Last week I came back from a week-long cycling trip in and around Glacier National Park and Waterton Lakes National Park. This trip was organized by Cycle America, and about 85 cyclists joined this trip, starting from Whitefish (MT) on July 21st, and ending at the same place on July 27th. We rode about 400 miles over six riding days, and climbed about 17,000 ft. Here is my trip report.
This was my fourth cycling trip in 5 years. In 2003 and 2004 I rode with Bicycle Tour Colorado in Colorado, and in 2005, I rode the Pedal the Peaks tour in New Mexico organized by Cycle America. I went for Glacier-Waterton trip this year as it sounded interesting and I have never been to most of those places.
Here is my Flickr slideshow with some pictures from this trip.
A slide show will appear here shortly.
Although we climbed about 17000ft, most of the riding was below my hometown altitude of 5000ft. We climbed two passes – Crowsnest Pass (4450ft) in Alberta, and Logan Pass (6650ft) in the Glacier National Park. Most of the rest of climbing was due to rolling hills along the way, which I found was not the most fun way of gaining cumulative altitude.
Day 1: Whitefish (MT) to Eureka (MT)
Distance: 70 miles, Elevation gain: 2300ft
Our starting point was Whitefish (MT), which is at 3000ft. We did not get to spend much time here, since we reached Whitefish on the 20th evening at about 5.30pm, and the rest of the day went for tour preparation, dinner etc. On the 21st, we started early, and started the ride along our designated route. Although the highway distance is only about 50 miles along Highway 93, Cycle America designed the route to avoid traffic and follow backroads to the extent possible. This gave us the opportunity to see rural Montana along fields, lakes and so on.
There were no sustained climbs on this route. There were some short but fun climbs (6-13%) just before reaching Eureka.
This ride was very scenic with fields and lakes on one side, and mountains on the other. The cloud cover during the day helped us stay cool.
I reached Eureka (2650ft) just after noon. We stayed at the Ksanka Motel in this small town.
Day 2: Eureka (MT) to Sparwood (BC)
Distance: 68 miles, Elevation gain: 2000ft
Sparwood is small and scenic town, and boasts of one of the largest trucks in the world.
The second day’s ride is similar to the first day in terms of distance, except that it followed the traffic all the way and that the elevation gain was slow and gradual.
After crossing the border into Canada along Highway 93, we stayed on that highway till we reached Elko and then turn right on to Highway 3 (Crowsnest Highway) all the way to Sparwood.
For the first 30 miles or so, there was not much traffic, but that changed once we got onto Highway 3. If you can ignore the traffic, the ride was pleasant as it follows the Elk River.
Day 3: Sparwood (BC) to Waterton (AB)
Distance: 91 miles, Elevation gain: 4400ft
There were two things that made this the longest day of the tour. Firstly it was the rolling hills. More than 50% of the elevation gain today was over rolling hills, and I was not well-trained for that. I can get into a rhythm during sustained climbs and recover during descents. But rolling hills are a different story. In theory, it should be the same, but I have not had many training miles over rolling hills, and did not know how to pace my self.
The second was the heat. Official temperature was about 95 degrees, but it felt like 105 degrees with the asphalt reflecting heat. There was a water refill point at mile 79, but the heat overtook us by mile 75. Most riders were low on water by mile 73 itself, and my bottles were almost empty by then. Luckily, we came across a (the only) convenience store. We stopped there to refill our bottles and cool down a bit.
I reached Waterton at about 3pm. We stayed at the Waterton Lakes Lodge.
The fourth day was the rest day, and I took it easy with no riding. We spent wandering around the town and the Waterton Lake.
Day 5: Waterton (AB) to St Mary (MT)
Distance: 72 miles, Elevation gain: 4600ft
The actual distance from Waterton to St Mary is only about 48 miles along the highway. But today’s route included an optional ride to Many Glacier and Lake Sherburne.
Unlike our ride into Waterton, the ride out of Waterton was cool and scenic. The climbs were more sustained, and I enjoyed this ride very much.
We stayed at the motel at the famous Johnson’s camp ground for the night, and tasted some traditional Indian bread.
Day 6: St Mary (MT) to West Glacier (MT)
Distance: 54 miles, Elevation gain: 3000ft
The highlight of this ride was climbing the Logan Pass along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The distance was short, but this turned out be the longest days due to some restrictions on cycling in the Glacier National Park along this road. Glacier National Park does not allow any cyclist to climb the Logan Pass from the West Glacier side between 11am and 4pm. It also prohibits cyclists from riding between the Lake McDonald Lodge and about 5 miles towards the park entrance.
Due to these restrictions, we spent several hours at the Logan Pass itself, and started the descent after about 1pm. We took another long break at the Lake McDonald Lodge till 4pm before heading into West Glacier. The cycling restrictions are supposed to ease congestion that could be caused by slow-climbing bikes. It is unfortunate that National Park Service prefers RVs and large SUVs over cycling. In fact, the road was much better than the road upto Mt Evans, and Mt Evans do not have any such restrictions. I hope this will change in future.
Day 7: West Glacier (MT) to Whitefish (MT)
Distance: 29miles, Elevation gain: 1100ft
This was a short day. Although there were some optional miles added, most of us skipped those as we wanted to head home.
Highlights
Cycle America did a great job in organizing this tour. The staff volunteers were patient and passionate. They took care of our bags, fed us along the way picnic stops, and generally took good care of us.
Most of the riders were seasoned, had a lot of miles under their saddles, and were passionate about riding. Not very surprisingly, there was almost no competition – we rode out our own paces, taking the time to stop for pictures, coffee etc, reminding me that it was a tour, not a race!
