A tale of . . . something

The plan was to go from Alberta to Montana, across the Going-To-The-Sun Highway and possibly double back or continue on into British Columbia and home. It was not one of my better trips. Crossed the border at Chief Mountain into Montana on July 25, 2015.

The first issue was that I was informed at the border that the route that I wanted to take was closed due to forest fires.

Right after leaving Chief Mountain there are great views.

Note to all, cattle are a major hazard on this stretch of highway from the border to Babb, Montana. This is free range and the highway is marked with lots of spots of cow manure. They also like to stand on the highway and not move. A couple of them were having a quick fight in the middle of the highway blocking the road.

So, instead of taking the route in blue, I took the route in grey. The highway from St. Mary to Kiowa is a lot of fun on a motorcycle. Lots of hills and curves. The highway from Kiowa to East Glacier is paved and could use a major overhaul. There are frost heaves and stretchs of broken pavement. I was not going to go through Browning, Montana.

They were allowing people to go partially up the highway and you could then turn around and come back down. The best place to do this was from the West Glacier entrance.

These signs were placed right after you pay your twelve dollars American to get access to the park. Of course as soon as I get into the park it had to start raining.

The park does have spectacular views.

So, I made it close to Alder Creek on the highway before I pulled over and quit. The sky could not decide if it was going to be overcast or clear. It was dry but it looked like rain. The overwhelming reason is that I have a fear of heights. I am usually not bothered by mountain roads however I started to get seriously unnerved this time. I took an extended break before heading back down. I found out that they were turning traffic around less than three miles further up the road. I will try it again another day.

The view just in front of where I stopped. This is a parks tour bus.

There are a few tunnels on the road.

Quick run from West Glacier to spend the night in Fernie, BC. So,in and out of the USA in the course of a day. Of course it had to starting raining again. Not light rain as before, pouring rain from just before Eureka to about a third of the way to Fernie. All in all, a Saturday road trip that I would like to repeat in better circumstances.