Alaska Ride, Day 25

The Beartooth Highway has been written about and talked about amongst motorcycling circles ad nauseum as being one of the "must ride" roads for motorcyclists. Joe, a guy I've been riding with recently, has raved about it as well.

So, I wanted to take the time to ride this road during this Alaska trip. I finally got to do that today.

Paul and I left this morning at 8:00am sharp from Rattin Campground inside the Custer National Forest, right at the very start of the Beartooth Highway.

The highway, officially known as US212, stretches for 68 miles connecting the touristy town of Red Lodge, MT with Yellowstone National Park. It's designated by the US Department of Transportation as "America's Most Beautiful Highway", reaching an elevation of 10,947 feet at the Beartooth Pass.

Northern start of the Beartooth Highway, Montana

And it's one of the most twistiest highways as well, with several switchbacks rated at 15-20mph, but I think that's deceptive. Paul and I were able to lean into them at 30-45mph. The most twistiest parts reminded me of Palomar Mountain in San Diego County, while other parts offered a series of wide sweepers like Sunrise Highway, also in San Diego County. We must have passed by a hundred other motorcycle riders, including cruisers, sportbikes, sport tourers, and dual sports. Much of the road was in good shape, except for about 10 miles at the pass, where it seems that constant rain and snow eats into the asphalt.

The scenery up there, is spectacular for lack of a better word. Hundreds of little pools fed by melting snow, which reflect the blue of the sky. And we were lucky to have that blue sky, for just yesterday I looked up at the Beartooths and saw dark grey clouds. For whatever reason, the motorcycling gods were smiling on us today giving us nice 70 degree temperatures and clear skies.

Scenery along the Beartooth Highway, Wyoming side.

Yellowstone National Park is a place I had never visited, and also wanted to do in this trip, and it just so happens the Beartooth Highway leads you right into the park.

We visited all the biggest attractions, including Old Faithful, and several of the other pools and geysers.

The roads in Yellowstone are actually awesome for motorcycle riding, except there's too much traffic. You just can't open up the throttle and lean into something. Old Faithful itself is such a huge draw at Yellowstone that the road leading into it reminded me of Disneyworld. We saw signs for the clinic, the giftshop, the lodge, and the restaurant, and then finally, signs the geyser itself. The road splits up in to several lanes, and we saw more signs telling us which lane takes us to the hotel, and which one takes us to the restaurant, and which one goes to the parking lot. It's almost like visiting an international airport.

Celestine Pool, Yellowstone National Park

We tried to see as much as we could in Yellowstone, while still keeping to our itinerary for today. We only rode on half the roads in the park. You really do need several days to see all of it. If the traffic wasn't so bad, we probably could have ridden all the roads.

Grand Teton National Park borders Yellowstone National Park, and we took the road that connects the two. It's cool that they didn't charge us to get into both parks. This park is much less touristy and commercial. The entire park is basically built around some awesome views of some awesome mountains.

But I didn't spend a lot of time in the Grand Tetons. I wanted to get to Victor, ID to visit the Grand Teton Brewing Company before it closed up for the night. I actually did not know what time they closed, but figured if I wanted some time to sample a few brews, I needed to get there at least around 6:00pm. I managed to get into town 6:30pm.

The Grand Tetons, Grand Teton National Park

It was at this point, Paul decided to split off on his own.

Paul was concerned about the higher temperatures as we continued to ride further south. He just doesn't like riding in heat. So he wanted to put in more riding time during the evening, while I wanted to hang out and relax. Hence, we bid farewell and each a safe trip home.

I spent the rest of the evening sampling the brews at Grand Teton Brewing, and I got to have a good conversation with the quality control manager there. She was an avid motorcycle rider herself, and recommended some routes for me.

I looked around for a room in town, but I couldn't find anything that struck my fancy. The main thing is that I needed Internet access to do my work, and it seems none of the accommodations offered that. So it made sense to just to wander into the Targhee National Forest and pay the $10.00 for a camp spot. That's where I'm typing this out, with plans to upload it somewhere tomorrow.

Grand Teton Brewing Company, Victor, ID

Beartooth Highway, close to the pass

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park

Fountain Geyser will actually shower you with cold water

Old Faithful draws a huge crowd, Yellowstone National Park

Highway 191, South, Grand Tetons National Park

Setting up camp inside the Targhee National Forest

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Alaska Ride, Day 24

Throughout this trip my back has been aching. It's not my lumbar, but my thoracic, just below the shoulder blades. It feels like a muscular ache. This pain isn't anything new on this trip, nor with the Honda ST. I dealt with it on my Electra Glide too.

Some time ago, I mentioned on this blog that I ride with a very poor posture. I slouch when I ride. I also notice that my shoulders fall forward, and that tends to create a rounded, leaned forward back. And actually, I sit and stand this way too.

So, over the past year or so I've tried to remind myself to sit up straight, and pull my shoulders back. I've been reminding myself a lot on this trip, and now I wonder if constantly sitting in a position that I'm not accustomed to is exacerbating the aches.

I also tend to ride with one hand on the handlebars, and the other hand resting on my thigh. I notice that this position causes me to sink out of a straight posture and back into a slouch. So, I try to keep both hands on the handlebars, but it's a tough habit to break.

Anyways, about the ride today.

Paul and I left Browning, MT in the morning and began our trek south towards Red Lodge, MT. Red Lodge lies near the Wyoming border along the Beartooth Highway. The Beartooth Highway takes us into Yellowstone National Park.

Most of the day today we rode Highway 89 south through Montana. I suppose this highway is a pretty good choice if you want to get a full slice of what Montana has to offer.

The 89 starts in the northern part of Montana at Glacier National Park, and heading east towards Browning, MT. You go through about 30 miles of good twisties, many of which have signs recommending 30mph. But they're well banked, along with good visibility, that you can't help running through them between 50 to 60mph.

Then you get into Browning, MT, which is an Blackfoot indian reservation. There isn't much there to see, but then again, it's part of what makes Montana what is is.

Then you go through about a hundred miles of grassy hills and plains, with almost no trees. Here's why they call Montana "Big Sky Country", because there's nothing to obscure your view of the sky. No mountains, no trees, no buildings. Just thousands of cattle.

Highway 89, Montana, rolling hills and grassy plains

It's a lot of straight road in this part, but it's still amazing to see miles of vast plain. You could walk a few miles into this stuff, set up a shack, and live there for a month without the property owner ever knowing about it. It's so vast, even the cows are bored. I would ride by, and a few head of cattle would look up at me, and their heads would move from left to right as I rode by.

Eventually you get into the big city of Great Falls, and you get to see some downtown and the city life. Lot's of BBQ joints and saloons. I also got to visit the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, which is a museum documenting the entire Lewis and Clark expedition in dioramas, charts, and exhibits. It was something meaningful to me because I had read the journals of Lewis and Clark, and became fascinated with that piece of American history.

Highway 89 then runs over the Rocky Mountains through an area called Lewis And Clark National Forest. You get the pine trees, the mountains, and some sweeping curves.

The Great Falls along the Missouri River, at Great Falls, Montana

Finally, you go back into more grassy hills and plains, but it runs through a lot of small town America, old brick buildings, old folks still wearing horn-rimmed glasses, and signs displayed for Fanta and RC Cola.

For lunch, we stopped into this town called "Belt", one of those brick building, horn-rimmed glasses kind of town. It's a small place. But oddly enough, they have a brewery there, Harvest Moon Brewing. It's right in town, and they run two brew pubs there. This place sells bratwurst for $3.00. At that price, I thought it was just a small bratwurst by itself. But no, it was in a sandwich piled high with sauerkraut, pickles, and jalapenos, along with pretzels. It was enough for a lunch.

But mistakenly, I ordered two of them, thinking it was going to be small. I ended up having to eat both sandwiches and was really stuffed. Each of those bratwurst sandwiches would normally sell for $8.00 in Southern California, and $12.00 in Canada. But wow, $3.00 in Montana? I love Montana.

Oh, and this place sells 16oz glasses of their beer for just $3.25. So I had two, a porter and a red ale. All in all, two large bratwurst sandwiches, pretzels, and two pints of beer, for just $12.50. And no sales tax. If Montana can do it, why can't the rest of the world?

Belt Creek Brew Pub, Belt, Montana, The home of Harvest Moon Brewing Company

Highway 89, through Lewis and Clark National Forest, Montana

In Montana you can do your banking and your drinking in the same building.

The Beartooth Mountains, from Red Lodge, Montana

Downtown Red Lodge, Montana, another big tourist town.

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Alaska Ride, Day 23

And so begins our ride out of Canada. Today marked the day we headed out of Canada and back into the United States, back for home, back where we belong.

Like I said in an earlier blog post, Canada is beautiful country, the people are very friendly, actually more so than Americans I've found. But I can't stand the high price of everything. I can't stand the high taxes. Canadians seem to accept it like it's just the natural order of things, willing to pay whatever tax the government levies, perhaps trusting their elected officials to do the right thing with their money. And well, that's why we have two different countries.

Highway 93 leads us out of Banff National Park, and into Kootenay National Park, which also happens to be in British Columbia. Highway 93 is actually a very scenic road itself, I'm surprised I don't hear much about it from other motorcycle riders. It even seems to have more fun curves to lean into. But once you get out of Kootenay National Park, the road straightens up and the scenery becomes more bland.

Highway 93 South, Kootenay National Park, British Columbia

Our first goal today was to get into the United States through Roosville, Montana, and then get gas. We didn't want any of the expensive gas in British Columbia, and tried to milk our gas tanks until we got across the border. Actually, we made it there easily, but Paul decided he had enough fuel to reach further south into Whitefish, MT.

But as it turned out, he ran out of gas at about 10 miles before Whitefish.

Luckily, he had his trusty one-gallon jug of gas with him.

On the map, Whitefish, MT looks like a tiny town. But it's actually quite a decent sized city. It has a really cool looking downtown area, all themed up in old western facades, and plenty of bars and saloons Montana-style. I mean, you could spend a full day touring through the shops, and throwing down beers in all the saloons.

Downtown Whitefish, MT, this place is full of cool looking bars

Our second goal, was to ride the "Going Into The Sun" road inside Glacier National Park. Glacier National Park is pretty close to the border with British Columbia, in fact it's on the border. "Going Into The Sun" road takes you up the glacier itself, which has since completely receded. But you get some of the most stunning views of the glacier valley it created. The road crawls up the sides of sheer rock walls, and water falls down the side as you drive along, practically giving you a shower.

I saw bald eagles flying over us, and rock sheep and mountain goats crossing the road at several points.

We were going to camp overnight there, but every damn campground was full. This was a Tuesday mind you. What the Hell are people camping in a national park on a Tuesday?

"Going Into The Sun" road, Glacier National Park, Montana

So, we continued on Highway 89 east towards Browning, MT. Highway 89 becomes quite twisty through this area, and very fun to ride. It gave us about 30 miles of switchbacks and sweepers rated at 30mph. Funny, you don't get roads like this in Canada. It's like in Canada, they design scenic byways for safety, but in the USA they design them for recreation.

Browning, MT is inside a Blackfoot Indian Reservation. There's isn't much hotel space here. In fact, of what motels they have, all had no vacancy. I mean, who would ever think that Browning, MT was a such a hot town to visit? I ended up in a campground ran by a lady who owns some awesome property called "Aspenwood Inn". She runs it in her home. Her rooms were already booked, but she still had a couple of camp spots left. I took one.

She has a pretty cool pond outside of her home, and there's a beaver lodge in it, and I got to watch the beaver swim around against a sunset, splashing the water with its tail. And talk about sunsets; I haven't seen one of those for a few weeks now.

I'm typing this out in my tent tonight, but no Internet access. I'll have to upload this sometime later. Tomorrow, our goal is to head south and put us into position for the Beartooth Highway, and then Yellowstone National Park.

Beaver pond at Aspenwood Inn, a view from my tent.

Why did the bear cross the road? To get his photo taken. Highway 93, Kootenay National Park, British Columbia

Highway 93, South, Kootenay National Park, British Columbia

Flowers at a Rest Stop, Highway 93, British Columbia

Throughout Montana, white crosses mark where motorists lost their lives.

"Going Into The Sun" road, Glacier National Park, Montana

Mountain goats, "Going Into The Sun" road, Glacier National Park, Montana

Chili over indian fry bread, This is said to be the most popular dish in Browning, MT

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