No Thru Traffic

Glacier National Park

So it’s been a little while since we were last able to update this thing, turns out there isn’t much service in Montana – expecially in Glacier National Park. It also seems as though AT&T shut off my internet tethering, so posts may be more limited or without photos unless we find hotspots during pitstops.

Since we left Lolo, Montana, we rode some back roads and stumbled upon a network of ghost towns by Garnet Ghost Town off of 200. We went back to try and see as much as we could of the 20 mile road but unfortunately it turned to gravel before we could make it all the way. We went with our better judgement and turned back before one of us dumped our bikes.

From there it was a pretty long and boring ride up 83 to West Glacier and the gateway to Glacier National Park. We indulged ourselves with a well-earned, overpriced gut bomb of a lunch at a Pizza Hut in Kalispell, Montana and bought some more noodles and sauce for our upcoming dinners with a nice side of bagels and peanut butter for lunches.

When we finally entered the park, we both thought that it felt like we had entered Jurassic Park as everything was instantly less mollested and prettier. Our campsite was awesome and was nestled in a pretty thick forest along with everyone else.

Our campsite at Glacier

Definitely I more than Ryan thought for sure that we were going to be eaten by a bear as every park ranger and joe hiker had bear spray and a tinge of terror in their eye.

Our campsite, or any campsite in the whole park, didn’t have any showers so we went for a swim in Lake McDonald and enjoyed the sights as we let the mosquitos have their first feast.

Overnight we experienced our first rain – which came in the form of buckets, and was accompanied by the most epic thunderstorm ever. Since we had no other option but to get soaked if we left our sanctuary of a tent, we slept in the next morning until the rain stopped at about 9:30 and headed to Logan Pass along the Road to the Sun.

We had heard that the Highline Trail would be a good hike for us “young whipper-snappers” so we had that as our goal. Along the way we experienced some of the most breath-taking scenery along the road and we both felt as though we had entered the swiss alps. The road literally clung to the edge of the mountain and made only one switchback as we headed the 30 miles to the top.

After being accosted by the overweight harley riders on their 800 pound 3-wheeled beasts, we started our hike… and saw a sweet mountain goat within the first mile. The hike was gorgeous and the terrain wasn’t that bad. But as the miles trudged on and we became more accepting of our less than stellar physical condition we were ready to stop.

After nearly 12 miles (hey, we were at over 8,000 feet… I think) we finally collapsed at the end and took the shuttle back to our bikes at the top. It was quite the trek, but well worth it.

A fact that we both admitted after just the first day, we definitely wish we had brought less clothes as packing up at night with two tiny motorcycles and too much crap is already getting a little annoying. We had a fire though this time and fresh strawberry milkshakes in our bellies so it was a little better this time.

Right now we are in Helena, Montana on our way to the Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park where we will hopefully find a spot to camp. After that, it’s to Yellowstone we head and have a spot reserved for three nights.

Oh yeah, we ran into a bunch of bugs today, our gear is getting a little haggard.