58 miles/ +1904.1 ft/ Total miles 2765.7
No cell service on Sunday night at Whitefish Lake State Park.
Updated Monday afternoon.
I left Essex in the fog for the ride down to West Glacier.
Just as I got to West Glacier it cleared up and the rest of the day was perfect– sunny, 70s to low 80s.
A few miles out of town I met another east-to-west rider and we rode together on back roads to Columbia Falls. This was some of the nicest riding and most beautiful scenery of the entire trip so far.
We stopped for groceries in Columbia Falls (GPN 2016 riders may remember it as the site of the “turn-signal lens” incident in the parking lot) and came oacross two Canadians out for a day ride. They were riding back to Whitefish, so we hooked on to the train for the back roads ride. Wonderful fun! We found another long-distance rider who had intended to go to Whitefish but somehow went too far, so she joined the train.
I camped at Whitefish Lake State Park, which has a designated Hiker-Biker shared campsite and never turns away hikers or bikers. There wer six of us cyclists camping there, so it was a lot of fun to trade stories. The only downside to the park is the train tracks immediately adjacent to it, and the freights pushing up a grade out of town all night long. It was difficult to get much sleep.
Judy's Bike Ride 2017 