A GREAT Divide Pandemic Adventure

[GreenHornet]

I swear, some of your pictures were taken in the same place as some of mine! thumbup

My trip was in June of 2005. I was in Glacier on June 25'th.
There was still a lot of snow and even more snow melt runoff. The stony walls were covered in many waterfalls... and even mini glaciers, or is that avalanche remains?


There was also almost no traffic while I was in the park, which was great for stopping and gawking!

For sure the tunnel pic is in the same spot. Would have to do a more detailed comparison for others.

I think the top pick is a frozen waterfall.

Great pics, especially the Big Horn Sheep. I didn't see any of those.

The park was pretty packed when I went but I think most of the National Parks had record attendance during the pandemic too.

 

[GreenHornet]

More Glacier shots. The quality isn't that great due to zooming in.

Super tall falls

 

[GreenHornet]

https://www.glaciernationalparklodges.com/red-bus-tours

The red park tour buses were super cool and all part of a 1930s original fleet

 

[berth]

More Glacier shots. The quality isn't that great due to zooming in.

I think they have a cool "watercolor" vibe to them.

 

[SFMCjohn]

I think they have a cool "watercolor" vibe to them.

+1, more fantastic GreenHornet pics ...

finally got to do the Going-to-the-Sun Road seven years ago after being skunked by winter closure still being in effect in late June once or twice. so awesome.

 

[N4teTheGreat]

I have a place to stay in Bozeman (aunt / uncle have a nice house near town) so I really have no excuse to not take a road trip out there one of these days.

 

[GreenHornet]

I think they have a cool "watercolor" vibe to them.

I can see that

 

[GreenHornet]

+1, more fantastic GreenHornet pics ...

finally got to do the Going-to-the-Sun Road seven years ago after being skunked by winter closure still being in effect in late June once or twice. so awesome.

Totally awesome. It's hands down the best scenic drive I've ever been on.

 

[GreenHornet]

I have a place to stay in Bozeman (aunt / uncle have a nice house near town) so I really have no excuse to not take a road trip out there one of these days.

You should do it for sure

 

[GreenHornet]

Zoomed out glacier

I really took a lot of pics

There were people hiking way up above the road

The same area zoomed out

Tried to capture the awesomeness of the valley

First glimpse of the mountain goats

 

[GreenHornet]

There is a wooden observation deck and the mountain goat trail goes right next to and under it. The goats have no fear of humans, so you can see them from just a few feet away

 

[MTERK]

What else can you say? What a beautiful place!

 

[ripter]

Awesome journey! Thanks for taking up along ride vicariously!

 

[GreenHornet]

I guess I don't have to post every single Glacier Park picture I took.
This was the best waterfall I saw

Towards the end of the park everything turned red. It was a stark change in the coloring of the landscape.

This spot was extra cool looking

This guy caused quite the stir. Traffic was all backed up on both sides of the road and at first I thought there was an accident or something. There was a lone ranger at the head of the parked cars trying to stop people from parking at any point past him and trying to keep people close to their parked vehicles.
It was really hard to catch a good picture or glimpse of the GRIZZLY just trying to forage for berries or whatever. It totally ignored the crowd and was almost as tall as the surrounding foliage. It never reared up or turned around. This is what I was afraid of this whole time? Hahaha

It was dark by the time I got back to the park entrance I came in on and since I forgot the obligatory park sign pic...

 

[GreenHornet]

Day 20 Columbia Falls to Roosville

This would be the final leg for me because the Canada border was still closed unless you wanted to quarantine and other hoops you had to jump through. There was a chance it was going to be open as one of the reopening dates was right around my trip but then it was canceled again when Delta hit.

I thought my gloves were looking a little dirty. I had no idea.

This spot was serene and exquisite

In Northern Montana, I could tell that fall was gearing up, as there were more and more leaves changing out of their spring and summer greens.
Most people start this trek much earlier in the summer but I think I went at a better time in the season.
Even in Montana the nights were in the 40s and the days were pleasant in the 60s. I did have that one cold night in Wyoming where I saw 27 degrees but that was it for cold nights.
I never really got caught in any New Mexico rains, but I did get into the mud. The monsoon season spans the whole summer though, so I still think I didn't experience the worst New Mexico has to offer.
It was the 3rd year of the drought in the West but I also didn't have to deal with any water crossings. While doing my research it seems that there are at least 2 water crossing that most people have to deal with.
I don't think I'd want to go much later than I did, but at least for last year the timing was just about perfect.

The section after this lake got a bit nasty and super rocky for miles and miles. Lots of sharp pieces of granite (I think) amongst other kinds of rock. I was trying to push the bad thoughts out. I had made it the whole way without a single nail, puncture, or tear and the thought of popping a tire on the last section was ever present. Thankfully Murphy didn't strike.

A small celebratory drink was in order

 

[GreenHornet]

Well. Mission accomplished. Completed the 20 sections in 20 days. Of course, I skipped 2 full sections, part of another, was holed up in Missoula for 2 days, plus one day where i just made a loop, and there were 2 sections that took me 2 days each. But there were other days where I was able to complete 2 sections in one day.
At this point it was about midday and there was really nothing to do but start making my way home. I hadn't really planned my return route and google told me the fastest way was to head over to Washington state and then South on I-5.
This didn't really seem too much fun.
So I just decided to make it up along the way with a few caveats. Go South or South West through Montana and Idaho then West through Oregon then South home and to avoid major freeways and choose the windiest looking major roads or smaller highways. I had no idea how far I'd make it on this day tho and figured I'd just look for a place in the late afternoon / early evening.

Somewhere in Idaho

As I got closer to Coeur d'Alene the smoke really picked up. I took a route that looped around the lake and in some little tourist trap stopped at a lodge thingy to see about a room but no one answered the door. Maybe closed for covid, or the smoke? Eventually, I saw a sign for Camp Grizzly. There were just a few people there and they told me it was a Boy Scouts of America property. There were nothing going on at the time and the people holding down the fort were moto friendly and they said I could spend the night. After I set up camp, one of them told me I could use one of the little pointy cabin things but I was already all set up so I just camped outside. I don't think there are any Grizzy in Camp Grizzly or even Idaho for that matter.

My hosts were living it up in these 5th wheel mansions

Teepee cabins

I ate my fancy meal (REI bought dehydrated chicken gumbo) with them and swapped stories for a while.

After cheating on my dog for a while it was time for bed

 

[GreenHornet]

Day 2 Return Trip

In the morning I noticed my trip meter indicated I had gone a Crazy number of miles so far.

I ended up going the wrong direction not too far into this day, but that turned out to be a fortuitous event as I was able to stop for an awesome breakfast in some little down called Palouse.
In general the day's riding would be awesome but eventually sub hundred degree heat coupled with extreme wildfire smoke would put a slight taint on it.
It probably would have been quicker at this point to head down 395 but I didn't really want to ride through the desert and I'd never ridden in Idaho before. My plan was to take Hwy 20 all the way across Oregon and come out near Clear Lake then head over to 5 South.
The roads were nicely paved with lots of twists and I followed several bodies of water as well as the Little Salmon River, and the Little Payette River. I even passed some whitewater which I clocked by pacing it at between 25 and 30 miles per hour.

Nightfall only had me the stinky Agro/Industrial town of Ontario on the Idaho Oregon border and I was able to get a room at the Red Lion for the night.

Being the destroyer of bugs can make it hard to find your way.

A little buddy decided to join me in my rockstar parking.

One of these is not like the other; they didn't want to join the party. Maybe they were afraid that some of the dirt would rub off on them

 

[berth]

One of these is not like the other; they didn't want to join the party. Maybe they were afraid that some of the dirt would rub off on them

S'alright, they don't wave either.

 

[MTERK]

Thanks for all the pics! What an adventure!

 

[1962siia]

Epic adventure Josh! This has been one of the best ride threads in a while! Thanks for taking the time to do it!