Post 3- Priest River to Glacier National Park

July 24, 2009
The ride out of Priest River was hilly but relatively smooth, I arrived in Sand Point before 9 am and ordered the lumberjack breakfast. Before the server had returned to ask me how it was, I had devoured my “large” meal (which was served on a square plate). Luckily, the meal came with coffee cake which I finished in about 30 seconds, washed down with two cups of coffee and a stick of butter. The next leg of my trip took me along the coast of lake Pend Oreille. I would never recommend anyone to ride their bike through here. I had people yell at me trying to get me to fall, cars honking, and on the two occasions that I did stop I got ridiculous questions like, “are you insane, are you nuts?” and “you need to get your head checked”. My impression of Idaho was a bunch of rude and impatient people.
I finally made through hell’s panhandle and into Montana, so I stopped at a bike shop in a tiny town that I don’t remember the name. They didn’t have any replacement spokes, which I still needed in case I broke some on the road. So I continued down the road but I took the alternate road which has less cars and should be a more scenic ride. Scenic is great unless it is 100 degrees outside and you still have many miles to get to the next town. After about ten miles the road turned into choppy gravel and dirt, they were improving it but all I got was issues with my brakes rubbing my wheel. I made it back to the real road and was very tired from my strenuous travels. I camped at bull lake that evening which was less than one hundred feet from my campground. While I was wading around in the water, I met Jerry who was camped next to me with his wife and friends. They were riding their Honda Goldwings and had ended up right next to me, so they gave me beer, cookies and advice. The two most important pieces of advice that I imparted upon me were, “whatever you do, don’t ever sell your bike” and “to find good, cheap food, stand outside of Walmart and wait for a fat lady to walk out then ask her where to eat”.
I needed to make to Libby the next day which wasn’t that far, so I left around 9 am and things went very smoothly. I met a Dutch couple who had been riding for about 9 months and as I left en route to Libby, I decided that I would just push on through without lunch and eat when I got into town. Unfortunately, at about 10 miles from town my bike wouldn’t roll very well anymore. I stopped at a scenic area, and took all of my gear off the bike. I messed around with the spokes trying to true the wheel just enough to get the bike rolling properly again. Thirty minutes later, I was satisfied with the bike and pushed through to Libby.
Libby is a smallish Montana logging town, and they have giant sculptures of eagles everywhere. I found the river about a quarter mile from the center of town and took the plunge once again, washing away the grime that on most days seemingly welds to your legs after about 50 miles of biking. I couldn’t find any knowledgeable fat ladies but I found a rather large man at a convenience store who promptly pointed me out to the towns’ only Mexican restaurant. He told me,”get the giant burrito, most people can’t finish it”. I took that as a personal challenge and I had it digesting within about five minutes’ time. My campsite was right in the center of town and cost me five dollars. The wonderful thing about this campsite was the fact that it was right behind the largest grocery store in town that had free internet access and free refills on my iced coffee. I don’t think I slept until about midnight.
The next day was absolutely wonderful as my ride took me along Lake Koocanusa for 60 miles into Eureka. Not to say that it wasn’t challenging; the entire ride is up and down large inclines. However, every time I went down one of the hills, the wind cooled my face and I made up for some lost ground. I couldn’t count the amount of bald eagles that rode high into the sky riding the thermals. The best part was the wide shoulders that made me feel secure. I made it into Eureka sometime during the two o’clock hour and promptly found the river in town; I was over heating a bit. I met Maricio and several other bicyclists who were touring with Cycle America. They invited me to stay at the local high school with their group of forty or so bikers. What good timing, I thought. I have to thank Greg who was the director of sorts, because he was so gracious letting me eat catered food with everyone for dinner and for breakfast. I took a shower with my flip-flops on and slept in the padded wrestling room.
I was well fed and on the road around 7 that morning and headed to Whitefish, when I realized that most of the drivers on the road were driving like maniacs. I stopped at Dickey lake for a some Scooby snacks; I was impressed with the greenish-blue colors of the lake in the early morning light. The shoulder continued to narrow until there was none, all the while the logging trucks zipping by at 70 miles per hour inches from my rear view mirror. I think that I literally saw my life flashing before my eyes when I heard sirens blaring behind me while summiting a steep hill, and before I knew it and ambulance was about fifty feet behind me. I basically threw myself into the gravel “shoulder” and in the last instant unclipped my foot from the pedal. I was still several miles from Whitefish, but continued on ever-so-wary of the crazies trying to run me off the road.
Finally, Whitefish! I arrived at high noon and I can’t say enough great things about this outdoorsy town. I had secured a couch to sleep on with Angie and Ian, but had time to kill before Ian was off of work. I went to the bike shop and the guy behind the counter drew me a nice bike map from town to Glacier Park. He told me where to get a pulled pork sandwich, and I walked over the viaduct to Babyback BBQ. I talked with Jazelle who took my order, and then she drew me a map of a nice swimming hole where I could avoid all of the annoying children at the City Beach Park. Every person I met in Whitefish seemed to have all the time in the world, and most of them drew maps for me. I meandered my way through town, got a cup of ice cream, some snacks and a bottle of vodka. Ian called and told me that he lived a stones’ throw away from the Beach Park, so I just went there instead the secret swimming hole. I found a shady spot to take a nap, got some ice from the concessions stand and filled my water bottle with vodka. I brought juggling balls with me on this trip and I enjoyed my half drunken attempt.
At Angie and Ian’s house, I basically watched a ton of movies that I haven’t seen yet. It was nice to finally take a break from all the ass-numbing miles of riding. Ian had a couple of days off so we went up to Whitefish Mountain Resort, and took the chairlift to the top. We later met up with Angie and went to the farmers market, which happened to be going on the evening. There was a great bluegrass band playing, Jazelle was there selling feather earrings she makes, and I met up with my next host, Kevin. He gave me a key to his trailer which is parked on land that he owns right outside of Glacier National Park. I think that evening was when I fell in love with the town. I love the outdoors with a passion and Montana does have the best to offer. We returned to their home, and watched The Departed which oddly enough takes place in Boston, my Atlantic Coast destination. Ian and I went golfing the next day and I finally got a decent pair of sandals. I packed my things early that evening and rode the twenty miles to Kevin’s trailer which put me about 10 miles away from the entrance to Glacier Park.
I slept well in the tarp covered trailer which had candles for lighting and maps of the park and of Northwest Montana. It only took me about an hour to get to West Glacier and stock up on much needed items (including bananas, oatmeal and instant potatoes). The first campground as you enter the park is Apgar and I had RVs surrounding me as far as my eye could see. However, there was a spot left in the hiker/biker area and I took advantage of it; most of these sites are five dollars per night in the park. When I was finally ready to explore the park, I decided to take a free shuttle to Logan Pass. They started this service three years ago and it takes a lot of hikers up to otherwise hard-to-reach places; it also takes cars off the road. The drive is three hours or more round trip and luckily I was able to get the front seat of the shuttle and roll the window down for some great pictures. I later returned to my campsite and met Steve, who came to Glacier from Wisconsin to do some backpacking. Later came, Bratati who also took the train from Seattle on her own camping and hiking get-away.
I shared my next two days with these interesting people. Bratati is originally from India and we share similar philosophies on life, particularly that of living in the moment (one of the main reasons for my bike trip). I had a moment when I was on the road from Eureka to Whitefish, a fish jumped out of the water of a small stream that I was passing right when I rode by. It may be insignificant to some, but it brought a smile to my face. It was like I knew it was going to happen before it did, amazing. These are the kinds of moments that make life beautiful, so sharing them with Steve and Bratati was extremely satisfying. That night I learned some yoga, including Warrior 2 and a sequence that starts with downward dog, and continues into other poses. We drank some beer and wine, and I ate my four servings of potatoes that I bought earlier that day.
Steve and I decided that we would go on the Highline Trail which is 11 miles long and goes past the Garden Wall, however the thunder and lightning that morning was prohibitive and we hiked 3 miles down to Hidden Lake instead. By the time we reached the lake, the clouds had parted and the sun was shining again. On the way back up the trail, a family of marmots were busy eating ground cover and a several groups of goats were basking in the sun (some right in the middle of the trail). We took the shuttle back to Apgar and parted ways for the rest of the day. I rode my bike 8 miles to Lake Mcdonald Lodge, and the place was decorated like it was Christmas….in July?! This was another one of those moments that have made me smile, plus I took about seven cookies, spent some time writing, and rode me bicycle back to the campsite. I was asleep early that night as I was going to wake up early the nex day to ride up Logan pass at its’ 6600 feet.
I was on the road at 5:45 am and at about 8, I bumped into Lee whom I had met near Diablo Lake, before my trip on the Maggot Run. We planned to meet each other on the other side at St. Mary Campground, and then I kept on climbing up the Going to the Sun Road. On the way up, I caught up with two bikers that passed me earlier, Nana and Janet. These ladies had been riding from Anacortes and together we all made it to the top of Logan Pass. We took pictures at the top and went screaming down the other side at 30 mph. When we got to St. Mary Lodge, Nana bought us diet coke's and we went to the local cafe for burgers. Afterwards, I went back to the campground and just decided to set up my tent at the hiker/biker site.
A few minutes later, the Dutch couple, Stella and Joris whom I met near Bull Lake a week ago arrived and we got a better deal on the camping. We talked about their travels, and a little about what it is like to live in different places. They were surprised that I tend to tip about 20 percent when I eat out. I guess that the Dutch are more frugal than Americans, but it does allow them to travel on less. I went back to the cafe with them and bought another burger, this time only tipping 10 percent. Later, as I was preparing for bed, Lee's nieces came strolling by my campground and I walked with them back to their site. Lee has a beautiful extended family that lives in Whitefish, they were all so friendly (only because they gave me cookies). We made plans to leave together in the morning, as Lee and I were heading the same direction towards the East Coast.
As I was