We got up at a reasonable hour to enjoy a last shower, pack up and visit our new rider friends. After saying our good byes to David (we met him in Coldfoot on the way to Prudhoe Bay) and the S+M Boilerworks couple (they did a 3 year round the world trip) we headed into town for a quick breakfast before joining Riel and Graham, a local rider and a British rider who had just arrived, who invited us to tag along on a day ride. We fueled up and headed north out of town. Once passed Galena the road turned to gravel and we were in the back country. There was a lot of smoke around from the many fires that are ravaging southern British Columbia and we could see fires up in the hills.
A beautiful gravel road
The Windsor hotel, possibly the oldest hotel in BC
The gravel road was in really good shape but kicking up a lot of dust in this dry summer day. We stopped a few times to check out the scenery, Riel took us that what is believed to be the oldest hotel in BC, a general store with 100 year old feul pumps… It was a fun day out riding in the forest. We looked for bears that often come to feed on spawning fish, but the fish weren’t running yet, hense, no bears. We eventually made our way back onto the paved road and stopped in Kaslo for a late lunch. From there it was just a short ride to the Toad Rock motorcycle campground where we set up camp for the night. The campground lady owner was very friendly and takes great care of her motorcycle rider guests offering work space, ear plugs, and a fridge full of beer! Her dogs and Mr. Happy, the pig do the rounds regularly to make sure all is in good order and any left over food is disposed off properly. The evening was spent discussing some rather unusual and interesting topics over a couple of beers.
Mr. Happy doing the rounds of his property
Fires everywhere along our route
The following morning we parted company with our new rider friends, Riel was going home, Graham is headed for Los Angeles and looking forwards to his North American adventure and we took a south east direction towards Montana. We took the scenic route, which meandered through valleys, around rivers and lakes and a bunch of forest fires. southern BC is really suffering this summer with over 1000 wild fires since the start of summer.
We got a nice shady spot on the ferry across the lake to kootenay bay
One of the many fires in BC
It was a hot day and riding was tiring and uncomfortable. The border crossing into Montana was possibly the easiest one we have had so far, and within less than a minute we were back in the land of the grave, the home of the free… So they think anyway!
It was late in the afternoon and we were getting hungry. We made a quick stop for some food in Eureka before carrying on towards Glacier National park. The sun was hiding behind the smoke and the light had an orange glow to it. The lush green fields we left behind some months ago had turned golden in the heat of summer and the dust filled the hot air. It wasn’t long before the sun was hanging low in the sky and wildlife was showing up along the road. It was now obvious we wouldn’t arrive in Glacier NP until well after dark and we decided to get off the road at the next available campsite. We arrived in Whitefish around 21:00 in front of a “campground full” sign. Lucky for us the campground host allowed us to set up camp in the sites reserved for bicycles and bikers. Around here they understand it isn’t a good idea to be on the road on 2 wheels after dark!
We set up our tent which turned out to be no more than 100 meters a away from the train tracks! And trains were running all night long… even with earplugs it was hard to sleep as you could feel the vibrations through the ground at each passing train! Not a great night sleep…
The following morning we went into town briefly to get wifi and organize our tires to be swapped. Lucky for us the motorcycle shop in Kalispell was able to fit us in at the end of the day (same place that mounted our tires back in June). Meanwhile Zoe had booked us spot for a couple of nights at the west Glacier campgrounds same place we stayed at in early June (4 days of rain and cold!)
A bit extreme up near Whitefish Montana!
We went to set up camp, drop our gear and have lunch before heading back to Kalispell and get our tires changed. The car park in which we did the work was just as hot as last time we were here but 2 hours later we were back on the road on more road friendly tires and best of all, o more lugging around the extra set which we are both very happy about!
Tire change and new front brake pads for Zoe’s bike
From there we went back to our campsite, cooked some diner and relaxed in the evening breeze which was most welcome after a hot day.
Fires, just accidental or lighted as they do over here?
Good thing you changed the tyres, the horses will look more presentable now, less muly.
Fellow riders come and go, you’re back on your own and back on track to the South.
Coming close to 150, 5 months on the road and still loving it, lucky you!
Nice pig by the way 😉
Baci da papa
PS. On your home page you mention “travel diary” as from a few days ago.
But when I turn to your travel diary it says “blog”.
Ha ! That’s why the pig was there !!
You have done many km again but are you not running up and down from north to south and north again ? I guess you really want to see the whole lot and even more haha…