A busy two days it’s been! Earlyish Saturday morning I finally made it to Glacier National Park. Things are picture perfect as soon as you enter the park. I came in through the West side entrance and planned to go up Going to the Sun road and come out the East side. The gents in Couer d’Alene mentioned half the road was closed a day before they were there due to snow.

No road closures today though, but it did look like it might rain all day. The park ranger assured me chances are 100% for later on in the evening.

Unlike the other parks I’ve been to so far, Glacier had signs posted everywhere about carrying BEAR MACE and it being grizzly country and such. In fact, every little gift shop or visitors center also stocked shit loads of bear mace for your convenience. I didn’t have any need to whip mine out though since I was just riding through for the most part.

Just after taking the pictures above, I pulled over to gaze upon a huge cow moose and her calf just strolling streamside. First time I’d ever seen one of those majestic animals. No pics though, was caught in the moment and they quickly headed into the forest anyway.

The road was intense and awesome. A little high traffic but that’s what I get for being there on the weekend, and one of the last weekends everything is still open. They tend to shut down most of the park, including Going to the Sun road after September 30th.

About halfway on Going to the Sun you reach Logan Pass which sits at around 6600 ft and is cold and windy. Bitter up there. I met a rider on a sport touring bike that was wearing a heated jacket. Guy had his shit sorted out.

You pass by two beautiful lakes during the drive, first Lake McDonald on the way up going east and then St. Mary Lake on the way down. Eventually the roads took me all the way to Bozeman MT. I decided a few days ago I was going to pass by Yellowstone since I’ve been feeling a little tired and the setbacks have left me wanting to cover some ground. But being so damn close I overturned that decision and Bozeman put me a great strategic location for hitting the park in one day. The ride down from Glacier consisted of brown grassland and rocky mountains off in the distance.

Sunday I set out for Yellowstone’s Northeast entrance near Gardiner. The ride in was amazing. Mountains all around all the time. But it was also a little moist. At one point it looked like the circular cloud around Death Mountain in the Ocarina of Time. Sure enough, sprinkles just before the park entrance. It would go on alternating between sprinkles and sunshine the rest of the day for the most part.

Yellowstone is a very interesting place. It doesn’t have as many of the same grand and majestic qualities of some of the other parks, but it has a uniqueness about it. Almost strangely creepy, with sides of mountains missing trees due to fires and sulfur gas spewing from the earth, scalding death pits around every corner.

I took a disappointing number of pictures during the Yellowstone tour. I have excuses though. Two of the roads, both of which I planned on using to get around, were closed due to snow. So it was a lot of driving at 35-45 mph just to get to Old Faithful and then out of the park. Literally all day of driving actually. But I did find her and she blew right on time

There was also an insane abundance of wildlife. At the visitors center right when I pulled into the park near Mammoth Springs, moose were just casually strolling by like they needed to pick up a map from the park store before heading out on a hike. Lazily napping in the grass and just hanging around.

Bison were roaming the fields and lesser wooded areas all along the roads. You can usually smell them coming.

At one point there was a ranger parked on the side of the road and as you drove passed, he was pointing out a few little black bear down in the ravine. Check em off the list, saw myself the back of the head of a black bear just barely.

Where are my pictures of these you ask? Please don’t ask.

On my way out though, I stopped to stretch and a woman on the other side of the road flagged me over. They spotted a grizzly meandering down a river bank off in the distance.

Finally the ride out of the park at the East entrance. Arguably the best riding all day too even though it poured rain on me for a few miles. It was warm though, turned into sunshine eventually and the rock formations along the road and around Buffalo Bill State Park were amazing.

Aside from being slightly treacherous, full of animals that could easily kill me and the windiest damn place on earth, Montana and Wyoming are both extremely gorgeous places. Can’t wait to come back again.

Routes:

Today I’m headed off South Dakota. See ya!