Montana!

The biking has begun! I've been in the saddle for 4 days now, so everything is still new and there's plenty to talk about. Some first impressions:

It's easy to fall in love with the West if you like being outdoors. Everything is set to a grand scale including the adventure. My first day of riding was from the train station in Whitefish up to the border crossing at Roosville. I took the quickest most direct route, highway 93, which turned out to be full of log trucks and RV's flying by at 70mph. It seems like the local party happens in the mountains every weekend. Everyone hooks up their big ass camper trailer or boat to their big ass truck and hauls ass for the mountains. Most know what they're doing, but it's the tourists (and there are plenty of them here this time of year myself included) who've never even towed a lawn mower that can really scare you. I had a couple of nervous moments that first day up the highway. This parade happens every weekend and the closest thing I can compare it to is gameday in a college town but instead of heading for a piece of asphalt to party, they go to the mountains.

Here's me and my rig at the border on day 2. So if nothing else, at least I started this Canada to Mexico trip right and started in Canada! With food and water fully loaded, I'm pulling about 60lbs. plus the daypack on the bike rack which adds another 6 or 7lbs. So hills can definitely be slow going.

 

Physically, I'm getting used to long days in the saddle by now (will I be able to have kids?) and my legs aren't too sore. The first big climb happened at Whitefish divide at the end of day 2. Up until this point I had been on paved roads and pretty close to civilization. It was nice to finally hit dirt and set the tone for the majority of the remaining route. First night I had to worry about Grizzlies as well, so I had to string up a bear bag with all of my food in it. This can be a real pain trying to find a branch to get a rope over in a coniferous forest (very dense and lots of close branches). Guess it's probably worth the effort, though I would like to see how well the spray works... not really.



 

 

Haven't seen any large animals yet (deer don't count). No bears, elk, sheep, etc. I have seen plenty of birds though. Two nesting osprey on day 1 had their nest on a power pole right next to the highway. I don't think they see too many bikers come their way because as soon as I got near, they both left the nest and circled me until I left (but didn't care a bit about the cars and trucks whizzing by). The highlight of the trip so far was two nights ago when I was camped at Red Meadow Lake. I spotted a bald eagle across the lake and watched him for a little while. He then left his perch and flew directly over me, about 15 feet off the ground. I could hear the wind past his wings. America! The only thing that would have made it better is if he dropped a fish into my lap for dinner on his way by. Here's the best shot I could get with my little camera. 

 

Day 3 introduced me to the kind of road I'll be riding for the majority of the trip. Lots of rocks and washboards! The fingers on my right hand started to go a little numb. We'll see if that persists. This is the climb up to Red Meadow Lake with a peak in Glacier National Park in the background. I would have liked to get into the park and do some hiking, but when you're on a bike you can only go so far for side trips. I can't figure out how to rotate this image at the moment... I'll work on that.



 

 

Until next time, I've got 40 miles to put in today.