Glacier - Day 4

Day 4

From Boise, ID to Kalispell, MT: About 500 miles

This is when the fun really starts. Our planned route had us heading north out of Boise on 55, link up with 95 and then at Grangeville loop east to Kooskia and then take 12 over Lolo pass. These were all highly recommended roads and I can say they did not disappoint. There was one obstacle, however, that we’d have to over come… there just happened to be a fresh wildfire that started somewhere close to 55 and we weren’t sure if the highway was open or not. We decided to head north and worst case we’d have to backtrack and find 95 out of Weiser.

We quickly reached a small summit that overlooked the small town of Horseshoe Bend. The summit had a scenic pullout that allowed you to look down over the valley town. This was our view today…

We didn’t see the fire from up there, but we certainly found the smoke. No roadblocks yet, so that was a good sign the road was open, so we ventured down into the smoke-filled valley. A local rider that we met at the pullout stated he thought the road was open, but any change in the wind could cause it to be closed. We decided to press on and try our luck. The smoke somewhat limited the visibility as you can see by these shots I took as we passed through Horseshoe Bend. I couldn't image living in one of those houses with the constant smell of smoke.

There was so much smoke that my eyes started to burn. I flipped my face shield down hoping to block some of it out, but I don’t think it worked too well. Soon we came upon some blackened roadside, a telltale sign that the fire had been there. We knew we'd be in for some trouble when we ran across this sign.

Parts of the hillside were still smoking.

No sooner than we passed the burned areas did we come directly upon area that were still on fire.

Click on the picture to open up full size and you’ll see the flames on the hillside and right by the road.

This was a bit closer that I wanted to be… of course my brother stopped in the road along this stretch so he could get a better shot with his camera phone. I knew we weren’t supposed to stop because I heard it on the news the night before, but I think he missed that segment.

Shortly after this we were out of the smoke and twisting our way along the Salmon river.

We eventually flattened out to some higher meadow area and I tried to get a picture of my brother alongside me… generally he was either too fast or too slow, but I’ll keep trying.

I know there is nothing wrong with my picture taking... he just has trouble posing.

Then we hit our first road construction for the trip, but certainly not our last. I’m sure it made Kevin feel as if he was back in Colorado.

But it didn’t last too long and soon we were winding our way alongside another river, the Selway as we headed east towards Lolo pass.

There is a small spot in the road with a couple of buildings that fellow Idahoans call Lowell. Two dozen people used to call that place home... now it's a little less. That’s where we stopped to refuel, little place called Ryan’s Wilderness Inn. They serve a great burger there. It was mid-afternoon so we’d already missed the lunch crowd and pretty much had it all to ourselves. Here's Kevin patiently waiting on his Tuna Fish??

Shortly after Lowell we ran across this sign and stopped to take a picture as this was going to be an incredibly fun time for the next hour or so.

Of course I failed to position my bike in front of the sign so you don't know if I was really there or not. I could be making this whole thing up. But here's a couple of pics of me cruising by the river after we passed the sign.

We winded up that river at a leisurely pace, ignoring the curve warning signs and just tackled sweeper after sweeper. Kevin even let me lead for a spell during this portion of the ride and he still had a great time. As a matter of fact we were enjoying the road so much we really didn’t take many pictures. I think of the 77 miles, maybe 2 miles of it was straight-aways and the rest were soothing sweepers.

After awhile we broke from the river and started making the serious ascent to Lolo pass, climbing about 4000 ft. in the process. Again, thanks to Kevin's excellent photography skills along with being able to steer with his knees while taking candid photos are shots of me slicing up the canyon to the pass. I don't know...can a Valkyrie slice?

Before we knew it the sweeper climb up the mountain was over and found ourselves at Lolo pass and the Montana state line. We took the obligatory state sign pics and then headed down the pass on the other side. Gotta love Montana… those speed limits, even in the mountains are high. We enjoyed barreling down the other side of Lolo Pass heading into Lolo. On this section of road I finally got a shot of Kevin riding beside me.

We pulled up in Kalispell and found some grazing area for our rides at the local Motel 6. There they made friends with the other mounts and we grazed for some sustenance ourselves. It was a great day for riding with no rain and only a small amount of smoke and fire. I’ll have to remember to pack for fires as well as for rain showers in the future.

Tomorrow we tackle ‘the road to the sun’ highway through Glacier National Park.