It was an early (and cold) start to the day, so many layers of clothing were required for the climb up Chef Mountain. But saying that, it didn’t take long to over heat and so a stop at the view point was required. Then as (yet another) granola bar was consumed Dennis, who was also riding the same way as me pulled in and after a chat we rode together to the boarder where he was to meet his family at the crossing into USA.
The que at the checkpoint was long, and there were many Airstream campers waiting. I spotted two other cyclist ahead who were also waiting for the strict guards to check their papers, when my turn was up they asked me a few questions like what I was carrying and about the solar pannel strapped to the back of my bike (I refrained from saying that I don’t work for MI5, just incase they thought that I did!). But they let me in all the same.
Further down the road I came across the two cyclists who were in front, Annie was pulling a Bob trailer and Laurence had a full set of Ortlieb panniers, both were from Montreal Canada and were cycling to Salt Lake City, CO from Banff, Alberta. We were all heading to St Mary’s so we rode together around Chef Mountain and arrived in St Mary’s around 4pm where we checked out the not too inspiring supermarket (one tomato made up their choice for the vegetable section). Once the shopping was done we waited outside and Matt (who I stayed with at the ranch in Cut Bank) appeared as if by magic, it turned out that he was the man who was not allowed over the Canadian boarder and so had to make his own way to St Mary’s on the farm dirt tracks.
A short distance away we entered Glacier National park and were tempted to sneak past the $12 entrance fee, but the free bus ticket made us think twice and so decided to be good a do the right thing. As soon as we entered, we were amazed at the shear beauty of the mountains, forests, and clear streams, it was quite amazing. The photos don’t show it justice.
Not too far away we set up camp at the Rising Sun, a campground hidden amongst the pine forest. All was well until the ranger turned up: “What are you doing here?! This was reserved for somebody else!” He exclaimed. So we had to move downhill to a place by the entrance with its own campfire and running water, it turned out well in the end.
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