Canada, Glacier NP, Beartooth Pass and Chief Joseph Hwy Part Three

 Day Five

When I go Yellowstone I try to avoid the thermal areas and certainly Old Faithful. It is a zoo in the summertime. There is a song title Summertime and the jazz great Ray Brown with his trio of Jeff Hamilton and Gene Harris do a great version of this tune. As it has no vocals so no quip here but it is great swing music.

Today's route is a favorite and the destination for this ride after leaving the Fab 5. From Gardner I get an early start about 7:40am then onto Lamar Valley, Cooke City Montana, a down and back on the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, over Beartooth Pass and spend the night in Red Lodge.

Here is the route.



The key for this ride is doing a down and back on the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. Most will go over then north to Belfy and Red Lodge or south to Cody. Why, when the best is just where you came from? Get back up in elevation when it is hot and stay cool. The only reason to stay on Hwy 120 is when the weather inclement and I did that once years ago.

This was the first time I have been here since the Yellowstone River had it's way with the road along the river, washing it out, in June 2022.

The new road goes up a hillside with lots of switchbacks on good pavement with a 25mph speed limit and enough traffic to just relax and enjoy the views. The new route drop into Mammoth above where the old road was. Very nice.

It wasn't long before my first wildlife encounter but it wasn't a fluffy cow. Oh no.



I did a couple of u-turns to get a good view a decent shot and stay safe.

Fluffy cows along the Lamar River.









Soda Butte Cone



View along Chief Joseph byway, also known as Crandall Road on Garmin maps and Wy 296 and whatever you call it the is a great road for brisk riding. Absolutely sublime.

Clark Fork Canyon along Chief Joseph Scenic Byway.



Along the Beartooth Hwy where there was no construction. Yippie!







At the summit.



Some mountain sheep or goats I don't know which.



A deer in downtown Red Lodge.



It was a great day to be on the motorcycle. I was ride very well today. There are just some days where everything clicks and this was one of them.

I had a good meal in Red Lodge, I believe it was elk. I like eating things unavailable at home.

End of Day Five

Day Six

Hi Kevin. Yeah the route Patrick created went through Yaak. I had never been there and its fun to go someplace new. Enjoy the PNW-GT. Jim

Lyle Lovett wrote a song titled What Do You Do / The Glory Of Love and the version he sings with Francine Reed live is great. The music is big band swing and part of the lyrical refrain is what to you do. This is stuck in my head.

In Red Lodge on a blue sky day where the temps are going to be record breaking what do you do you? There ain't no questions and I don't have the blues. With a motorcycle you get an early breakfast, an early start and head for Beartooth Pass, that's what you do!

The route for today, follow the red line starting at the Lupine Inn.



A few photos before the pass.





The Beartooth Run was on Saturday July 11th featuring a 5k, 10k and a half marathon all above 10,000 feet elevation. Let me repeat that all above 10,000 feet elevation. OMG!

And I was lucky enough to be there. This was completely unplanned on my part and those who use to work at Boeing Defense and Space may recall the use of the term unplanned event - a screw up if you will.

This wasn't screwed up! Far from it. This was fun. There were folks of all shapes and sizes participating in this event and most were smiling and having a great time. Walkers and runners alike. One lady who was not in her 20's had a knee brace on and was walking. Kudo's to them all! It was a pleasure to witness and made my heart happy.



After the summit I the I whipped out my camera to see what might happen with the morning light. Of course I didn't stop - I need to keep moving on a hot day rather than looking great photo with simple gear.





It is lovely up here. Spread my ashes here - this is were may spirit soars.







The Triumph with Beartooth Peak as a backdrop.



A closeup of Beartooth Peak sans most snow.



Waterfall.



Back Chief Joseph Highway I go. Was there any doubt?



It is Saturday so there are a few more cars, trikes and bikes on the road today. I was feeling a bit frisky so these were opportunities for exploring what this Triumph can do. So I put it into Sport mode. Stir the tranny, use the quick shift and OH MY! I like this bike. It is nimble and handles very well. It is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. There is a saying there is not replacement for displacement. Wrong. There is, it is called technology. Modern motorcycles are amazing.

A view from the summit at Chief Joseph Pass.



Another waterfall. This one is near the intersection of Beartooth and Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. The water comes from the upper right corner of the image an runs down a rock slab. There is trail leading the to falls. Too hot today but someday. As if I needed a reason to come back.

Check out the limestone layer beneath the volcanic layer. Imagine the volcanic layer was not there millions of years ago. Then imagine this land was covered by the ocean laying down the limestone layer. Uplift and tectonic plate activity raised the limestone layer and later vulcanism expels molten rock and gases creating a new layer on the old one.



Back in Lamar Valley in Yellowstone.



A fluffy cow on the road! This bull was off to the right on the hillside mulling around as I approached. Observing this I slowed, then stopped a safe distance way to watch him walk down the hillside and across the road. Fun!



The same fluffy cow that crossed the road.



After Lamar Valley traffic thickened on the way to West Yellowstone and not even Sport mode would save me. The elevation change from Lamar Valley although to to Mt Washburn and Dunraven Pass at nearly 9,000 feet provided a welcome respite from the heat. I dropped off the parade a few times, once because following a pickup truck with a terrible diesel smell wasn't appealing. At one of the stops I learned I was on the edge of the Yellowstone Caldera. Very cool.

A random photo in later in the day.



A bubbling pot.



Despite the hydration system, I limped into Yellowstone were it was between 87-92°. Homie don't like heat while riding, even though this bike doesn't throw a lot of heat on homie's body.

I checked into my room at the Club House Inn and chilled for a while the comforts of Air Conditioning restored my tired mind. After a shower I went into town for dinner. Along the way more old iron.



The World Cup soccer game was on and five minutes after arriving England scored a goal to break the tie. How cool was that. The waitress was rooting for Norway because she had the hots for Erling Haaland a Norwegian player.

That night I dined on some very good food. I had elk and bison skewers with a trout entree stuffed with crab and shrimp. Perfect. I returned to skiing last year after an 8 year absence and I did pretty well. I could do better if I loose enough weight the bonus is to try heli-skiing one more time.

In March 1986 I skied 175,000 feet of vertical in a week at Mike Weigel's at Blue River BC in the Cariboo and Monashee mountains. It would be fun to try a day trip again or snowcat skiing.

From 1986.



The asymmetrical track was mine so I had to buy the wine that night. I was thinking about the shot rather than skiing. I used an early Canon point and shoot film camera. The guys at the camera store were keenly interested in the photo asking about the camera setting. I said it was a point in shoot - the were stunned. The photo was displayed at the camera shop in the mall for quite a few years. This is a low resolution scan of the original image.



My apartment and my winter passion with evidence. Three years of ski tickets, well almost. I had a night passes at Alpental out of Seattle. Good vertical drop there.



End of Day Five

 

 

Canada, Glacier NP, Beartooth Pass and Chief Joseph Hwy Part Two

 Today the Fab Six shriveled to the Fab 5 as I was heading east while the Fab 5 was heading back to home as each had obligations. My route for the day.



My original plan of mice and men was to leave very early but I choose to meet with the Fab 5 for coffee. Much to my surprise a local thundershower moved in about my departure time so I chilled for about 1 hour or so waiting for the weather to move east, my direction for this early morning ride.

I didn't wait long enough and got rained on in West Glacier and it didn't really clear up until leaving Essex Montana where my Dad was born in 1926. His father Long Shot Ed got his nickname for his rifle and hunting skills. The story goes grandpa saw a deer move on a ridge at some distance and said to his partner see the deer on the ridge and the fellow responded no. Grandpa took a shot and dropped the deer. Grandpa worked the rail lines and during the roaring '20's the Great Lodges were built. The Northern Pacific built the Great Lodge to fill the rail cars. Along with rail work Grandad likely had a garden, root cellar and hunted to keep food on the table. It the depression the rail business plummeted thus the family moved to Fife Washington shortly after 1929.

My gear kept me dry and warm enough and the new Triumph Tiger Sport 800 provided adequate protection despite it's sport bike chassis. The weather kept the camera in the tank bag today but this doesn't mean I didn't have a great day. Quite the opposite. It was a memorable day and a very nice ride. I stopped at several Historical Points on Hwy 89, most of which told the stories of the Native Americans. There is also the stories of the Minuteman and Peacekeeper missile silos scattered around Great Falls.

At one of these Historical Markers I tried to frame the red Triumph in the canola fields. No joy.





My late start was messing up the plans for the day and the plans got further messed up when just outside of Choteau pavement on Hwy 89 abruptly ended. There was a large orange sign with black letters saying motorcycles not recommended. I choose heed the warning. Back about one mile to Chateau to a gas station where I topped off and spend a bit of time talking with a guy and his wife riding two up and then two guys riding older BMW RTs. It was great fun to exchange stories and take a break. Too much fun. I also found a detour and put that into my ancient Garmin 590 on the fly, aka at the gas station, meaning I didn't whip out my PC and use Basecamp.

My gift for gab at the gas station and minor reroute cost an additional hour of travel time so now I was really late. The original plan was to see some of the Great Falls and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center but the falls were a casualty. It was in the upper 80's and maybe lower 90's so I toured the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. It was an extremely arduous task to for the Lewis and Clark Expedition to portage around the Great Falls over a period of 31 days.

While at the Center I asked the docents about the idea Lewis and Clark traveling from Lolo to Missoula a distance of 10 mile to the Clark Fork River where they could have drifted all the way to the Columbia River. One wonders if that would have been less difficult than traversing the Bitteroot Mountains. The answer to that question is here.

After two hours at the Center I made my way to the O'Haire Motor Inn a 50-70's retro hotel with a lot of character. At $130/night this places is a destination worthy of visiting. It features fine dining, the Atomic Underground, and a lounge featuring Mermaids. I spend a lot of time in the Atomic Underground taking the interesting decor from the 70's with a UFO and Cold War Missile era from the 1960s. When I worked at Boeing I participlated on the Minuteman and Peacekeeper Missile Programs so touring this place and movies like Dr. Strangelove have a special meaning to me.

The Atomic Underground entrance is a themed as a fallout shelter. Once inside there is art work like this.



End of Day Three

 

Day Four

After a thoroughly enjoyable time at the O'Haire Motor Inn, where underground parking is available, my destination today was Gardiner Montana.



The first half of Hwy 89 is listed in Butler Maps Montana, then before Livingston jogs west to Hwy 86 near Wishall Montana. Following this route kept me in the mountains and at higher elevation on a another warm day.

I am in the Belt Mountains.



Neihart Montana.

This is for you Pops, for those who aren't on the FJR forums, Pops rides an FJR and I believe he was born in Neihart Montana.





Showdown Ski area shows some promise for the upcoming ski season as it has a base elevation of 6800 feet. I returned to downhill skiing after an 8 year absence this year and I'm looking for places to go where there is a high probability of decent snow cover despite poor conditions elsewhere. This is a candidate.





In White Sulphur Springs there was this motorcycle that started the demise of the Sport Touring motorcycle category as we know it. It took a few years for the GS craze to take hold. Seems these days the big bore adventure bikes are falling out of favor. Bigger isn't always better.





Turning off Hwy 89 to Hwy 86 keeps me in the mountains and on a nice twisty road on the way to Bridge Bowl near Bozeman.

What is not in Butler Maps Montana is the Jackson Creek Road just before the end of Hwy 86.



The road was quite good. This is the land of the ultra rich from Bozeman. The homes along his road are massive sit on huge lots. There were a number of very fine automobile along the Jackson Creek Road as well.

The Jackson Creek road dumped me on I-90 to Livingston where I headed down to Gardiner Montana as quickly as possible for it was 91° and I am riding due south into the sun. Bummer. At least the Triumph doesn't dump a lot of heat on my body - gotta love that.

I have stayed in Livingston before and wanted to try out Gardiner this time because I have never stayed there. Bad move. The restaurants served mostly burger and junk food plus had no AC. All I wanted, wah wah wah, was a nice healthy sit down meal in a comfortable environment. I went back to my room soon after eating a buffalo burger to cool off.

Yellowstone River in Gardiner.



The reason to be in Gardiner or Livingston for that matter is going into Yellowstone to drive across Lamar Valley where I can see Darwin at work with people trying to take photos of Bison. Great entertainment. Recently I have seen multiple jokes pertaining to Bison and people.







And this one in YouTube which made the new about the time I was in the park.





So I am well primed to have some fun in Yellowstone. I went into some of the souvenir shops and couldn't help but buy this t-shirt. Love it!



The good t-shirt and this shot of the Roosevelt Arch were about the only good reasons to stay the night in Livingston. This shot of the Arch was with the sun at my back. Shots in the morning are into the Sun.



Oh and I did find a nice place to clean my chain.

End of Day Four