42.1 miles/ +1277.0 ft/ Total miles 2911.3
Amazing – each day’s ride seems more spectacular than the day before!
I continued along the lake until I passed the Libby Dam:
A little bit past the dam, I turned off the highway, crossed the Fisher River, and turned onto the Old Haul Road, which runs parallel to the railroad tracks and had essentially no traffic.
There were amazing views of the mountains north of Libby:
After a short stop in Libby for breakfast, I continued on Hwy 2 along the Kootenai River toward Troy. About 12 miles north of Libby, I stopped at Kootenai Falls:
And then hiked down the trail to see the Swinging Bridge. It is a wooden suspension bridge, high above the river, which definitely does move as you walk on it. Posted load limit: 5 people at a time .
As I was coming back across the bridge, I had the good fortune to meet the USFS engineer (now retired) who designed the bridge. It was built in 1994 by a contractor from Post Falls, Idaho. The timbers are Douglas-fir from Oregon. All the materials were flown in by helicopter. He told me that now the Forest Service wants to replace the bridge — which would be too bad. It is a beautiful bridge and fits well with the surroundings.
Judy's Bike Ride 2017 
Looks so beautiful!
The advantage of riding east to west may be the return to the land, mountains, water and air of the west. It’s beautiful!
Hi Judy, i love reading about your adventures. The pictures bring back memories of when we lived im Mt. (Missoula and Bozeman) well, Adrian has shipped his bike home yesterday along with most of his belongings. He s still in Chicago with the same family, I think they have adopted him. He is having a grand time there visiting museums, making new friends, he’s been riding public transportation to visit the city. He is talking about taking a train to New York but I don’t know if that is a sure thing.
Enjoy the beauty of Montana, my favorite state in the country. Stay healthy and ride safely.
Daniele
Great photos Judy. Happy to see your riding enthusiasm has returned. Doesn’t get much better than Western Montana, North Idaho and, of course, Washington!
We road from Eureka to Libby along the same route you did and were with Vernon with Kay driving their camper. Beautiful ride.
Beautiful pictures, and so neat that you got to talk to the bridge designer!
Continue loving your pictures and posts. Feel like I am there.
Beautiful. Echo the others, that it’s a beautiful part of the country. Very cool that you happened to meet the engineer who built the bridge – amazing. That’s one nice thing about travel, you never know what you might see or encounter to enhance the journey.