Updating the daily ride

West Glacier to Avalanche Campsite @ Glacier National Park July 6, 2009 - As the day nears for our climb up Logan Pass we leave West Glacier and head into the Glacier National Park. In anticipation of our climb we have a light day, only 18 miles. After a great breakfast and picking up a few supplies for cooking dinner we headed toward Avalanche Campground. Glacier Park was busy, we saw the circa 1930's White Touring Buses that have been updated by Ford with propane fuel for a nice green touch, will post photos when I get a chance. The ride along MacDonald Lake was spectacular, lots of streams, falls, mountain views. Once at Avalanche we sat up camp and most of us took naps. Art and Jon took a 2.5 mile hike up to Avalanche Lake and encountered some hail and rain. Those of us who stayed back in camp extended our naps due to rain the rest of the afternoon. Almost everyone had wet tents, I was lucky and well rested. We all ate early and retired for the next days ride very early.

Avalanche Camp to St. Mary's July 7, 2006 - Braden started shaking tents at 5:00 for today's climb up Logan Pass. We are all very anxious about this ride, park rules state that no bikes can be on the Going to the Sun Road between Avalanche and Logan Pass after 11:00 a.m. hence the early assault on the pass. Fortunately the first 5 miles of the ride were relatively flat followed by 11.2 miles of continuous climb to the summit of the pass. We were all on the road after a quick breakfast by 6:30 a.m. Our group scattered out on the assent to Logan. The ride was very scenic and one of the most beautiful I have ever done, the 16 plus miles took us about 3 1/2 hours, we were in well before the 11:00 deadline. At the pass we saw some deer and mountain goats, but no bears. We paused for a picture at the summit 6,758 feet which was also a pass over the Continental Divide in the Montana Rocky Mountains. Everyone was very pleased with the ride, happy it was over and all of us felt a sense of accomplishment in our achievement.
The rest of the ride was down to St. Mary's and included seeing the shrinking Jackson Glacier. Once into St. Mary's we ate, rested, took the shuttle bus up to Logan Pass to re-visit our ride and see a few more sites we missed during our 30 mph descent. On the way down in the shuttle we saw a black bear. Back in St. Mary's we camped at Johnson's RV Park for the night after some really good Bison and Elk chili.

St. Mary's to Waterton Lake National Park Alberta, Canada July 8, 2009 - We thought our most difficult ride was behind us, but no. We left St. Mary's with a tailwind and flats heading to Babb, MT on to Canada. Unfortunately after Babb we hit some really steep hills and headwinds. Although we were only going about 45 miles this was one of the harder rides we have had. Our border crossing was easy and we had a nice down hill for awhile followed by more climbs and a relentless headwind. We encountered some supported recreational cyclists who were mostly amazed at us carrying all the gear we carry. I am sure some of us would have liked to have traded bikes with some to relieve the burden of the 40 pounds or so of gear we haul. Coming into Waterton was beautiful but the winds picked up considerably gusting to around 40 mph I am guessing, it also became much cooler and the first thing I did was stop at a outfitter and buy some more warm clothes. Waterton is a beautiful place and our camp site was along the Waterton Lake, with dozens of deer roaming the camp ground and endless burrows of ground squirrels. During our stay we met Brandon from Alabama who was riding a 1982 450cc vintage Honda motorcycle on his way to Vancouver BC. The was really stripped down and did not look comfortable. Brandon had ridden the cycle from Alabama and was taking some side trips to do some hiking in the mountains. He told the story of the previous night getting stranded on one of the mountains and spent the night mostly awake trying not be bear bait with just a tarp and a sleeping bag. We cooked up a communal dinner, after buying spaghetti ingredients at the biggest grocery store in Waterton. We bedded down for the night, it was windy and cold, Art and I did not put tents, we slept in the shelter on the floor, it was very comfortable. Braden is cooking pancakes in the morning and we will be off to Cardston.