From Kalispell, MT to Glacier Nat'l Park to Coeur d'Alene, ID
From Kalispell, MT to Glacier Nat'l Park to Coeur d'Alene, ID
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I'm in Kalispell for two nights in order to allow a full day in Glacier National Park riding the Going to the Sun Road over Logan Pass. The plan is to spend all day Monday on the road in and around Glacier. Tuesday is devoted to a leisurely ride along some back roads to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The value of plans is in allowing a good planner to use their plans to deal with unexpected conditions rather than just a slavish execution of planned events.
I wake up on Monday morning and the clear day on Sunday has turned to a cold gray morning with expected rain and thunderstorms by early afternoon. I take my time getting dressed and out of the room, I think it might be fun to spend the afternoon taking in a movie or two. There are plenty of new movies that look interesting that I haven't had a chance to see. But first lunch is in order.
I take a ride out of Kalispell on US Route 2. On the edge of town, I spot a Mexican restaurant that is crowded already even though it is not yet noon. I ask the waitress for a recommendation. Her favorite is a combination burrito. It turns out to be very good although with ground beef where I would have expected shredded beef on an item billed as the best offering of the house. Still it is pretty tasty.
Lunch complete, I decide to continue out towards Glacier for the hell of it. I pass the Glacier International Airport where a Delta 727 is taxiing for takeoff. Probably service to the hub in Salt Lake City. The road continues out into a countryside that is filled with housing and businesses. I finally come to the small town of Columbia Falls. Between Kalispell and Columbia Falls, I pull over and consider turning back and taking in a movie. Another guy passes me headed towards Glacier on a black Valkyrie and I think, 'If he can do it, I can do it!'
The
road curves through Bad Rock Canyon into the tiny town of Hungry
Horse. I head up the road to the dam. The dam is built in a steep
canyon. The road rises dramatically from US 2 onto a narrow ledge.
There are no guardrails and the drop is precipitous. Shortly the dam
comes into view. Years ago, I visited the Hungry Horse Dam and
reservoir during the trip from Minnesota back to San Diego. During
that visit, we went on the guided tour into the dam to the turbine
house at the dam's base. We were at the dam in August and it was much
warmer than today. Inside the dam, hundreds of feet below the lake's
surface, the temperature was very cool. It is a very interesting
experience to visit a large concrete dam like this one.
Today the lake is very still providing the eerie mirror image in my photograph. You can see that the lake is nearly full -- the overflow penstock is on the right edge of the photograph. As I descend back to Hungry Horse town, I feel the first drops of rain. I decide that it is time to get inside out of the cold and coming rain. About halfway to Kalispell, the clouds open up and provide a good ten minute downpour. I overtake a man on a vintage Indian motorcycle. He is dressed in vintage clothing and looks fairly miserable.
I'm wet enough that I need to go back and dry off before any movie. Nothing is playing until later anyway. I end up back at the motel where with my helmet off I can now hear that the rain clouds are also providing a fair amount of thunder. I actually end up taking a nap and doing some reading. For dinner, I walk across the highway to a local pizza parlor. I have an excellent salad, small pizza and micro brew.
Two views of Mcdonald Lake in Glacier National Park.
From one of the first overlooks, you can see Mcdonald Creek at the bottom of the valley.
Further up the road, you can more clearly see the dramatic interplay between the valley floor, steep mountain slopes and snowy summits.
Visitor Center
Five views of Logan Pass. The top photos show the mountains that surround the visitors center. It snowed here last week as you can see in the picture of the visitors center. The Alpine Meadows behind the center are not yet open. In summer they are beautiful.
On the way back down to West Glacier, Mcdonald Creek is a river to me. There are rapids and waterfalls along its course. |
Waking up on Tuesday I am greeted by a very nice sunny day. I gather my stuff and get out it all out on the bike. I skip the so-so continental breakfast in favor of something on the way. I retrace yesterday's route and the day just gets better. As I approach Bad Rock Canyon, I notice that there is a low hanging cloud that fills the canyon. It looks like a fog bank that you would see over the ocean. The edge of the fog bank dissipates as it comes out over the larger valley. I drive up into the canyon under the fog bank and the temperature drops. I have faith that the sun will burn this cloud cover off as it the day progresses. I stop in West Glacier, just outside the park gate for breakfast. There are only a few people in the restaurant but I attribute that to the late-ish hour as it is past ten o'clock now. I order two blueberry pancakes along with orange juice and coffee. When the pancakes arrive, I know they will be good before I even pick up my fork. The pancakes smell like freshly baked cakes -- warm and yeasty. The blueberries are plump and juicy and you can smell them. The maple syrup adds a third note to the beautiful symphony of smells. It is utterly wonderful and I haven't even taken a bite. After breakfast, the server tells me that she thinks it is 'neat' that I'm on the bike. I give her a capsule version of my trip. She peppers me with a ton of questions. A couple dining at the next table have overheard our exchange and have some questions of their own. He is a school teacher and in the past five years, since their children left the house, they have made annual trips from their home in Chicago. Each year, they spend several weeks traveling. This year to the northwest, next year to Key West. I share with them the "Eat Your Way Across the USA" book. It seems like they will have fun with that. They spent last night in East Glacier and have just spent the morning driving over Logan Pass to West Glacier. Back out int he parking lot and the sky is fast clearing. It is going to be a perfect day. I stop at the village near the Apgar Campgrounds. This is very different than what I remember from my visit over thirty years ago. With the improved weather outlook, I can barely contain my excitement and want to get up the mountain. I stop several times to take pictures of Mcdonald Lake. At one turnout, everyone is walking out onto a gravel beach that extends out into the lake. A group of Dutch tourists are there and I get to be photographer for their group. While I'm taking my pictures, I can hear them skipping stones across the mirror flat lake. Up on the road, one of the Dutch men comes over to ask about my bike. He has excellent English skills but there is that noticeable translation moment while he takes each of my answers and considers them. We both agree the bike is big enough to be a small car in Holland. He is amazed that I have covered over 15,000 kilometers on this trip. At the next stop, I meet a couple from England and a small group from Denmark and Spokane. Finally, the end of Mcdonald Lake marks the point where only cars, motorcycles and small trucks are allowed on Going to the Sun Road. The road is heading up into the narrower part of the valley alongside Mcdonald Creek. It is called a creek but it is a full fledge river. The water cascades over a rocky bottom. It is moving fast and there are many places were there are small falls and rapids. It makes for a nice companion. We have to head back up this valley a number of miles before the road doubles back on itself and begins the serious climb up the mountainside. Once we do make the turn, the climb begins in earnest. I've got the video camera mounted on the handlebars so that I can shoot video of the ride. The road presses hard against the mountain to my left. On my left there is a low rock wall and then a steep drop off. The view down into the valley comes in the breaks between the trees and at the overlooks. At my first stop, a park truck is stopped. After I get off the bike, I am able to spot the employee. He is in a rock climber's harness, tied to the truck, hanging over the rock edge. He is completing some repairs to the rock wall below the road level. The drop off is spectacular. If you fell, nothing would break your fall for hundreds of feet. As we climb higher and higher, the view becomes more dramatic. The trees slowly begin disappear in part because the slope is so steep any growing beside the road are mostly below my eye level. That leaves an open view across the valley to mountains. The road requires a lot of attention. First there is the presence of the vertical edge. All the drivers are guilty of rubbernecking to get as much of the view in as possible. The road surface is scarred by the harsh winters. Melting snow creates streams and puddles along the way. The lanes are narrow. Still everyone is polite and moving slowly so you feel safe. At one point, water is leaching out of the rock wall. This stretch is called the Weeping Wall and it is spectacular. Just beyond this, a creek runs under the road, a small waterfall above the road and a much larger one below the road. Slowly the road arrives at the summit -- Logan Pass crossing the Continental Divide. There is a large visitor's center. I get out for a short visit. I get to take some more pictures for fellow travelers. The oldest man in the party is on oxygen and I admire him for being out with the rest of his family. I'm shocked when I look at my watch and it is well past 3 o'clock. I will have a long day with more than 250 miles to get me to my objective of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The trip back down the road is as dramatic as the trip up. I'm amazed by how many motorcyclists are here. Mostly big touring bikes -- people on long distance vacations. Probably close to a third of them are towing trailers. There is a very funky modified Gold Wing that features a fully covered driver and passenger area. It is very well done but looks pretty silly. I would really like to return to Glacier sooner rather than later. I don't camp for recreation but this is the kind of location that just demands a tent. How wonderful it would be to wake up here and enjoy the late afternoon and evening. I leave Glacier with a great sense of satisfaction. Now onto some serious work. Just south of Kalispell, US 93 is being upgraded. Traffic speed is reduced as we share lanes with oncoming traffic. A dump truck entering the highway from the right side of the road almost doesn't stop for the woman ahead of me. She stops hard to avoid what must look like an imminent collision. Stopping this fast on the motorcycle is a real chore when there is so much gravel and dirt in the travel lanes. I nearly kiss her trunk but luckily we all avoid exchanging insurance information. US 93 lies to the west of Flathead Lake. The lake provides some great scenery as I head south. At the small town of Elmo, I turn onto Montana 28. This is a two lane road that leads away from the lake into a green valley. The forest is noticeably absent from this side of the valley. As we head west and then south, the grass begins to dry out and turn golden. There are some grazing cattle and horse ranches along the highway but mostly this seems like a very un-populated part of the world. In its final few miles, MT28 becomes quite dramatic. The road heads up and over Rainbow Lake Pass. On the far side of the pass, the road descends rapidly to meet up with MT 200 near Plains. The road down is beautifully paved and the corners are well banked. There is no traffic and it is a great fast run tearing through the corners. MT 200 follows the Flathead River. It is a another great stretch of road. One of my friends had suggested taking MT 200 basically from east to west across the state. All of the miles that I have covered on MT200 have been great -- I need to file this as a mental note for any future trips. I turn onto MT 135 for the ride out to I-90. The Clark Fork of the Flathead River keeps me company for this leg of the trip. In the afternoon light, the surface of the river belies the turbulent nature of this river. The eddies and currents can be seen even from the bike as I tear past. I stop at St Regis, a small town at the intersection of I-90 and MT 135. I have some more fluids and head back out to the Interstate. This turns out to be a really fun stretch of Interstate highway. The highway crosses over a number of passes between St Regis and Coeur d'Alene. The road itself gains and loses altitude. In doing so, it twists along the mountainside and valley bottom There are only a few trucks on the road and even with a fair amount of construction this is another fun stretch of road. I have been blessed with great weather today, great scenery and great roads.
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When I arrive at Coeur d'Alene it is late but I still manage to snag a nonsmoking room. When I pull up I notice two touring bikes, probably BMWs, under the entranceway to the motel. As I pull around back, I park near (but not next to) a Gold Wing and a Valkyrie each towing a trailer. A little bit later a group of three cyclists arrive.
I dump my stuff in the room and head out for something hearty to eat -- I haven't eaten since breakfast. I end up at a nice Italian restaurant. I have a great slice of backed spaghetti that is very filling. Back at the hotel, I meet the owners of the Gold Wing and Valkyrie. They are out cleaning -- with pails and rags and a selection of cleaning supplies -- their bikes. I stop by to give them a hard time but they are good natured. They and their wives have been wandering around western Washington apparently with no destination in mind. The new Gold Wing is motorcycle number five and Gold Wing number three. It is the beautiful new illusion red color while the trailer is still painted to match the old Wing. The Valkyrie must carry every conceivable accessory known to mankind. My favorite item is a tiny bell tied under the engine on the roll bar. I ask about it and am told the bell is to ward off evil spirits. I like that -- I think I need one.
It has been a very long day and I could use some rest. Read on to see if I go to Spokane or some other destination.
Return from Glacier National Park and then depart Kalispell on US93 heading south.
At Elmo, MT turn onto Montana 28 heading west.
At the intersection with Montana 200, turn east onto MT 200.
At the intersection with Montana 135, turn south onto MT135.
At St Regis, turn onto Interstate 90 heading west.
Cross state line into Idaho
Arrive Coeur d'Alene
(c) 2001 Thomas N. Engler Revision Date: 06/26/2001
