How long should it take me to ride the length of Chief Mtn road? From the mapmyride.com map, it looks to be 65 miles or so from St. Mary (any services?) to Waterton. Is this a a long one-day ride or due to difficulty a two day ride?

Will there be water stops or will I have to bring a water filter (which I've never taken on a tour)? Again, looking at the map, it looks like a 2-day ride from Longview to Banff and from Pincher Creek to Longview. Are these routing assumptions correct?

Yeah, we did St Mary to Waterton in a day. A tough, long day but still a day. There is camping on Chief Mtn just after the border if you wanted to shorten the day. St Mary has a store and I believe a restaurant or two. The smaller town of Babb before the 89/Chief Mtn junction had a store too, from what I remember.

We got by without a water filter, but you'll need to have the capacity to bring extra water. The last place to get water before turning onto 22/Cowboy Trail is the small town of Lundbreck. On the Cowboy Trail itself I remember potable water being available at Chain Lakes Provincial Park and at the historic ranch administered by the National Parks between the two (there's a cafe there as well). But Chain Lakes is closer to Longview (25mi/40k) than it is to Lundbreck (47mi/76k). There is a small provincial park wayside on the Oldman River between Lundbreck and Chain Lakes that has water, but...


Two days between Pincher Creek and Longview sounds about right. I can't tell you about two days between Banff and Longview as I didn't do the section of road that you propose. But if I remember correctly, there's a lot of gravel on that section of road.

The 47 miles from St Mary to Waterton with no major elevation change is a short day for most bicyclists.

You may have missed my earlier post (#18) - have you considered flying into and starting from Kalispell? It's usually a connecting flight from SLC, and West Glacier campsite is only 25-30 miles - you could make it same day you fly in. This would cut out 2-3 days / 135 miles of riding some not particularly interesting road from Missoula.

I have ridden hard packed dirt roads on tour before, usually with 28 or 32mm tires. Is the gravel you refer to hard packed and something rideable on those sized tires? What is the comparable road section like?

I didn't miss your earlier post. It was recommended that I ride Going to the Sun road East to West and I am trying to create a route that allows that. This means coming into Glacier NP from the east, which is why I created the route from Missoula going east.

Another option is fly into Kalispell and the ride Going to the Sun road in both directions or blowing off the recommendation and riding it West to East.

Any thoughts on this?

I have only ridden it west to east, so I can't compare it to anything, but riding it the way I did was a fantastic experience. The entire climb was shaded for me, so that's a judgement call I guess if you care about such things. It was cool and there was no wind.

Maybe the other way is better. But if it dorks up the whole rest of the trip, and you are confident you can make it all the way to the top before the daily bike closure, I don't see a reason not to just ride west to east.

I made it to the top with plenty of time to spare, starting from a hotel in West Glacier at first light.

Don't miss the pie at the Park Cafe in St. Mary.

I have no idea, as I have not ridden that road.

I wouldn't discount the toughness of Chief Mountain Hwy because of its length and lack of major elevation change. When I mapped out the ride from St Mary to Waterton here:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2336430
...the cumulative elevation gain is 3,900 feet. True, the climbs are never much more than 1,000 feet, but there is enough up and down.

Compare that to Going-To-The-Sun Road, which most people would consider major elevation change:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2336508
The cumulative elevation gain is around 4,700 feet. Both rides are about the same length, 50 miles.

So when you rode it you found it a piece of cake? I have done it in both directions. To Waterton was with a group of 13. Not one of us found it easy by any stretch of the imagination. Coming from the other direction there is a good 5 mile climb not long after you leave the park. Not only is it steep, it stairs you right in the face so it's psycholicigally intimidating.

OP: There are several restaurants and stores in St. Mary. Pie at the Park Cafe is highly recommended.

GTS west to east is the way to go, IMO. It has the best views and there are pullouts on your right where you can stop and take photos:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davez20...57620763740044

(The final 26 photos in that set are from the west side of GTS.)

If you descend the west side you have to cross oncoming traffic to access them. I have climbed the west side 3 times now. Stay at Avalanche or Sprague Creek Campground (I prefer the latter as it's smaller and you can walk to and from Lake McDonald Lodge for beers by the lake and groceries. The downside is that it's close to the road and thus more noisy at time.) and head out at dawn. Be very quiet as you ride along the relatively flat early miles and you might see a bear cross the road. (Seen 'em twice.) If you start early enough and don't dawddle, you should have plenty of time to make it to the summit by the 11 a.m. cut off. Try to take the short hike to the viewing platfor for Hidden Lake, which starts behind the Visitor Center at Logan Pass. Worth the walk. Extra food is a must. There is nothing to eat at the summit and nothing on the east side until Rising Sun.

Waterton Village has a grocery store and several restaurants. You can get a lot of this information on line. It's also part of ACA's Great Parks Route. so you might want to get the relevant map section. Our trip in '09 did the loop from Whitefish through Eureeka, Fernie, Sparwood, Pincher Creek Waterton Village then back into the U.S. at Chief Mountain. Logan Pass was still closed so we went around the park via 89, 43 and 2 so we could at least have time to ride part of GTS. Send me a PM if you have any specific questions.

My mistake, I mis-remembered it from years ago - should have looked at a topo map before commenting, but I was certain I remembered it as flat. Possibly confused with the road beyond Waterton.

Thanks for the links, because ridewithgps.com is a pretty handy site, not too hard to use.

I think you intended to link this:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2336508

Yeah, I remember the road out of Waterton north to Pincher Creek as less demanding. Still some hills, but it didn't feel as extreme as Chief Mountain.

Oops! Thanks for catching that.

From West Glacier (Apgar) campground to Logan Pass is 29.3 mi, 4,060' climb.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2343111

From St Mary campground to Logan Pass is 17.0 mi, 2,610' climb.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2343122

W2E is more difficult by 12mi/1400'.

If you start from Avalanche campground, Logan Pass is 15.8 mi / 3,550', which is shorter than SM->LP, but average steeper grade. If you depart Avalanche at 0700, you should make Logan Pass before the 1100 "no bikes climbing GTTSR deadline" - that's averaging <4 mph. It takes most bicyclists <3 hrs to cover this distance (according to GNP), but many of them are not loaded for touring. If you were worried about making the deadline, you could ask a motorist stopped at The Loop to carry your bags (minus valuables) with them to Logan Pass, and make the rest of the climb unloaded.

It makes sense to detour to avoid difficult climbs to some extent, but I think in this case, starting at Missoula and traveling >200 miles to avoid 1400 feet of additional climbing in a single morning is not the best choice, if this is your primary reason for starting in Missoula.

May I weigh in on Going to the Sun Road?

I have cycled GTTS lots of times - both directions. One can never tire of the experience.
With its even 8% grade, it's really not that bad in either direction.

For multiple reasons, I prefer east-to-west - but it's not absolute.
#1 - I love having the morning light behind me as I ride into the mountains.
The mountains and lake absolutely sparkle.
#2 - Eastside climbing doesn't have the 11:00a cutoff - I like not feeling pressured.
#3 - Although I like to start early - 7:30ish - traffic increases later in the morning.
The longer westside climb means that traffic is significantly more noticeable before reaching the top.
#4 - And, yes, it's 1400 fewer feet - although somewhere you ultimately have to make them up.

Still, if your tour makes west-to-east more reasonable - then do it.
If you ride during the months the shuttle operates, then you can shuttle your panniers up early -
Take the shuttle back down - then ride up unencumbered - even if you are morally suspect.

Speaking of campgrounds -
On the west side:
In addition to Avalanche there is Sprague Creek right next to services at McDonald Lake Lodge - just a bit further.
On the east side:
Rising Sun is WAY, WAY better than St. Mary - plus there are services including pay showers.

Nota Bene!
Visiting Glacier without going to Many Glacier is like going to the Grand Canyon and missing the canyon.
Yes, it is an out and back trip - which many tourers seem to despise - but it is a lovely ride.
All services. This is an ideal location from which to hike into the backcountry.
Also, consider Two Medicine if you are in that corner.

Good points.

Amen brother. I made a few hikes starting or ending at MG:

1. Logan Pass to Granite Park Chalet via the Highline Trail, over Swiftcurrent Pass down to MG

2. From Piegan Pass trailhead on the GTTSR down to Grinnell Lake, then on to MG

3. Iceberg Lake from MG - round trip

Here's a map showing these hikes:

https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisi...king_logan.swf

I would have liked to made it beyond the Ptarmigan tunnel, and traversed the Sperry/Gunsight trail, but this was outside the scope of my last trip. I hope to return to GNP someday with backpacking gear, camera, and more time for the 700 miles of trail I didn't hike.

Here's an image scanned from a slide I made, looking East down into the MG valley, from a couple hundred feet below the top of Swiftcurrent Pass: