Going To The Sun Road meanders through the rocky mountains of Glacier National Park, Montana, crossing through the Continental Divide via Logan Pass, at over 6,500ft elevation. It’s a bucket list item for many with exceptional views.
While some of the lower sections remain open year round, the higher elevation road is closed due to snowfall for most of the year. It doesn’t fully open to drive through the park until late June/early July, depending on weather conditions and ploughing progress. However, there’s a magic window of opportunity in the Spring when it’s part ploughed and open to bikes only. And we found ourselves there in just that window. Anyone would think we’d planned it.
No need for words, the pictures give the full picture. And there’s no shortage of pictures.
The elevation gain from Avalanche to The Loop was around 1,000ft.
Just a hop, skip and a jump from Glacier NP in northwest Montana is the resort town of Whitefish. A cool place to spend the week, and no shortage of scenery and awesome walks here to fit in around work.
The co-working office in the heart of downtown Whitefish was a home away from home – it was actually called Basecamp.
Whitefish marked the two week point after our J&J vaccination and one week after the CDC announced that masks were no longer required for vaccinated people inside as well as outside. At this point, around 40% of the US population was fully vaccinated. But looking around, there was no way 60% of people were wearing masks. Maybe 5% tops.
So basically the CDC’s attempt to incentivize vaccinations by relaxing the rules for vaccinated people backfired. American businesses threw their hands in the air and their toys out of the pram and said we can’t possibly police this. Virtually overnight, it was as if Covid-19 never existed and masks were a thing of the past. Here’s hoping the third wave isn’t just around the corner.
Meanwhile, we settled into our shady woodland campsite at Whitefish Lake State Park. Nice enough little spot, apart from the slight issue of the trains. The train track was mere inches from the BaseCamp. Which meant inches from my head. Trains in the US are ridiculously long and run at all times of the day and night. Each and every one felt like a powerful earthquake, both inside and outside my head. In short, not a good week’s sleep.
And for the birthday boy, no birthday is complete without a brewery. One by one, Darren’s years-old triathlon and event t-shirts are gradually being replaced by brewery attire. He continued this trend with a little number from Bonsai Brewing Project.
Good birthday food and drink also came in the form of Amazing Crepes for brunch. And literally the BEST tacos outside of Mexico, accompanied by jalapeño margaritas.
