In yesterday’s post, I suggested I might be able to make use this morning of a predicted clearing in the rain we’ve had for today’s 20-mile ride from West Glacier to Columbia Falls, MT. It turned out that this break in the clouds was a myth, and when rain continued to fall quite steadily at 10:30 a.m., I again donned my rain gear and biking shoes, still damp from yesterday’s deluge, and got underway. I was glad I only had a 20-mile ride for the day.

As I passed the town of Hungry Horse (pop. 820), the canyon walls I was riding through grew increasingly steep, and their tops were totally enshrouded with rain and fog. This was what the sky looked like during the ride, which was entirely on Hwy 2.

The ride to Columbia Falls was a real mixed bag. At times, there was a very wide shoulder or even a dedicated bike trail alongside the road, which was great because there was a fair amount of traffic. When I got to Bad Rock Canyon, however, there was a brutal stretch where the road got very narrow, the shoulder disappeared, and there was a craggy rock wall on the other side of the road and a steep embankment going down to the Flathead River on my side. This was not a good place to ride a bike even on a nice day, but especially not during a rainstorm. When I was only about a mile from Columbia Falls, a guy hauling a flatbed trailer stopped to ask if I wanted a ride into town. I declined but thanked him for his very kind offer.

As this historical marker explains, the Bad Rock Canyon has been a travel corridor for centuries, long before it became the pathway for the Great Northern Railroad in 1891.

I took a break midway into my ride through the canyon to pause at one of Montana’s first rest stops, developed in 1956 on land donated to the Montana Highway Department by James and Hazel Simpson to honor Hazel’s uncles, the Berne brothers.

I was wet and cold when I got to Columbia Falls, but thankful that I made it in one piece. My first stop was at A7 Cycles, where I left my bike later that day for a tune-up. The shop is named after the Alpine 7 backcountry trail that runs along the summit of the Swan Mountain Range in the area. According to the bike shop’s website, the trail embodies “all that is special about our part of the country.” It is “rugged, physically difficult to access and offers a stunning and emotional experience for those with the fortitude to make the journey.” A7 Cycles was founded in 2020 by business partners Travis Coleman and Lynn Foster. Their passion for biking is evident in their photos on the shop’s website.

Here is Travis:

And here is Lynn:

When I checked in at the Cedar Creek Lodge, conveniently located only about a six-block walk from the bike shop, I saw this notice on the front desk advising that the uppermost section of the Going to the Sun Road through Glacier National Park remains closed.

While doing a load of laundry at the hotel this afternoon, I met Brian and Laurie from Cleveland, who had been out hiking today on one of the trails off a section of Going to the Sun Road that was open. They had gotten completely drenched during the storm and had stopped in the laundry to dry their soggy clothes. They were in good spirits despite the weather, however, and were enjoying a bit of scotch while waiting for their clothes to dry.

I am going to be taking a short break from this trip (and these blog posts) to return home tomorrow to attend our granddaughter Tilly’s fourth birthday and a law school reunion. There is a direct flight to Minneapolis from a nearby airport in Kalispell, MT. The hotel’s manager kindly said that I can store my bike bags here at the hotel until I come back, and Travis at A7 Cycles said he will have my bike ready to roll when I return a week from Friday.

I thought you might be interested in seeing this present I picked up for Tilly in West Glacier yesterday.