By the time we arrived back home we had visited seven US states and nine Canadian provinces. We were in the rental truck for 6 days (May 24 - 29) racking up 2,135 miles, then we were on the bikes for 62 days (May 29 - August) riding a total of 10,700 miles (each).
It was a fantastic trip!
Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip (each photo is a thumbnail linked to a higher quality picture.):
101) The Canadian part of our Canadian adventure was over but we still had a few weeks left before returning home. After crossing back into the US in northern Montana we headed for Glacier National Park where we set up residence in a KOA Kabin for four nights so we could explore the area.
102) Because there are so many lakes in Glacier National Park we opted to start our exploration by taking a boat tour on two of the lakes: Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine.
103) Part of the boat tour included a hike up to Grinnel Lake. Jonna took the chance to dip her toes in the near frozen water coming off the snow fields just a short distance away.
104) One of the main reason for motorcyclists to visit Glacier National Park is to ride Going To The Sun Road. We rode over in the evening once the traffic had emptied out some and loved it. The next day we took one of the free in-Park buses up to Logan Pass and then did the hike to the Hidden Lake Overlook. This was nearly as spectacular as the hike we'd done in Banff which means it is right up there on our list of the best hikes we've ever done.
105) We ended our second day with a sunset cruise on St. Mary Lake which superb views of the mountains on the east side of the park.
106) We celebrated Alan's birthday with another day of exploring Glacier National Park, focusing on the Two Medicine Lake, and checking out the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, MT. We capped off a splendid day with fruit pie as a birthday celebration.
107) When we left the Glacier National Park area we headed south on what turned out to be a great motorcycle road - US-89 through Lewis And Clark National Forest. We stopped that afternoon in White Sulphur Springs for a soak in the hot springs and then ended the day on the edge of "The Crazies" formally known as the Crazy Mountains.
108) Our lodging outside Wilsall, on the edge of the Crazies, was incredible! It was an upscale pack camp cabin that is rented out on a nightly basis when there isn't being used for camp trips. The panoramic view of the mountains was dazzling, a spring trickled down the side of the property and a corral of horses gave us some critters to pet. Finally, our good friend Lyle road his bike up from Colorado to join us for the ride back home.
109) The next day was some of the best motorcycling of the entire trip. We wound our way south through Montana and into northern Wyoming where we hit two of the most outstanding roads in the US: the Beartooth Highway and Chief Joseph Scenic Highway. Wow! We stopped a few times on the Beartooth to enjoy the views.
110) After riding the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway Alan was so excited he was jumping for joy!
111) We ended our first day in Wyoming by setting up camp at another KOA Kabin, this time in Cody, and then went to the famous Cody Rodeo for an evening of pure Americana: Cowboys, patriotic songs and no small amount of blatant commercialism.
112) We had a day off in Cody to explore Yellowstone National Park so we spent the day doing the tourist loop: Yellowstone Lake, Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring, The Artist Paint Pots, Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls. A fairly typical tourist schedule but still a lot of amazing things to see.
113) The view looking down onto the Grand Prismatic Spring was particularly nice - some dramatic clouds in the sky and good lighting out across the geyser field.
114) We spent another half-day riding through the southern half of Yellowstone and then crossed over into Grand Teton's National Park. We stopped at the Colter Bay Visitor Center to have a picnic lunch and to take in the view of the Tetons. Then we headed over Togwotee Pass on the excellent US-26 ride through Teton National Forest to Dubois, WY.
115) From Dubois we headed south on US-287 but stopped a few times along the way to sightsee. We stopped in Fort Washakie at the Gallery of the Wind museum to learn the story of the local Shoshone and Arapaho peoples. Then, just down the road, we stopped in Lander to see The Pioneer Museum. Two different sides of the very complicated and generally sad story of western history.
116) After all our time riding along the Rockies it was strange to be back in the plains of central Wyoming. The stark, dry landscape with its ghost towns, lonely antelope and massive ranches was both familiar but also a big contrast after our weeks in the mountains.
117) We spent the last night of our vacation in Saratoga, WY celebrating with a nice dinner at Bella's Bistro and then our final ice creams of the trip from Sweet Marie's Mercantile.
118) Our final day involved a ride through one of our favorite areas - WY-130 through the Snowy Range, a stop by Northern Colorado Powersports in Ft Collins, CO (the dealership where we'd purchased our bikes), lunch with our friend Todd in Lyons, CO and then finally home. We put the bikes back into the garage with an extra 10,700 miles on the odometer. We returned home with a lot of great memories from our summer vacation.
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