My Kind Of Town, Montana Is ...

This morning the Helena, MT sky was blue and sunny. The temperature was comfortable, but a leather jacket was definitely in order. It's true that the sky really is bigger out here. I don't know why, but I do know it's beautiful. Though I imagine the winters must be harsh. This shot here was taken just outside of a small town called Augusta, MT, northwest of Helena.

What a great day of riding. I rolled out and did a little time on interstate, which was actually quite nice, with a view of the mountains on either side. Then I dropped off the interstate and took route-287. This was a fabulous motorcycle road with long stretches of rolling hills, followed by great little left and right twisties and a good number of S curves.

I had lunch at a cafe on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, just a cheeseburger and fries, they didn't have any Native American fare on the menu (or maybe they invented the cheeseburger and we ripped them off of that as well). At lunch I sat with the map for a long time, trying to figure out how best to approach Glacier NP. I decided to stay in a town west of the park, but was trying to figure out if I should enter the park from the east or the west. There is only one main road (about 55 miles long) through the park, and US-2 runs along the outside rim of the southern V of the park (here's a crude map http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=336477 ). What I wanted to do was find a way to see the park without backtracking too much. I finally decided to take US-2 along the southern rim, get a room near the park entrance and go back and do the interior road, then figure out which would be more scenic to revisit (and what I had time for).

Plans are always changing on this trip, fortunately today they were for the best. I had seen a town called Hungry Horse on the map, not far from the west entrance to the park and I thought the name had good literary qualities. Well everyone else must think that as well because the motels were all booked. I had to go to Columbia Falls, about 15 miles from the park entrance, to get a room. I got the last room in the joint, dropped my gear, grabbed my camera and rainsuit, then headed back out toward the park. If the ride along the southern tip of the park was an indication, this was going to be a good ride.

And here's what I saw today when I entered Glacier NP. What a difference from yesterday in Yellowstone. This is what a park should be.

There were people, but not so many as to make you roll along at 5 mph. Also, though there was a sign that road work was on, it happened to be at the other end of the park (at the east entrance - stay away from east entrances to national parks, Yellowstone was a mess as well). But the construction didn't matter because there was a fire in the park today and they were not letting anyone in that section of the park. So I was able to use about 35 miles or so of the park road, which was all stunning. This is one great park.

I rode up into the mountains and took about 50 photos (usually I take about 8 or 10 a day total). This is such a great park, the road runs right along the mountains, you drive past waterfalls, and up inclines with nice twisties. I swear I've seen some of this road in car commercials, it was that pretty.

The best thing about Glacier as opposed to Yellowstone is there isn't one central thing everyone comes to gawk at. The park is just all there and you ride along and take it in, there's no need to park, walk through crowds, stand around and wait, get pitched bad, overpriced food, and t-shirts to commemorate your visit. When you see something you like, you pull over, take in the view, pop a few pictures and get back on your bike.

I don't know how many of you recall this, but originally I wasn't even going to ride Wyoming at all. The plan was to ride south from North Dakota to South Dakota, see the Black Hills of SD and head north again and ride the width of Montana on US-2. When the plan changed and I ended up riding much of ND across US-2 and then headed south on US-85 instead of US-83, it seemed foolish to ride up US-85 again and it would have been sillier still to ride back east again to head north on US-83, so I put Wyoming into the trip. I would have broken down anyway, but irrational as it may be, I still connect the breakdown with the state of Wyoming. Shaking the dust of that state off my boots has made me feel a whole lot better. Though I have to say the people of Wyoming treated me very well. The whole thing put a bit of a bad shade on my Yellowstone trip. Also, I apparently missed out on the Beartooth Highway, which is the ride to take in Yellowstone (I heard about this after the fact), so I guess I missed the whole point of the place. Anyway, enough of my complaints on Yellowstone and Wyoming.


After about 35 miles I decided to head back down the road as I figured they would turn us all around soon anyway. Going back down was just as lovely as going up. When I reached the bottom of the mountain, I got off the bike and just watched the light change as the sun dipped behind the mountains, the sky still filled with light. I watched clouds move slowly across the sky and wondered why I could be so patient sometimes and not others. Of course, I know the answer is I can be "patient" when it's my choice to stand around and watch the colors change, knowing I could leave at anytime, as opposed to standing around watching the sky change color because the bike won't start. It's easy to be magnanimous when you can roll out at will. And I thought I would wait for the sky to blaze red again like last night and I'd catch a great shot of the mountains. I waited for over an hour and the sky was still filled with light.

Then I realized I was much further north then last night and the sky wouldn't fully change until 9:30 or even 10 pm. I still hadn't gotten dinner and I knew I wasn't going to find anything open past 10 pm in any of these towns (I didn't see any fast food joints, so no late night menu would be on offer). I snapped a few last shots and mounted the bike again and headed for the park exit.

I saw a big deer chomping a little grass on the side of the road and she reminded me to slow down and take my time. I got to a cafe that was closing, but they made me a chicken sandwich to go (which was still warm when I got back to my room 2 towns over).


Here's the last shot I took this evening before leaving the park. I think it was worth the wait.

Tomorrow I head for Spokane, WA to see my great good friends Dana and Carmen. It's been too long without friends. I'll be very glad to be with them for the next couple of days.

Last thing - There are always things I'm forgetting when I sit to write these pages. Like the animals I saw, yesterday in Yellowstone I saw Elk grazing, today I saw something that looked like a big French poodle walking on the park road, maybe it was a Llama(?). 1000 things go through my mind while I'm driving, and they all seem so good and so smart at the time - then I either forget them or I think they were only interesting when I thought them.