Harlem, MT

Thursday August 23rd


I visited the park in Sandpoint next to the campground and the "beach". It looks like the white sand is imported from somewhere else.



My next camping equipment failure was my plastic spork (spoon and fork combined). I purchased a new titanium one (http://www.vargooutdoors.com/) from the Army Surplus store.

My ride out of Sandpoint followed Lake Pend Oreille. The scenery was beautiful and very soothing to the eyes.

The route then took me through the Cabinet Gorge.

I visited the Cabinet Gorge dam

And I eventually entered Montana

This is a photo of the Cabinet Gorge reservoir

Friday August 24th

Then I rode through the Cabinet Mountains


My first encounter with a black bear


Then I followed the Kootenai River - here is a photo of the Kootenai Falls


and the Kootenai River. Lots of people were fishing on the river. One guy would paddle a boat and two people, one at each end would fish.


Saturday August 25th

I rode past the Libby Dam. It was quite a climb to the dam.


Lake Kookcanusa is the reservoir supplying water to the Libby Dam.


Some photos along Route 228 which is high above Lake Kookcanusa.

Once I came upon this sign near dusk, every black tree stump I rode past looked like a black bear!

Just before I got to the Kootenai Bridge, I must have startled a black bear on the side of the road where I was riding, The bear made a quick exit into the trees and the noise so close to me almost made me jump out of my skin!

Sunday August 26th

I passed through Eureka and was amazed my the "Big Sky"

Inside Kootenai House is a full sized preserved Grizzly Bear.

I rode along Tobacco Rd. It reminded me of a Dire Straits song with the same name....Tobacco is the name of the nearby river.

I had been following the east to west Northern Tier these 3 guys (Michael, Chuck and Jamie) were taking and we finally bumped into each other.

Michael gave me his receipt for Glacier National Park. It costs $12 for a car or bicyclist. We both agreed the price is a bit steep for bicyclists.

I had been seeing "no fires" signs along the way at campgrounds...


Monday August 27th

I found a nice tent site by the Stillwater River


Another casualty of my camping equipment was my Peak1 Apex II multi-fuel stove. 3 of the 5 supports for my pot broke away and I eventually tried to replace the supports with some aluminum cans I found discarded alongside the road. The thin aluminum didn't last more than one cooking session so I had to try something different. I eventually experienced a retro-moment where I could support the pot using a tripod made out of fallen tree branches I found near the tent site. I bound the branches with some nylon rope I was carrying with me.


I was able to purchase a MSR Whisperlite International multi-fuel stove in Whitefish at the White Room outdoors store. I also replaced my pack towel which I think I left behind at Sandpoint. And I bought some extra UCO candles for my candle light.

I also picked up another box of Luna Bars at the Post Office that a friend had sent to me via General Delivery.

Outside Columbia Falls I took a photo of the sunset


Tuesday August 28th

I was getting close to Glacier National Park and I followed a road with 2.6 miles of gravel. There was a guy operating a digger along the road. He stopped me to say that his wife rides a recumbent bike (an early version of a Vision short wheelbase recumbent)


Riding down the hill were Ralph and Pat who were doing an Alaska to Chile bike trip.

Who said I was in Bear Country?


I eventually reached West Glacier

I was able to use Michael's pass to get into Glacier National Park. I rode along the Going-to-the-Sun road and reached Lake McDonald

Some more scenery along the On Going-to-the-Sun Road

McDonald Falls

Some more scenery along the On Going-to-the-Sun Road

I stayed that evening at Avalanche camping ground. I was able to put my food and smelly objects into a bear-proof container provided by the National Park for hiker-bikers.

Wednesday August 29th

I left at 8am to ride up to Logan Pass. I'll let you enjoy the scenery in the photos.

Bicyclists are restricted from riding the road between 11am and 4pm. I rode to a nice shady spot somewhere about halfway up and stopped around 10:45am. I did some sewing to repair my camelbak water bladder holder, my camera bag, and shortening the legs on a pair of campmor nylon cargo pants that unzip to a pair of shorts. I also hiked down to a clearing where I could take some photos of a waterfall and the mountain vista. I also had time to walk along the road to filter some water at the waterfall I took a photo of.

I departed at 4pm and reached Logan Pass around 6pm. There were some mountain goats at the pass


and a horned sheep...

Logan Pass

Some scenery along the On Going-to-the-Sun Road on the way down the other side...

Jackson Glacier

Saint Mary Lake

I decided to camp at Saint Mary Lake.

Thursday August 30th

The next morning I was presented with this scenery at Saint Mary Lake. Are these photos worth $125? More about this below.

As I was bringing my bike and bags back to the road a park ranger stopped me and said I was camping illegally. I should have camped at the camping ground a mile back. I was given a park violation ticket which cost me $125! Grrr....I eventually decided not to dwell on what had happened and moved on to enjoying my ride again.

The scenery changed dramatically outside the park. Here is a photo I took on the road from Saint Mary to Babb. Babb is part of an Indian Reservation. How come the Indians always get unhospitable land to settle on? A bit unfair, I think.


This part of the trip took me to the US Canada Border. I was going to to be riding in Alberta for a few days.

Here is a photo of the Rockies on the Canadian side

Waterton Lakes

Prairies on PR6

The prairies were beautiful but there was nowhere to put my tent for the night without being detected. So I decided to stay the night at Crooked Creek Campground. I was still in bear country. The camp manager allowed me to store my food in the "cooking shack."
I met the Cook family from Dixmont, ME, which is about an hour from Bar Harbor, my destination.

Friday August 31st

Riding through the prairies was very easy going with the westerly wind at my back. Occasionally I'd look back at the rockies.


I passed a natural gas plant and at Belly River I saw some wind generators.


Another look back at Rockies


Some photos on the road heading towards Del Bonita

My Shadow late in the afternoon

I reached the US Border at Del Bonita

The westerly wind was strong and I kept on riding trying to find somewhere to sleep where I wouldn't be seen. After dark I eventually found a bank alongside the road behind which I slept.

I rode 80 miles that day.

Saturday September 1st

The next morning I had to reach Cut Bank to pick up 2 packages I had sent myself from Sandpoint containing my ayurvedic herbs and my laptop computer.

Here is a photo pre-dawn heading towards Mile post 10


Cut Bank produces some oil and natural gas. I saw active oil wells and some abandoned ones. It made me think about the environmental awareness of these oil companies just leaving the abandoned oil wells on the land. Why don't they clean up after themselves once the oil runs out? Or does it just come down to plain economics of making a profit and to hell with the environment?


I reached the Cut Bank post office in time and made my way to the campground. I met Ken and Sue who where about to depart. They were following the Northern Tier as far as Cleveland, OH before heading south to Tampa, FL. We may meet again before reaching Cleveland.
I spent most of the day relaxing at the campground. I sorted out which photos to include in the blog and laundered most of my clothes. The campground had a shower and a TV all for $10 a night!

Sunday September 2nd (Labor Day weekend)

The landscape continued to be open grassland prairies and the weather was hot and dry with a westerly tail wind. I rode along Route 2 though Ethridge and Shelby. At Shelby I bought lunch at Albertson's supermarket and drank a quart of chocolate milk! Mmmmm....Leaving Shelby I broke a link in the bike chain and I spent 30 minutes fixing it. I rode through Dunkirk, Devon, and stopped at Galata for some water. No stores were open and I eventually filtered water from a tap on the lawn of the Galata Motel. Two guys on bicycles rode past. I eventually caught up with them while they were taking a rest stop. We talked for a while. They were from Michigan and were riding from Glacier National Park back home. One of the guys names was Shaun, Shaun was riding a 2006 Trek 520 upright touring bike like I used to own. My bike was a 1979 model. I decided to ride with the guys to Chester where we departed. The guys were going to stay in a motel and I stayed in the city park for free. It was very pleasant there.

Monday September 3rd (Labor Day)

I decided to ride to Chinook to another free city park campsite. Again the landscape was open grassland prairies and the weather was hot and dry with a westerly tail wind. I rode through Joplin, Inverness, Rudyard. The Amtrak train to Chicago whizzed past. I also saw many Burlington Northern BNSR railroad freight trains. I waved to one of the engines and got a load horn toot in reply. At Hingham I stopped for lunch and the gas station / convenience store was closed. I ate a bagel and cheese then filtered some water before continuing. A guy on a BMW 1100 motorbike stopped and we talked for a few minutes. He was riding back from Seattle to Northern Virginia. His bike was getting 50.8 mpg. I rode through Gildford, Kremlin, and reached Havre just before 5pm. An IGA supermarket was open, I ate 2 donuts and drank a pint of chocolate milk before continuing. I reached Chinook at 7:15pm and stopped at an icecream parlor for a large Mountain Dew drink. I got directions to the Waterworks Park. People were walking their dogs at the park. Eventally they all left and I put up the tent and cooked dinner. An added bonus to this park was a shower! I did some laundering of some clothes and slept around 11pm. I was awoken by a feral cat jumping on a trash can around 12:30am. I got up and chased the cat away. It came back! I eventually fixed the problem by moving the trash can off the concrete floor of the pavilion to the grass. Now I got some uninterupted sleep!

Tuesday September 4th

After a nice ride to Harlem, I'm at the library posting this blog. Today is cloudy and hazy and a lot cooler.

I hope to make it to Malta this evening.