Today I rode into Glacier National Park and followed Going to the Sun Highway. The views of the mountains and clouds were spectacular. All of the scenery in this part of the country is extraordinary. By extraordinary I mean big. The mountains are big; the sky is big; the plains are big; the winds are big.

It was raining in the morning so I took my time getting organized, eating breakfast, and shopping. I made a run to Walmart for a couple of things. By the time I got back to the hotel, the rain had slowed to a drizzle and I was able to get going.

One of the things I did last night was pull my heated jacket from the equipment bag. I wore it today and turned it up a few times. I was able to stay perfectly warm through the big winds and rain.

The highlight of the day was riding Going to the Sun Highway. I entered on the east side of the park. While it would have been nice to have a sunny day, the sight of the clouds interacting with the tops of the mountains would not have been possible on a sunny day.

At one of the overlooks I watched a cow and five calves cross the road. The mother crossed first. When the calves didn’t follow, she turned around and stared at them. In an instant all five jumped and ran across the road. The picture shows them all, but the detail is better if you click on the thumbnail to see the full image.

The entire length of the highway was excellent blacktop. When I was there in 2007, the road was closed for repairs. This time the whole road was open. Going up to the pass was fine, but at the top it was raining and foggy with about 50 feet of visibility. I followed the taillights of the car in front of me. I stopped at an overlook after the fog cleared. The woman in the car behind me came up to me and said she was thankful she was following me because she could see my tail and brake lights easily. I guess I’ve added enough lights to my top case.

There are several streams flowing down the steep sides of the mountains.

One thing I hadn’t realized was that these mountains are sedimentary rock. The tectonic plate that was flowing underneath just pushed them up – way up. I was able to get a good close up of the layers in this rock along the road.

From Glacier I rode west and north on US-2, recreating a portion of the trip I took in 2007. On that trip I ate at a restaurant at the intersection of US-2 and US-95. I decided to have dinner there after setting up the tent. The food was just as good as it was 9 years ago.

The campground I chose is 6 miles east of the intersection. It is down the hill from US-2 along a river. The difference in elevation between the road and the river is huge. The road down to the campground is gravel, steep, and has several tight switch backs. I’ve ridden it three times now and it gets a little easier each time.

The campsite is in a grove of trees by the river bank. The railroad is on the other side of the river. I can hear the trains going by. It started raining just as I finished setting up the tent. The rain didn’t last long and had stopped before I got back from dinner.

Tomorrow I go into British Columbia. I don’t know if I’ll have Wi-Fi at my stops the next several days. I’ll post updates to this story as the internet connection permits.