's a pretty nice bypass. This section of the trip provided miles and miles of twisty bliss (remember the 77 miles of curves sign that I didn't get a picture of).



When Hwy 12 went into Kooskia I went south on Hwy 13 and joined up with Hwy 95 south to Weiser, Idaho. This section of Hwy 95 also had some pretty spectacular sections of road that basically followed a ridge line down.



Across a small valley from this descent was a long stretch of switchback road that twisted back and forth for quite a while. It sure looked like it would be fun to ride! I didn't see any traffic on it nor were there any houses around. Not sure what it was really built for.



When I got to Weiser I found that they were hosting the annual Old Time Fiddlers Festival as well as a “Biker Rodeo”. I went in and listened to the top 3 finalists in the fiddlers festival at the Weiser High School. They were very, very good. But it was getting late and I was pretty tired. After looking around I decided that there was no (peaceful) place to sleep here for the night. I departed Weiser and crossed the Idaho/Oregon border and stayed in Ontario, Oregon for the night.

Total miles: 577

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