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

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 

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

This year I bought a new 2026 Triumph Tiger Sport 800 Tour and sold my FJR after 16 years of owning FJRs.  Well respected riders on the FJR forums had gone lighter over the years and at 70 years young it was time for me to follow in their footsteps.  With 6500 miles on the new Tiger I am glad I did.

This was my second trip with the new Tiger and the first trip with one inch handlebar risers.  It has taken a while to get the bike to fit me and my style.  I am not quite there yet but close.

I ride with a group in the Spokane Coeur d'Alene  area and we are known as the Tuesday riders.  There are some very fine veteran riders in this group and we have blast.  A subset of these riders decided to go on a 3 day ride and I was invited, lucky me and someone dubbed us the Fab Six as there was six of us on this ride.

Our route from day one began in Sandpoint Idaho and ended in Fernie BC Canada.

At Bonners Ferry Idaho we cross the Kooteai River.

I was really thrilled to ride with my friends and strengthen our bonds on this trip.  A bonus was riding on some roads I have never been on before so a shout out to Patrick who created the route.  Very cool.

This photo reminded me of Diana Krall song  'S wonderful.  The lyrics:

'S wonderful, 's marvelous

'S awfully nice, 's paradise

'S what I love to see

I have about 2300 songs on my GPS and I use the GPS's media player to enjoy all of them and sometimes a lyric pops into my head.  Mostly rock, pop, lots of jazz and a bit of classical.

My Canon G7X is in my tank bag and I love taking moto photos.

Lake Koocanusa and we did find that Confounded Bridge!

Stan taking of photo of the Bridge.

Regrouping and taking a break.  I am the slow guy who likes to sniff.  Thanks for waiting guys.

One last bridge photo.

On the road again near Fernie BC.  Canned Heat.

Mountains yeah.  Life is a mountain not a beach and it is always beaching to ride my motorcycle.

I should have removed the power lines.  Ah well.  The mountain on the right is severely uplifted.  Fascinating.

End of Day One.

Day Two

Today we traveled through some spectacular country between Fernie BC and Kalispel Montana.

Not long after our departure we came upon the Frank Slide a rock slide from 1903 that took 90 lives. I need to go back here and tour the visitor center and here a great summary of the event.

Onward to Waterton Lakes National Park where much to our surprise no one was staffing the entrance booths so we paid no fee. Sorry Canada. The geology here is stunning. The layers and lifting are hard to fathom and the rocks are up to 1.5 billion years old.

Photos from Waterton NP.

Faceshield closed.

Faceshield open.

Open or closed do you have a preference?

After eating a late breakfast or early lunch it was off to Glacier to ride the Going to the Sun road. As we were going east to west there would be not going to the sun for us! I was quite apprehensive about riding the Glacier part as a my last experience on the Going to the Sun Road was most unpleasant, overly crowded, loved to death and a slow going grind. In someplace people just stopped in the middle of the road, slid through the sunroof to take a picture holding up 20 cars in the process. Just nuts. Thankfully, while busy today, it was better than I remember.

You can't deny the beauty of Glacier no matter how crowded it is.

Wild Goose Island.

I wasn't sure if my sniffing and picture taking habit was gong to let me keep up but in the end I did keep up.

The Weeping Wall. Most of us had Cardo's and I was egging folks on to ride through the falls on this warm day.

We had a nice meal in Kalispel and found a meeting area for breakfast in the morning.

End of Day Two.