Well, I'm finally getting around to writing about a nice ride last month. My friend Holger (RT1100) and his BMW club acquaintance (GS1150) took a well-deserved long weekend from Spokane to Montana in Mid-Sept. We wanted to plan it sooner but Holger also raises Alpaca's and August was birthing time and he couldn't leave the herd.
Friday we headed into North Idaho for our adventure. Out of Bonner's Ferry, ID we went across the northern tier of MT on some remote back roads ending up in Whitefish. We stayed at the Hibernation Station which is a ski lodge at Big Mountain resort. All three of use bunked (bunkbeds for two of us LOL) and got on the road Saturday AM. Whitefish is about 30 miles from West Glacier park entrance. Friday was beautiful blue sky but Saturday was turning out to be less than perfect but better than temps I've road in during the summer.
We paid our $12 and headed into the park on Going to the Sun Road. The last time I was here was in 1996 in a car. It's a very cool road (52 miles)and without all the RV's a real joy! I advise to give yourself at least 5 hours to budget enough time to stop and take pics/gawk.
At the Continental Divide it was so cold we put our helmets/gloves back on as the wind chill was about 10 degrees.
On the way down to the east side of the divide we encountered only one construction site which was nice. This road is notorious for lot's of waiting due to such a short season.
But if one has to wait 20 minutes for the road to open - you couldn't ask for a better view...
Once out of the east end of the park we traveled north to the only other road into the park that they call "little Glacier".
We encountered winds of at least 50-70 mph. that we had to drastically lean into. What fun!
Once out of the park we had a goal to make it to Hot Springs MT. Holger told us that the Hotel we were staying at was "unique". After 12 hours on the bike, if it had a bed I was ok with that! We ended up a the Symes Hotel which was built in the 1930's on top of a sulpher hot spring.
To say the hotel and clientele were unique is an understatement. We had a nice soak in the 106 degree tub then migrated to the lower pool at 102 degrees. Great fun having drinks and listening to live music. Interesting place to stay if you're adventurous enough. If you're looking for really nice accommodations - see "elsewhere" lol.
Sunday AM we ate breakfast, took another soak in the Hot Spring and headed west toward home. We're kick'n along at 90 + when we passed these guys on the side of the road!
Big Horn Sheep are quite common in Western Mt.
Thompson Falls, Thompson Pass for a quick stop.
Home in Spokane by about 2 PM. My stock Metzlers took a beating with the high-speed travel and a total of 800 miles that was the last they would see. I put on PR2's and feel that I'd have a better chance of keeping up with those BMW riders next time!
800 miles in three days, top speed 105 Mph but one could do far more if they want. One MT State Patrol in all that riding.
Hope you enjoyed.
Friday we headed into North Idaho for our adventure. Out of Bonner's Ferry, ID we went across the northern tier of MT on some remote back roads ending up in Whitefish. We stayed at the Hibernation Station which is a ski lodge at Big Mountain resort. All three of use bunked (bunkbeds for two of us LOL) and got on the road Saturday AM. Whitefish is about 30 miles from West Glacier park entrance. Friday was beautiful blue sky but Saturday was turning out to be less than perfect but better than temps I've road in during the summer.
We paid our $12 and headed into the park on Going to the Sun Road. The last time I was here was in 1996 in a car. It's a very cool road (52 miles)and without all the RV's a real joy! I advise to give yourself at least 5 hours to budget enough time to stop and take pics/gawk.
At the Continental Divide it was so cold we put our helmets/gloves back on as the wind chill was about 10 degrees.
On the way down to the east side of the divide we encountered only one construction site which was nice. This road is notorious for lot's of waiting due to such a short season.
But if one has to wait 20 minutes for the road to open - you couldn't ask for a better view...
Once out of the east end of the park we traveled north to the only other road into the park that they call "little Glacier".
We encountered winds of at least 50-70 mph. that we had to drastically lean into. What fun!
Once out of the park we had a goal to make it to Hot Springs MT. Holger told us that the Hotel we were staying at was "unique". After 12 hours on the bike, if it had a bed I was ok with that! We ended up a the Symes Hotel which was built in the 1930's on top of a sulpher hot spring.
To say the hotel and clientele were unique is an understatement. We had a nice soak in the 106 degree tub then migrated to the lower pool at 102 degrees. Great fun having drinks and listening to live music. Interesting place to stay if you're adventurous enough. If you're looking for really nice accommodations - see "elsewhere" lol.
Sunday AM we ate breakfast, took another soak in the Hot Spring and headed west toward home. We're kick'n along at 90 + when we passed these guys on the side of the road!
Big Horn Sheep are quite common in Western Mt.
Thompson Falls, Thompson Pass for a quick stop.
Home in Spokane by about 2 PM. My stock Metzlers took a beating with the high-speed travel and a total of 800 miles that was the last they would see. I put on PR2's and feel that I'd have a better chance of keeping up with those BMW riders next time!
800 miles in three days, top speed 105 Mph but one could do far more if they want. One MT State Patrol in all that riding.
Hope you enjoyed.
