Author: Greg Pezoldt

I just did not want to get up this morning. Did I mention that I enjoyed a few beers last night? That might have had something to do with that.

Eventually I did get up and was on the road around 9:30 which actually is pretty typical for me. Yesterday my brother Jim said that the weather called for afternoon thunder storms but the sun was out this morning.

The day started with some gentle flat and very gradual elevation for 18 miles to the “town” of Sula. There I had lunch with a fellow cyclist named Paul. He is pedaling a tricycle recumbent with a Bob Trailer. His rig is funky and cool looking all at the same time. After we had lunch I started the climb up to Chief Joseph Pass. Paul would be quite a bit behind me since his cycle wasn’t very fast.

The climb went pretty well today. No real issues as far as tired legs or excessive grades. I did take a planned break 3 miles from the top. Just to get off the bike and eat some more food and drink water. No sign of Paul even after 20 minutes. But there were lots of other cyclists….. all bombing down the road in the other direction. It was a big group of supported riders with a touring company I later found out. After my break, the summit came fairly quickly.

The Pass was a new high point for the trip at 7241 feet, but I was also surprised that I had crossed the continental divide for the 3rd time on this tour. And that I was also on the Montana-Idaho border again.

For once the weatherman was correct. Right at the summit, the thunder started with some gentle rain too. I was going to wait and see if Paul was going to eventually show up but with the weather, I decided not to wait. The descent was disappointing. The climb from the Bitterroot side was steeper than the other side. I was only able to coast for a mile or two before I had to start pedaling. The pedaling was easy since the gradient was still downhill so the miles ticked off pretty fast.

About 10 miles from the town of Wisdom, MT I came to the Big Hole National Battlefield site so I pulled in to see it. After visiting the Visitor Center I pedaled out to the battlefield site to see the area up close. Right as I got to the parking lot the skies let loose with rain. I did find a “nice” dry and warm refuge.

It even had a nice seat to sit down on while I waited the thundercell out!

Once the rain stopped, I decided to forgo the hiking and set out for Wisdom and a motel room since I figured the rain was not over for the evening. That turned out to be a good decision since it has started raining again for the third or fourth time since I arrived in town.

Tomorrow is calling for a 70% chance of continued rain showers. I guess it will be another interesting day.

The Bandit Brewery in Darby calls itself the smallest brewery in Montana. That is saying something.

The bobbleduck (their spelling, not mine) is a pretty dang good beer. I am thinking the climb up Chief Joseph Pass might not go as originally planned.

Great news! When I was repacking with my new front panniers, I found out they are bigger than my old ones. I can take even MORE, heavier stuff with me now! (By the way, I actually did weigh my bike in Whitefish. 82 pounds minimum, sometimes more depending on how much food and extra water I am carrying in any given day).

My stay with the Drapes was so great. They live at the top of a hill so while the end of yesterday was tough, the beginning of today was easy.

I was going to be heading south into the Bitterroot Valley today. It is another beautiful Montana valley with an added bonus. From Missoula to Hamilton, there is a 44 mile bike path!! It is named the Bitterroot Trail and it is awesome. And it is fairly flat terrain and a bit of a tailwind to boot.

I made a short detour today into the old town is Stevensville for lunch today. It was at a really nice sidewalk bistro. Well worth the extra mile off the route for today.

After lunch, the scenery got even better. You could start to see the mountains to the west that were in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area. There were a few snow capped peaks as a part of these mountains. I was reminded of a nice backpacking trip I took there many years ago.

Once in Hamilton, I stopped for some groceries and decided I would press on to Darby, MT. It was only 16 more miles and would set me up a little better for some serious climbs due up tomorrow.

So now I am sitting in my camp, looking at a cloudless sky, thinking of the shower I am going to take in about 5 minutes, and then the dinner and beer I am going to enjoy after that. Oh yeah. I will be thinking about Chief Joseph Pass too which awaits tomorrow morning. Something for all of us to anticipate for tomorrow.

The wind from the previous night had died down over night. Or so I thought…..

I wanted to try to get to Missoula at an early hour today for several reasons. I wanted to have lunch with Tom Crawford who I had been rafting with in the Grand Canyon for 3 weeks earlier this April and May. I also wanted to visit the Adventure Cycling headquarters.

Heading south for the last 7 miles of Hwy 83, there was an ever so slight headwind to foreshadow a possible long, hard ride today. And after those 7 miles and turning west on Hwy 200, that headwind turned into a mighty reality.

The road followed the Blackfoot River, but it was hard to enjoy the scenery with the effort it took to carve though the wind. There was some reprieve in parts of the lower canyon and I did get to sit up a bit to see the views a little. Eventually, I did make it to Missoula, just not quite as early as I had hoped.

I met Tom for lunch at 1:45 and we had a great time revisiting our recent Grand Canyon adventure. He wanted to know all about the bike trip and I wanted to hear all about his upcoming trip to Ireland. A great lunch!

Then on to Adventure Cycling. There they gave me a tour and posted my photo on their wall of cyclists on tour in 2018. I think you can see the photos on their website. I also needed to get some things there too. My 32 year old panniers (bike bags) finally gave up the ghost a few days ago so I bought some new ones here. I also reviewed some routes I plan to follow in Wyoming and Colorado with them. Good information from people at a good organization.

Finally at nearly 5:00 I began the final part of the day which was to ride through town to my friends Greg and Debi Drapes house where I would be sleeping in a real bed! Greg was one of my college roommates so it is always good to see them. We all went out to dinner, made some modifications to my new panniers, and generally stayed up too late trying to catch up with our goings-on.

Missoula is the home of “that other university”, but I still had a fun time today. Seems that I forgot all about the #$@% wind from this morning.

The thing about the TOSRV is that it wasn’t all about the Swan River. It also was about Seeley Lake which is further south but on the same route (Hwy 83). Today I would see the Seeley Lake part of TOSRV.

The weather was nice when I woke up. I really hope this going to be a trend. I was on the road just before 9:00 (which is my “not very rigid” goal each day).

The scenery continued to be great. The Swan Mountain range was to the east and the snow capped Mission Mountains were to the west. I stopped in Condon for lunch. I don’t what it was about Condon, but a lot of cyclists stopped there for food about the same time as me. No one was quite on the same route as I was, but it was still interesting to talk to everyone about their route and individual stories. Lunch turned out to last 2 hours today.

The terrain definitely turned more rolling hills in nature in the afternoon. I arrived in the town of Seeley Lake around 4:00 and bought some Lemonade and took a little break before riding the last 7 miles to Salmon Lake State Park.

The Park was really nice, but the wind had really picked up in the late afternoon. The park had a separate bike camping area which was really set up nice. It had 8 constructed tent pads (perfectly level and smooth), electrical outlets at the covered picnic tables, and even a Park Tools bike mechanic stand in case you needed to work on your bicycle. Nicely done Montana Parks Department!

The park also had showers in the main camping area so I took advantage of that amenity as well. Then between the wind and mosquitos, I ended up in the tent around 8:30.

With only 7 miles of the TOSRV route left for the next morning I felt comfortable in concluding that it was a great decision to ride the Swan River and Seeley Lake Valley. My personal TOSRV was a joy to experience.

When I was going to school at Montana State University many years ago, there was an annual bike event called The Tour Of The Swan River Valley or TOSRV. I never rode this event or even have driven the highway but I have always wanted to do so. Well, today I will get to find what the big deal is all about.

The weather promised to be sunny in the afternoon with temps in the high 70’s so there was no hesitation about riding today. I headed out of Whitefish on the Edgewood road (the 3rd time now I ridden this road on this trip). I rode to Big Fork where I saw Flathead Lake but just for a few miles. I had lunch at the local brew pub and then headed out to the Swan River valley. The riding was pretty easy without any real big climbs or wind. I ended up camping at the Swan Lake FS campground. It was located just north of the town of (get ready for it….) Swan Lake.

It was really nice to get to my campground at a reasonable time today. It was about 3:00 and I had plenty of time to explore the area and even go soak my feet in the lake.

It was a really nice campground and lake. I am beginning to understand what the big deal is!

What is it about Whitefish? Today it is raining again so I am off the bike for an unscheduled rest day.

I thought I would take the opportunity to give a summary of the trip so far:

Miles Traveled: 1045

Miles on Gravel Roads: 10

Major Mountain Passes: 7

Crossed the Continental Divide: 2

Highest Point: 6646 feet AMS

National Parks: 3

Mechanical Issues: 2 (bike rack, derailleur)

Flat Tires: Zero (knock on wood)

Tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be nice and I am looking forward to riding the Seeley- Swan valley to Missoula over the next 3 days.

Did I say I was looking forward to a nice night’s sleep? I seemed to have forgotten about the trains that run up an down Hwy 2 through the canyon. They were loud and came often. Oh well, life on the road.

I was going to be able to continue the down gradient slope today into West Glacier. The scenery was dominated by the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, a beautiful river by any measure.

Getting to West Glacier was great. It was lunch time and I finally was going to get off of Hwy 2.

That left 28 more miles into Whitefish to finish the day. I arrived at my friend Joe’s house at 2:30 after 49 miles. Actually a fairly easy day with the general downhill following the river.

Today’s ride marked a major milestone for several reasons. First, I went over the 1000 mile mark for the trip. Second, I would be turning south and following a completely new route- The Great Parks Route from Columbia Falls to Yellowstone Park. The Northern Tier route was great. This new direction should be equally rewarding.

Today’s ride was going to be interesting! For the first I would not have any information about my route except for the road number and distance. I was freelancing since I was doubling back to Whitefish before heading south.

Still, I was a little surprised when the road out of St Mary’s immediately pointed upwards. A nice 4 mile climb really gets the blood moving in the morning.

I was also on my own again. Geo was heading north to see more of the park and then possibly into Canada. He was a great camping partner and a heck of a nice person.

The road after the initial climb was up and down for the rest of the morning. I had some lunch at the turn onto Hwy 49. Right after lunch, the road again pitched up for a considerable climb. At least I was rewarded by more views of the Glacier NP mountains.

The climb topped out at an overlook of Upper Two Medicine Lake. Then it was downhill to East Glacier. There I stopped for a Coke but also had some huckleberry pie too. Just because!

After the break, I had another climb up to Marias Pass. This was a very easy climb for a change.

Then it was downhill for a long descent. 17 miles later I pulled in to the Historic Isaak Walton Inn. It is an old train station Inn and very fancy. I had dinner and a beer there before heading down the road again for the last 6 miles of the day to the campground.

All told, it was my second longest day having pedaled 68 miles. No worries though. It was the summer solstice and I still had plenty of daylight. The campground had hot showers so I was really looking forward to a comfortable nights sleep after a big day.

I really liked my plan for today! Since I knew I would be waiting for the upper gate to open in the late afternoon I slept in a little bit and really took my time leaving the campground. I wanted to leave at 11:00.

I ended up leaving around 11:10 only because Natalie showed up in the campground just before 11:00 and I wanted to check in with her. She would ride the pass on Friday after exploring the park with her friends for a few days.

I could not help but notice that the weather was perfect as I headed up the road. Today, the name of the road going to the summit was going to live up to its name: The Going To The Sun Road.

As advertised, I encountered the first gate at Avalanche Creek where the road was closed to all vehicles. With the nice weather, the road was still crowded with cyclists and hikers of all persuasions. After the first 4 relatively flat miles, the crowd thinned out to the more serious hikers and cyclists.

The next 4 miles is where things got more serious and the road gradient started pitching upwards. I got up to the Loop (which is the first big switchback) at 1:00. Taking 2 hours is a bit misleading since I stopped a lot to take photos of the fantastic vistas.

At the Loop I ate lunch and began the unknown wait for the upper gate to open. As time went on, more and more people arrived to join the crowd waiting. Finally, right at 3:00 the gate was opened and at least 50 people began the ride up the last 8.2 miles to Logan Pass. After 1.5 hours I got to the top and it was worth all the effort to get there.

I stayed on top for a while since it was so incredibly beautiful there. I was just getting ready to leave but I casually congratulated another rider for getting to the top. It turned out that this person knew my brother Doug! So I ended up staying for a lot longer yet since Dave Dorsett was such a nice guy (and knew my brother)!

At long last, I headed down the east side heading for St Mary’s. The descent was fast and fun except for when I came to a tunnel. It was a little dark inside so I slowed way down as I entered. All of a sudden the whole inside of the tunnel started moving. There were about 6-8 big horn sheep in the tunnel and they spooked a bit as I entered.

I basically herded them out the other end to continue the descent.

Just outside St Marys the USNP campground was full to my great disappointment. The ranger at the entrance said another cyclist got the last site. I thought this person might have been a guy I had briefly met before so the ranger said it would alright if I asked if he would be willing to share his site. George Spalding was more than willing to do so. Then Geo (as he is known by to his friends) and I headed for town 1 mile away for a real dinner. We were in a celebratory mood after our great ride up and over Logan Pass and I had salmon!

When I say it was a great ride I am not exaggerating. Over 30 miles of great scenery and the road all to ourselves. Add to that the perfect weather and you have a great ride. One I will never forget.