Touring the Rockies — One

I explored other versions of bicycle touring between Cycle America adventures. The concept/challenge of self-contained tours appealed to me. I learned that Adventure Cycling offered self-contained tours. There are no support vehicles, and you carry everything on your bikes. The group buys food along the way, and each rider packs part of the kitchen gear. The leader is there to show you the ropes. How could I resist?

I signed up for an Adventure Cycling tour in 1996. It was a “self-contained” tour — meaning you carry your water, food, tent, sleeping bag, rain gear, street clothes, and other personal items. I also needed a way to load all that gear on my bike. I outfitted my beloved Bridgestone with touring accessories, and was all set for “fully-loaded” touring.

Marcia, Barb and I drove to Missoula, Montana for the start of my “Great Parks North” tour. My notes for this tour helped me remember some of the details. We had lunch at the Red Lion Hotel when we got there. Then we went to Birchwood Hostel where the tour members were spending the night. That was the first and only time I stayed in a hostel.

That evening, most of the riders walked downtown to see what was happening at the outdoor “Big Band Dance.” The only thing I really remember was the beaver we saw on the way. It was swimming in an irrigation canal that runs through town, and was about the size of a big dog.

The next day our group went on a shakedown ride in the area around Missoula. We rode over the Bitterroot River, down to Clark Fork and back to town — about 20 miles. I found that I needed to adjust my bike’s derailleur so the gears would shift smoothly (more about that later). I’m sure others had problems to solve too.

The Clark Fork (of the Columbia River) flows from west of Butte, Montana to Lake Pond Oreille in Idaho. If Lewis and Clark had gone down the Bitterroot to Clark Fork, and then northwest they could have canoed through the mountains instead of making a desperate climb over Lolo Pass.

Monday

We rode up the Blackfoot river, and then north to Seely Lake the first day. Dick, our leader, had already ridden the whole tour up and back. He had a safe route for us to take out of Missoula. The rest of the ride was easy. My notes tell me that it got hot in the afternoon, and that I drank two quarts of Power Aid.

We camped at Seeley Lake instead of the high school in town on this tour. We had rice and stir-fry vegetables for dinner.

I had trouble setting up my tent this first night. I had forgotten that the poles crossed over at each end before they attached to the tent. Dennis (whoever that was – the notes don’t say) helped me figure that out.

This tour covered 750 miles in 17 riding days, or about 45 miles per day. That’s an easy pace, even in the mountains, but not all of the riders were ready for more mileage than that. It gave us plenty of time to enjoy the highlights along the way.

Tuesday

Granola and yogurt for breakfast. We probably had coffee and fruit too. This part of the tour reversed the Swan River Valley segment of the tour route last year.

It was hot at Swan Lake, and our campsite was out in the sun. I hung out at the gazebo down by the lake. The water was cold, but many of us went for a swim anyway. One of the things that’s always on your mind on a tour is when do we get something to eat. I don’t remember what we had for lunch, but we had spaghetti for dinner.

The road was under construction this year. We had to wait just like cars several times, but sometimes they let us go on ahead. Our narrow road tires made it difficult at times in the loose dirt.

Wednesday

We took a gravel road to bypass Big Fork this time. That way we avoided some heavy traffic on a narrow road. One of our riders had a front cone (part of the hub bearing) fail out there. We put a lot of grease in the hub, and hoped for the best. She did make it. I made a note to carry spares for critical parts on future tours.

According to my notes, we had a “fabulous” lunch at a convenience store. Then we took the old Columbia Falls Stage Road to bypass another long stretch of heavy traffic. We camped near the town of West Glacier, and spent some tourist time there.

Thursday & Friday

We had a lazy day on Thursday. We rode about ten miles to Lake McDonald Lodge in the morning. It’s a rustic old place that used to be a big tourist stop. We bought our lunch there. I did some reading, and strolled down to the lake.

The Lodge is also the starting point for bus tours up to Logan Pass. The buses are carefully maintained originals. Replacements would not work well on the narrow road over the Pass.

Later in the afternoon we rode up to Avalanche Campground to be close to the start of Going to the Sun road over Logan Pass. Cycling is prohibited between 11 am and 4 pm, so we needed to be close to the start, and get going early.

The ride over Logan Pass is not hard, but you need to keep moving. You’re raising 250 pounds or so up 3,300 feet from the start. It’s a narrow road, so you need good bike handling skills too. Loaded bikes are more stable, which helps, but you can’t afford to make mistakes on that road.

The scenery is majestic: Tall rugged mountains, big lakes, fast flowing streams, unique waterfalls, mountain goats, etc. It’s too much to take in. The mountains here were formed by erosion after a 5,000 foot thick chunk of rock was thrust 35 miles to the east over the original crust.

We sailed down the east side of the pass, and rode up to Many Glacier campground. We didn’t see any glaciers because you need to hike some distance to see them. None of us were eager to do that after a 60 mile day with more than 3,000 feet of climbing. We’ll get to Canada in the next post.