Glacier (7/3/23 Sun)

Up before my alarm and packing by 0430. On the road before first light and into the park road with just a few other cars. The first half hour of my Riding to the Sun road was without sun. In fact I was always riding away from the sun, which honestly seems better anyway. Because entered the park before light I had a sufficient lead on the masses it felt like I had the place to myself. Anywhere I wanted to pull out and take pictures I could. Even better was the multiple places I realized I should have taken a picture so I just U-turned and went back. By the end of my route I found out what the real traffic was like, as the stead flow of traffic towards me made it harder to get pack onto my nice empty lane.

So was riding to the sun worth it? Yes. It is a pretty amazing ride and I stopped A LOT. Lots of prestine mountain views, waterfalls and wonderfully sculpted cliff edge roadways. The far side for me (South West end) was much more boring and the last part was under construction. Our side of the road was mostly washboarded gravel and edge traps. But only the other traffic slowed me down, as gravel roads pose very little threat to me at this point. The guy in front of me pulling a camper was pretty aggressively attempting to maintain the speed limit, so I just followed along in his dust wake and didn't bother passing in the small gaps between the steady line of approaching traffic.

At the end of the road is the tourist shops and food sellers. But they really hadn't opened up yet by the time I reached that end. So I had the place to myself. The only open store was the grocery store, but it had coffee. During my ride through the park I had two text messages that my website was down, so I fixed that during my coffee stop.

Now what? I didn't really know where to go from here. This was the Fourth of July weekend, so everything I want to do is crowded. I pushed ahead to the nearest town for fuel and more coffee. Over that second coffee I selected a target of Helena, MT. Mostly because it was in the propper direction to reach all of my targets and it reminded me of my mom. She signed her paintings Helen A. I picked a back route to Helena which passed along the moutain range. It was nice to again move through an area with very little traffic and so few people that planning gas stops was necessary. I saw many signs saying "Hands off Holland". I wondered if something had changed in the world since I heard news. Then I stopped at a gas station/food/grocery wonder store for both fuel and lunch. When I was leaving a local handed my a sticker to Save Holand Lake. And answered my question: Developers have gotten access to this remote lake on the edge of the national forest and have huge development plans for it. He seemed to indicate something shady was involved in them "owning the lake". While waiting for the grill to switch over to lunnch I had time to look over a Montana tourist magazine and decided my target for the day was the Lewis and Clark National Park and Caverns. Once I reached Helena the route to it was a short stretch of 80mph highway and a nice 70mpg back road.

The last few miles of road into the park was spectacular. I wasn't sure if I wanted to take pictures or really enjoy riding the twisty road through the mountains along the river... Once at the park I found the campground full and the information center closed for the day. Back a few miles on that nice road to a private campground/fuel/store/food all-in-one solution.

The Cardwell Campground and General Store proved to be a wonderful option. The owners are extremely nice, and ride an Africa Twin. Biker friendly is an understatement. I had cocktails with them once the store closed. They offered all kinds of information on things to see and how to sequence my options. The campground itself is very well layed out, free laundry, and showers. The showers are tied with the best I've ever enjoyed at a campground. Store has everything you could want including coffee, icecream and normal groceries. I was so happy with this choice I've decided to spend a second night.

Tomorrow I will go to the Caverns when they open at 0900 and see if I can get into the park and cavern tour.