indyfabz

Hope no one is planning on riding GTS west to east any time in the very near future. Road is closed between basically Apgar and Logan Pass. Avalanche C.G., Sprague Creek C.G. and the lodge are closed.

spinnaker

Funny you should post this. I was just telling my friend about this fire. I am once again looking at going next year though I will likely be doing more of a hub and spoke tour from Apgar and staying in a motel rather than tent. Gives me more options in the even of fire or bad weather. No stress on making all of those reservations.

Touring in the NW is getting to be a real problem. Real hard to plan with all of these fires. Nice to pick a time of year when there is no rain but then you need to worry about fire.

indyfabz

What are you looking at hub and spoke-wise from Apgar?

What ever happened with the Willamette Valley thing?

spinnaker

Willamette is done. Had a great time. Not a super exciting trip but still pretty enough. And got to stay with some really great warmshowers hosts which added to the trip. The train ride back home was awesome.

Thinking of flying out to Whitefish area next year. Maybe spend a day or two riding there then riding over to Apgar. Ride the Going to the Sun road as far as I feel comfortable. Maybe do it a couple of days in a row building confidence. Then maybe come back some day and do it as part of a traditional tour just as long as the area doesn't get too crazy crowd wise.
.

indyfabz

Road riding around Whitefish isn't the greatest. Lots of development. Rode into town last year from the north. I was stunned to see how much had been built even since I had last been there in 2009.

And just so you know, to get to the park without riding a shoulderless stretch of busy U.S. 2 heading to the town of Hungry Horse you have to do some dirt riding. It's only a few miles now since part of the road have been paved over the years. Mostly hard packed dirt with a few stones. Relatively easy climb. Pretty back there and little traffic before the height of the rafting season. (There is a put in/take out area along the north fork of the Flathead River.) It actually seemed like they might be doing further paving someday as there was a sign saying something about future road improvements.

If you look at this map, the unpaved section starts at mile 444, just after you cross the river:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23235312

Not sure, but I think the pavement picks up again at Belton Stage. After Lake 5 Rd. you hit dirt again. I went to the park using Lake 5 and came back starting on Belton Stage. When I was back there in '99 a local stopped in his truck and asked if we had bear spray. We told him no, and he said "You know, this is a main bear route." Back then there were no street signs. The cue on the ACA map for the turn onto Lake 5 Rd. was something like "right at telephone junction box 346578."

The river area is a nice place to stop for a snack.

biker222

Unfortunately, I have a supported tour starting Aug25 from Whitefish to Jasper and on Aug26 the ride was to go up GTS Rd to St Marys.
Have not got any feedback on trip status yet.
Hopefully, things will get resolved. This is my 3rd attempt at doing this and it starting to be a painful and costly process when things get cancelled

indyfabz

If need be, maybe they can re-route via Marias Pass (U.S. 2), Looking Glass Hill (MT 49) and U.S. 89 to St. Mary. Not as nice, but doable. When GTS was not fully open when the GF and I showed up in St. Mary we did the opposite of that fully loaded all the way to W. Glacier then into the park to Sprague Creek Campground near Lake McDonald Lodge. Close to 100 miles. The GF was so beat at the end that she went to the bathroom and couldn't figure out why there were urinals in the men's room.

Doug64

My daughter lives in Kalispell, and she said it is pretty smokey. It is also smokey in many western areas right now. We did get a ride in today but it is the first time this week that it didn't feel like second had smoke when I went outside.

Point is : smoke could also be an issue.

indyfabz

skookum

Here, 3 hours north of Glacier, its been too smoky to ride for about the last week. As high as 10+ on the 10 point scale, although its only 5 tonight.
The smell of campfire and fine ash on the car in the morning. Sun is a weird red colour, even at mid day.
Not good riding conditions.

indyfabz

Back in 2000 I was hanging out with some grad students at Mesa Verde N.P. in Cortes, CO after riding there from Seattle. A forest fire erupted and the five of us living in the campground had to evacuate to the house in town where the rest of the students were staying. The next morning ash was falling from the sky, covering cars, and the sun was how you describe it. I had never seen anything like that before. Fortunately, the wind shifted and started blowing the smoke east.

fietsbob

the lumber in the stacks at home depot (etc) has more moisture content
than standing timber in the forests, now.

here on the coast there seems to be the Victorian fog* going on ,

with enough smoke particulates in the air,
BC fires in the CW wind circulation, (north pacific high, the common summer pattern)

so marine moisture clings onto smoke in air, and it has been overcast for much longer,

than previously typical..

*1900 London heated with coal, so had the famous pea-soup fogs..

stardognine

I was amazed at how much smoke was in the air, just yesterday & this morning, here in Eastern Colorado. Just got into Lamar awhile ago. I've seen & smelled quite a bit, closer to the front range, but didn't expect it, this far East. 😟

raceboy

indyfabz

Check the park's official web site.

Mountain Mitch