Category: Montana

Thursday Aug. 9 – Saturday Aug. 11, 2018

We were off early to bike Gateway to Glacier Trail. We parked in Hungry Horse and headed up the mountain. I was Huffin and Lenny was Puffin. Our hearts had a good workout within the first mile – I reached a high of 155 bpm. Sorry to say we did not ride the 10 miles. We went 5 miles out and headed back for a total of 10 miles. Good workout though.

We had lunch at a deli/cafe in Hungry Horse – Lenny had a big bison burger! Since we had plenty of day remaining we decided to visit Glacier National Park and drive Going-to-the-Sun Road. It was an awesome drive. Unfortunately haze from the fires in Idaho, California and Oregon made it difficult to see the mountains clearly.

We planned to leave Kalispell early on Friday but had a delay due to issues with our surge protector/power plug. Someone had tried to take the unit during the night and it was jammed in the receiver.  It had shorted out, so it’s fortunate we didn’t have a fire.

The trip from Kalispell to Missoula was very scenic. The haze seemed to clear some south of Flathead Lake.  We saw a large herd of bison at the National Bison Range. We were able to get parts for a new plug in Missoula and Lenny rebuild the outlet.

The drive from Missoula to Hamilton was beautiful. The temperature was 100 + most of the afternoon. Planned to get out on the Bitterroot Trail early on Saturday morning to beat the heat.

Saturday morning was in the 50s, how refreshing. We had a really nice ride on the Bitterroot  Trail. Saw a girl practicing roping – her steer was green and pulled by an ATV.

There were beautiful views of the Bitterroot Range to the west and Sapphire Mountains to the east. Some haze but better than north of Missoula.  We really enjoyed this easy ride – did our first 15 miles in an hour and 4 minutes. There were horse, cattle, burros and a nice herd of sheep, breed we’d never seen before.

Highlight of day is that we completed our Montana 100!!

• Great Northern Historical Trail
• Gateway to Glacier
• Bitterroot Trail

Tuesday and Wednesday August 7 & 8, 2018

We are on two wheels again. Yay!!  Riding the Great Northern Historical Trail . On Tuesday we rode from Kalispell through Flathead Valley to Smith Lake. Fun ride with some rolling hills to challenge our heart rate a bit.  The trail traveled through pasture land and passed a small water fowl reserve. We went on the road for a mile or so to reach Smith Lake.

We were happy to do 30 miles on our first ride in Montana. On the trail into Kalispell there was an old wooden trestle from the original railroad. It was a hot day and the days ahead are forecast to be even hotter.

Wednesday we headed from Kalispell to Somers and Flathead Lake.  This was a fun ride. Not as many hills but more variety in scenery.  Somers and Flathead Lake were the highlights of the trail.

There was one of the original train engines on display at the trail head in Somers. We road through town and rejoined the trail along the highway.  The trail ended and we were able to ride along the north shore of the lake on some hilly streets.

Fathead Lake is the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi. The lake is 28 miles long and in one place 15 miles wide. It was refreshing to see in this tinder dry region.  No rain here in 35 days.   Lots of sail boats, pontoon boats, and we even saw a couple of house boats.

We took a wrong turn in Somers and climbed a few big hills before getting directions back to the trail from some friendly residents. Without that wrong turn we would have missed this beautiful bike.

I really enjoyed seeing a herd of cows by the trailhead. They were so curious.

We made it another 30 miles today and it was hot as predicted. We were both feeling a bit weary on our return. Tomorrow we plan to ride the Gateway to Glacier Trail. We may have some hills in store tomorrow.