Glacier National Park

I woke up in the morning and we all had breakfast together. One of the guys cooked everyone pancakes and we had huckleberry syrup with them. His little propane cooker ended up lighting on fire and we had to use one of the girls. After breakfast we took some photos and then I rode off intending on riding over the pass. I stopped for coffee at the cafe just outside the campground and warmed up a bit, it was a little chilly. I started my ride up the " going to the sun road" around 1030. It was a beautiful ride along Lake McDonald, but there were no shoulders to ride on... I thought that was pretty crazy as it's a national park and SOOO many people ride their bikes around the park. But, I kept on riding and then a park ranger pulled me over... He told me there is no riding on the road between 11am and 4pm due to the amount of traffic on the road. So, I had to load my bike into his truck and he gave me a ride to a trail head he said I could hike in the meantime. The road was gravel and it was not very fun to ride on with a loaded bike and street tires. All I kept thinking about was how I was in bear country and I'm just riding around on my bike alone. I came to one of the trail heads and read the board, it said "never hike alone" and "always have bear spray" so I was thinking to myself, I am alone and I don't have bear spray, so I rode deeper into the woods looking for the other trailhead. I rode about another 1.5 miles and I didn't come to it, so I just turned around and rode back to the parking lot. I was going to go hang out at the lake and charge my phone till 4 when I could get on the road. As I was riding back, there was an owl that swooped right down in front of me and picked up a snake that was crossing the road, it was AWESOME! I rode to the lake and waited a couple hours, just talking to the tourist that came by with their family. 

I finally got on the road and it wasn't too bad at all, I had a 33 mile trip to the top of mountain and then 18 miles down to the campground I was planning on staying. The road was not steep at first and I thought it was going to be cake the whole way up. After about 17 miles the slope stated to increase and it got much more difficult. I still think the Cascades were harder, but I also had a lot less experience at that time. But the views up the mountain where amazing and it was a great day to go up because it wasn't too hot or cold. There was a little cloud cover, but you could see a lot. The trip up the mountain took me about 4 hours up and about an hour to get down. I took far less photos on the way down, must have been enjoying the ride I guess. I think the west side (side I rode up) was much more scenic as well. I saw a goat on the top of the mountain and I was in the clouds, so I couldn't see much. I took a little rest there and then started the fun trip DOWN!! As I was riding down I saw an object enter the forest in front of me, I was only thinking about bears now and as I passed, there was a medium sized grizzly bear right in the woods. I tried to snap a shot, but I was flying, so I turned around and he was gone by the time I got back. I rode down the mountain and found the campsite at St. Mary's. I peddled around looking for people who might want some company... I saw a guy sitting by himself watching "caveman TV" (watching the fire as he called it) and I asked if I could join him and he said "yes". I set up my tent and sat around the  "caveman TV" with Jim and shared stories. He is an engineer from Ohio and loves to travel. He just started a new job in Salt Lake City and has some time before he needs to begin, so he's headed up to Banff National Park in Canada. We had a lot of laughs and he was a great guy. We went to bed when all the wood was gone.