Going to the Sun

Friday 5/11 Day 21

Well today is the day I go to he sun road n Glacier National Park. I have to go about thirty miles to West Glacier, the entrance, and then I'm at the famous road over the pass, the going to the sun road. Anyways that was on my mind today as I woke up and packed for the day. Susie prepared me huckleberry pancakes for breakfast, they were very good. After a quick breakfast I said goodbye to Dallas and Susie and went on my way to the park. As I mentioned yesterday there were some back roads to the park and Columbia Falls to rid myself of the stress of riding on the main road. My plan was to drop most I my stuff off at the house that I was staying at in Columbia Falls so I did not have to bike with all my weight. It was a nice lesurly ride to the park where I saw over thirty dear and a couple of foxes. And yes it was great with barely any of my weight on my bike. I also had the opportunity to take my bike off roading for the first time on this trip. It did quite well. As I came up to the park the mountains kept getting bigger and bigger and my nerves were off the hook. I don't know why this park has excited me so much but when I saw the mountains in he distance I melted. The view was so impressive, I guess it was a reminder to me of how insignificant we as humans are to the power of the world. I had lunch overlooking the range of mountains the sun road was on, at the time I was unaware. It looked so far away I did not think I would make it that far. When I got to the park entrance I stopped to try and pay someone but there were no rangers. While I was stopped I found my first biker friend of the trip, well second if you count Pete. Biker friend = person that rides with you while biking.

Justin going up the sun raod

Justin was up from Missoula for the day to ride up the same stretch of road. He pulled a ligament in his knee a little while back skiing so this was the first time biking up hill on it. Not that easy of a stretch. He was also going to do a three week tour on highway 101 with a trailer. That's going to be fun. It was great talking with someone and riding. And it was also great just going at someone else's pace and not just at my speed rocketing to my next spot. We road out past McDonald lake and up a river. All the rivers are that milky looking color which is from the glaciers grinding the granite. Once past Avalanche Creek there were no cars allowed for the last twelve miles of our ride. We could ride all over the road and not have to think about tourist hitting us while taking photos.
About six miles into the no car zone you could start to see the peaks becoming more jagged and they were just so tall. We were on the road in the valley and the peaks just hovered 4000 feet above us. I'm having a hard time explaining what I saw, but what I can say is that they were impressive. Throughout our ride up we saw several spots where avalanches had came across the road and were cleaned up by plows. Speaking of the road, I was quite surprised of the condition of the road it was in perfect condition very pleasant to ride the bike on. At about three miles left we came to the hair pin turn that sent the road in a 180. At this point we had been doing our climb for a while at a steady 4 -5 % grade which was not that bad. Across from our road and behind us we over looked burned out trees from a forest fire about ten years ago. The forest had a strong contrast between snow, ground, living, and dead trees. In front of us was the massive peaks half covered in snow with waterfalls coming down them. It was hard for me to keep my bike straight when I was staring at the mountains. As we approached our final point on the road you could begin to see where the snow plows had recently gone through, leavening piles of snow on both sides of the road. Our final stop was the Weeping Woman waterfalls. Gave us a tremendous view of he valley, where the road topped out at Logan's Pass, and a great view of the tallest peaks in the park. I was so thrilled to be here. Even though I did not make it to he top it was still perfect for the sole fact that it was just me and Justin up there and we're not having to deal worth cars. We had a snack up there and just sat at awe with the view.

Haystack turn

The ride down was great, it went a lot quicker for sure. And by he end of it I was getting a bit grumpy because I needed more food in my system. I was meeting my host at the entrance of the park and she would drive me back to her place which saved me a good 16 miles. So I only finished just shy of 90 today. I said goodbye to Justin at the entrance of the park. It was great to have him riding today.




In town Laura took us to the grocery store where I got some lunch foods and dinner. Laura worked at the park doing educational programs and maintaining educational facilities. She was great, we talked about back packing and a lot of her work in the national parks. We also did some route finding for my trip in Montana. Oh by he way I put away so much food tonight it was not even funny, a whole pizza, salad, and ice cream. It was cool I was Laura's first warm shower guest ever! And she put me in contact with someone in east glacier to stay with tomorrow night. She was very supportive and enjoyable to be around. After long and amazing day I crashed in my bed.