Day 8 - Yellowstone to Glacier Bike Tour
This morning the sunrise was pretty amazing in Browning! I always think about the old saying, “red sky in the morning, sailor take warning,” when I see the red morning sun. Needless to say, there is a lot of smoke in the air from the fires across Montana. Luckily, for us, there were no major problems on this last day of the ride.
The guys were on the road about 7:15 for their final 31 miles. They left Browning on the Star School Road, through more of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. We passed through open range with cows, horses, and lots of dogs on the roads. The dogs liked chasing the guys on their bikes – fortunately, they seemed friendly. 
One of the other things we noticed on the Indian Reservation was how much trash was along the road – and actually in the towns. Last night while I was fixing dinner, Marcia, Phil, and June took a large garbage bag and filled it with trash from the park next to the museum where we stayed overnight. A Native American couple came by later and asked them if they were the ones picking up the trash. They brought a case of water for them as a way of thanks. They told them that “their people” were not good about picking up trash and they appreciated that they would do that for them.
After our stop at the old Star School 9 miles from their starting point, Marcia and I went ahead to Glacier hoping to secure campsites while June stayed behind to provide bike support. I don’t know if it is because it is SO DRY here, but may of the aspen leaves are already changing to the golden color.
Getting closer to Glacier, after turning back onto Highway 89 north, we could start to see the remnants of past forest fires. This area was from the 2015 fire. The sky is filled with smoke, making it difficult to see the mountains.
We arrived at the St. Mary’s Campgrounds and were in luck securing three campsites – all in a row. Because of the fires, the bears are moving more in the park. The St. Mary’s Campground was relocating anyone with tent reservations because the activity in this area was high and only hard-sided RVs are being allowed to camp here. Lucky for us! We got our three sites, then headed back to the Visitor’s Center to wait for our guys to arrive.
They started arriving about 11:30 this morning. They made it safely after a long, steep climb, followed by about 5 miles of steep descent. We had lunch in the Visitor Center parking lot, then took the park service shuttle bus to Logan Pass. On the way up we passed Wild Goose Island and Lunch Creek.
After Lunch Creek we could see this long waterfall and creek coming down from Logan Pass. 
We were greeted by the local wildlife when we got off the shuttle bus at Logan Pass. 
Marcia was lucky enough to see a bighorn sheep, but unfortunately, I missed him before he was back in the trees! The wildflowers were beautiful near the visitor’s center.
We didn’t spend long because the guys were tired and ready to get back to camp.
We did enjoy seeing the private touring cars that came through the park – it is another way to see the park with commentary of the area, but expensive. One of the rangers told us it was about $90 per person! 
We caught another shuttle (free) back to the visitor’s center at St. Mary’s and headed over to camp. The ranger at the campsites warned us about taking the trail between the campsites and visitor’s center because of the bears – she said make lots of noise, carry bear spray, and be careful! Marcia and June walked over and had no problems!
After dinner Marcia and I took Penny for a walk around our loop at the campsite. This is the view from our site looking to the west. The sky is still hazy, but not as bad as earlier in the day. We can actually see the mountains!
This is a picture of the ride today. The fellows rode 31.4 miles today and gained 2316’ in elevation, then lost 2198 feet. 
Tomorrow we will tour over to Many Glaciers and other areas of the park, but for tonight, we celebrate! Overall, it was another successful trip – a total of 424 miles from Yellowstone to Glacier!
No comments:
Post a Comment