Did most of that in '09. Started in Whitefish, MT. Stayed north of Eureka just before the border, Sparwood (nice public campground on the edge of town), Pincher Creek (sad town), Waterton Village (nice camprground on the lake and a great place for a day off for hiking) and St. Mary just inside the east entrance to the park. The plan was to ride over Going to the Sun from east to west, but it was still closed in late June. So we took U.S. 89 south to MT 49 to East Glacier and then U.S. 2 over Marias Pass to West Glacier and then into the park to Sprague Creek Campground. 100 miles for the day. Epic ride. The next morning we rode up the west side of GTS, made it to Logan Pass and then rode back down again. The final day we rode back to Whitefish. I went up and over GTS west to east in back in '99 and then up and down the west side again in '00.

A couple of things:

1. Absent an extraordinarily light snowfall this winter, you will not get over Logan Pass at that time. Count on it not opening to the middle of June at the earliest just to be safe. As noted above, in '09 it was not open until late June. This year, it did not open until sometime in July. Back in '99 it did not open until June 16th. In '00 I was there around the same time and it was open due to relatively light snow over the winter.

2. DO NOT take U.S. 2 from West Galcier through Columbia Falls. There is a curvy section just west of Hungry Horse that has no shoulder and can have very heavy traffic. You are hemmed in by the river so there is no escape. I can give you the preferred route. It's much nicer, although you have to ride some dirt/gravel. We did fine on 37c tires. Better yet, get a copy of the Adventure Cycling's Great Parks map that covers almost all of your planned route.

3. There are alternatives that take you off U.S. 93 in spots between Whitefish and Eureka. Much nicer riding as U.S. 93 can have traffic in places. Again, ther alternatives are shown on the Adventure Cycling map. I also have them mapped out on Bikely.com

4. PR 3 had a good deal of noisy traffic in the Blairmore area on the way to Pincher Creek. The much more pleasant option is to take Rte. 507 just after passing the Burmis Tree. It's extremely rolling in places, but there was virtually no traffic.

5. There are no services between Pincher Creek and U.S. 89, except for a restaurant/bar in Twin Butte. We had a hellacious headwind from Pincher Creek all the way into Waterton Village, which we reached via PR 5. Just beyond the PR 5 junction there is a stiff climb. It goes on for miles. Much of it is dead straight. Stares you right in the face so it's psychologically tough. When you finally make it to U.S. 89 you will almost certainly be hit with a stiff headwind heading to St. Mary. The point being that Waterton Village makes a nice place to stop if only because bypassing it would make for an extremely difficult day.

6. While I have never climbed the east side of GTS, I have descended it. It's less hairy than the west side. More open, less twisty and there is some shoulder in places. IMO, the optimal starting point is Rising Sun Campground. From there, it's only about a 2000' climb to Logan Pass. If you start early, you can easily beat the mass of traffic. Descending the west side takes concentration. Once nice thing is that on a bike you can usually go faster than cars, so you can take the lane. Note that there is an ongoing road re-hab project on the west side. You may experience some unpaved sections and uni-directional traffic which results in delays. But it's a nice place to hang out--assuming it's not raining.

7. Definitely go clockwise.

Here are some photos from our trip in '09 trip:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davez20...7620763740044/

We started at the KOA just south of the center of Whitefish.