Day 1: Andy had come up with an Idea to ride to Sunnyside Washington to see a Hill climb competition in May. Down in Washington in May the weather is already fairly nice but up in Alberta May is a crap-shoot weather-wise. It would take a little luck to pull this off, but I was game despite just barely getting out of a cast from breaking my leg rather badly a couple of months before. Andy was a bit concerned and wanted to meet up prior to the ride to make sure that I would still be up for it, so when I showed up on crutches to meet him for coffee, with a week to go to departure I'm sure it wasn't reassuring. I'm stubborn and probably would have gone even if I had to bring the crutches strapped to the bike, but it didn't come to that. By departure day the cast was off and my leg fit into my MX boot again. It was a bit overcast the morning of departure and heading south out of Calgary the grip heaters were on high. We departed from the small town of Okotoks about fifteen minutes south of Calgary, after meeting up at the Tim Horton's coffee shop at the town's south end. I knew Andy, having ridden with him once about 4 years ago, and talking to him a few times since. Brian, I had never met, but when a white 990 showed up it had to be him. Both are very easy going guys and we were all within a year of each other age wise, with similar senses of humor. It was a cool start but the clouds were not dropping any moisture at least and the winds were not howling. It kept getting cooler as we traveled over the small pass on Highway 22 south of Longview with the temperature warning light flashing on my dash. At Maycroft we turned west on the"gap road" to join the trunk road, and gravel, down to Coleman. From Coleman we continued west on Highway 3 to Fernie, B.C. stopping at a motorcycle shop named Ghostriders. Brian had them cut down his windshield in hopes of reducing the buffeting that was rattling his brain since we hit higher speeds, and Andy was in search of a kidney belt. The only Kidney belt, the bike-shop had was for kids and would not stretch around a middle aged belly, even though his was the smallest of the group. While Brian's bike was being modified, Andy ran over to Canadian Tire for a roll of Duct tape to make a "ghetto-style" kidney belt. We stopped a while later to grab a bite in Cranbrook before heading to Creston and over the Kootenay (Salmo) Pass. Near the summit we started to get rained on which briefly turned to ice-pellets before petering out. We took the opportunity to play on the enormous, dirty snow banks with the obligatory photo-op before descending to Salmo. We attempted to find a trail that the GPS indicated as a small side detour but quickly discovered that it was a long dis-used highway that had returned to nature and become impassable. A short run south from there brought us to the Nelway border crossing just north of our end point for the day, Metaline Falls. The pickup truck ahead of me after his inspection started to roll back into me and with the border guard and everyone else yelling at him to stop, managed to stop an inch from my front wheel. We got through the border, and had a quick run to the little motel up the hill from Metaline Falls. Link: http://www.circlemotel.com/ The only game in town for dinner was the 5th Ave Bar, and it was a tiny hole in the wall, but the beer was cold and the food edible. It had been a long day and we sat out on the porch of the motel, playing with our tech and drinking beer for a short while before hitting the pillows to saw wood.
Day 2: The clouds were drifting through the Valley, level with my field of vision from the deck of the Motel first thing in the Morning. They were thick and heavy, obscuring the town below. Our Room seemed to be the "Elephant Room" with everything Elephant related throughout. The room was clean, and the bed OK,( but not great) with dark wood paneling on the walls and stucco-look ceiling panels. Think Thailand meets 70's Rec-Room and you would be close. It must have rained during the night as the parking lot and bikes were wet. After packing up we descended into town across some great paved switchbacks past the old powerhouse, to Cathy's Café. I had been there last year and knew the food and coffee were good, besides, it was the only game in town. Today we would have a long run, needing to get to Sunnyside by dinner time and we would be mixing gravel and dirt and pavement to get there. The first jump off-pavement took us across a muddy two-track with lots of dips (read; puddles) and turns. I was a bit horrified at first, seeing the potential for disaster (for my healing leg) at every turn and the first deep puddle that soaked me did nothing to allay those fears. I was very cautious and much slower than I usually would be and worried that I would ruin the ride for the other two riders, if I went down. They were very patient on the off-pavement sections, and I waited for them on the paved sections, being much more confident in my bike through the paved twisty stuff, having had my 990 the longest. One particular section, before we reached the Grand Coulee dam I was enjoying the pavement corners so much that I dragged my right boot (hard enough to pull it back off the peg) which hurt my injured leg a bit. There was so much switching from pavement to gravel that I have lost track of just what we did when, but I do remember a spectacular gravel road that had switchbacks so tight that first gear was as fast as you could take them without doing it flat-tracker style. We stopped for a nice lunch after stopping to see the Dam at Grand Coulee, which was definitely worth seeing. The sun had come out to stay and the temperature climbed, seeming hot to us northerners. We found one closed road that Google maps said was public, but it ran across a private ranch, and was gated. The resulting detour didn't take long and led to another loose gravel road that seemed to sport a good population of snakes. The snake population was down by two after I went across, but at the speeds we were doing that is not the worst that could have happened. One left corner surprised me (the GPS showed no corner coming) and the surface was so loose that I was sliding sideways, so I did a flat-tracker and put my left boot down. My boot-heal snagged a rock and kicked the foot backward, but I made the corner, barely, leaving two wheel ruts on the deep gravel berm at the edge of the road. Once I was straighten out and back up in my lane, I looked back over my left shoulder to see my saddle bag (from the left side) bouncing end over end behind me with Brian close behind it. I stopped and turned around to retrieve it. Brian was pointing at the marks by the ditch asking if I had made those? When I said "yes" he replied "You crazy sonofabitch!" We both laughed and carried on, nothing damaged and no one hurt. The Gobi bags by Hepco-Becker once again showing how well designed they are; made to release rather than snap a leg in a situation like that, and tough enough to bounce down a road at 100 and not be any more than lightly scuffed. The contents, including my laptop perfectly intact. By the time we arrived at the hill-climb location north of Sunnyside we were about done for the day, but managed to do the 20 miles down to town without incident. The Mexican restaurant in the same lot was a welcome spot for both, good food and cold margaritas. Even the drunken biker-chick with the bottle of Vodka and the Wii upstairs (she told us the next morning) jumping around couldn't rob me of sleep that night. Motel Link: http://www.sunnysidecountryinn.com/
Day 3: Since we were all still working on the huge Mexican meal from the night before; we decided to do the run up to the Hill climb (and the little cafe across the highway) before considering adding anything to the fiesta in our guts. The silver Dollar Cafe was nice and after which we shot across to the hill climb to park and take in a long day of Hill climb craziness. It was the final day of the racing and the big boys were out! It was amazing to watch the smaller bikes and the racers were good, but then the unlimited class rolled up to climb. There were GXSR 600 and 750s with open pipes on full nitro and they were amazing! There were brand new KTM1190 motors in homemade frames with open headers that were nasty sounding and awesome on the hills. Such a wide variety of power and frames with the fearlessness of the riders (and hill) being the only thing in common. The guy far left, Named Dusty Beer, truley the coolest racer name ever!! It was like seeing a Giant Slalom ski-race in reverse, UP the hill, but MUCH louder. The tunes blasting out of the speakers raunchy and hard core to match the mood of the race. I didn't bring a chair, but would have paid good money had anyone been selling, or renting any. I was hurting from walking and standing and finally found the vendor booth from "509" with a big black leather couch that they were happy to let me relax on and rest my leg. The kids had lap races in between class-races and they were great to watch, with some definite future contenders with no quit in them and no-fear either! They had a hill climb of their own and they were just as (or more) competitive than the adults, with one kid walking beside his machine after it powered out, trying to get just a few more feet higher on the hill. Despite the respite on the couch, I was ready to head back to the hotel after the racers finished, and just as we got to town the skies opened, dumping heavy rain for about the last 3 blocks to the hotel. The prize under that rainbow were the margaritas across the parking lot from my room. Locked up for the Night.
Day 4: Monday morning and we had a date in Walla Walla, at Tom's Cycle to pick up my tinted visors that they had ordered in for me, since I could not get them in Canada. The guys were very accommodating with this, despite it meaning; a highway-run rather than nice back-roads for the hour and a half. We made good time, so much so that despite the hurricane force winds we had a trooper motion us to slow down, but at least he didn't pursue. Yet another Mexican restaurant for breakfast, but it was good, and better than Burger King, our other option. We headed out of town and past the Washington State Penitentiary, which was much better to look at from our perspective, I suspect. Great roads, including one called Woopermup where I had a close encounter with a group of five deer took us up to the Palouse Falls. The falls were spectacular and would be a great spot to camp on another trip. Once again Andy (the trip planner) had picked a fantastic route that mixed scenic and entertaining pavement with gravel that was a lot of fun. Coming across Peola road down into Clarkston, WA was an incredible experience on a road that had to be designed by a sport bike fan. We zig-zagged across the map to Grangeville and then wound our way across the back roads to Kamiah Idaho. We ended the day on Winona Grade road, as we came down to Kamiah with spectacular curves and views to match. After checking into the nicest surprise (for accommodations) on the trip at the Clearwater 12 Motel, we grabbed fuel and then dinner at The Hub on Kamiah's main drag. I enjoyed it so much I celebrated with a small wheelie on Main Street before relaxing out front at the motel. Link: http://www.clearwater12motel.com/
Day 5: Well, the Clearwater motel in Kamiah, Idaho was the best of the trip and truly first class inside. Huge rooms with modern decor and super clean, with the best bed I have ever slept in. The outside didn't tell that story. They put on an early and very nice breakfast spread in the lobby, so after filling ourselves up, we got a misty and cool start to the day. It only took half an hour and the fog had burnt off to reveal a gorgeous day. We took a minor detour off highway 12 to the Lachosa Lodge see if we could get to the Lolo Motorway. Snow stopped us a couple of miles up, but Andy and Brian did recon a bit further up before turning around for the gimpy guy's sake. May really is too early at elevation for those roads. We stopped again for a photo-op at the Highway 12 (Lolo) Summit at the Montana Border. It was easy cruising but really scenic and at one point we were flashed by a trooper, just reminding us to keep an easy pace. I saw a rider with a dark colored Victory wave to me from one of the river-side rest areas along the highway. Highway 12, to me is nicer the further west you go so the best part was at the start of the day. Once down over into Montana, Andy spotted a nice old homestead, so we turned around to snap some more pictures. We kept on past Missoula and up to Condon, MT on pavement before jumping onto the Continental Divide Trail. It was a bit early, considering the elevations we would be doing, and at 4400 feet we found snow. Brian, the rider on the white KTM did recon and said it was clear further ahead so we squeezed past the snow and again were stopped at 4700 feet without any end of snow in site. Reluctantly we turned around and bailed back to the highway, to pick up the trail again about 15 miles further north. On the way down I scared a Grizzly cub off the trail in front of me as I came around one corner, gassing it as hard as I could thinking Momma wasn't far behind, and I wanted no part of that action. I was running the go pro at the time and will see if I can slow it down to spot the fast furry ball of misery. On the way out Andy and Brian had a little hill climb competition of their own. I was to afraid of hurting my recently broken right leg to partake in what looked like a lot of fun. The trail north into Columbia Falls was a true test of navigation as it turned every mile or so winding its way in from the south on the C.D.T. route. At one point a short, gravel, two-track connector was blocked by a gravel berm and after a brief check of the gps we rode over the speed bump and carried on. The motel was a welcome site and again didn't look like much from outside but was clean. The set up was odd, with a two bedroom set up divided by the washroom in the center. A Queen bed on one side and two singles on the other. The loudest snorer went into the side with the queen and me and Andy shared the room with the two kiddie beds. Once again there were a couple of nice chairs and a table outside the door so we could relax and enjoy (feed) the mosquitoes. The owner was very pleasant and told us were to find good food, or as she put it, "grease". We chose the good-food option at the Three Forks restaurant in the old Micro-Brewery just up on Railroad Street. I felt very under-dressed and grubby since I didn't want to pull off my boots and get casual before dinner. My bad leg always swelled as soon as I took the boot off of it, and I didn't want to risk not being able to get it back on, but was afraid to ride without the protection it offered. Andy went on another IPA hunting mission after dinner and I returned to the Motel to clean up and ice my leg. Once we were all back at the Motel we sat outside absorbed in or respective tech-toys until the mosquitoes became to bothersome.. Motel Link: http://www.glacierinnmotel.com/
Day 6: Last day jumpiness or maybe the previous afternoon's Monster Energy drink (senior citizen crack) who knows, but I was awake at 04:00 and so was Andy. We sat on our respective beds with faces illuminated by the glow of our tech, while we listened to Brian snore. By 6 a.m. we were all on the move and ready to head over to The Montana Coffee House for breakfast, before heading north up Northfork Road to Polebridge. The breakfast was huge (and good) and the coffee great. With Bikes and Riders fueled we headed out in the chill air eager to get going. The south piece of Northfork road was new to me since we had crossed the eastern range near Polebridge as part of the C.D.T. ride last year on Red Meadow road. Polebridge Store Link: http://www.polebridgemercantile.com/ Northfork road runs in the valley between two mountain ranges between Highway 2 in the south and the Canadian Border in the north where there is a long defunct border crossing. We could see snow in abundance on the tops of both ranges, Glacier National Park the one to the east. The morning was slowly warming and the sun bright as we reached the Polebridge Mercantile for a quick coffee and fresh Pastry. The Polebridge store is over a hundred years old and has never had power lines to it; they stop twenty miles to the south. They get by on a generator as they always have. After a fresh Cinnamon roll (for me) and a Huckleberry Bearclaw for the other two, we carried on north to check out the Canadian Border that we were not allowed to cross. I'm sure we were being watched although there were no signs of human activity. The Merc is open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., 7 days a week May 1 through the last full weekend in November That adventure done we headed south to join the C.D.T. and head west with Eureka in mind. We got about 10 miles in on a familiar section that had been under repair last year when Ian and I had come across. We stopped for pictures, which I had not done last time. Not long after that as elevation started to climb we started encountering snow patches but managed to squeeze through. Then another few corners and the snow was tree line to tree line and with no end in sight. We were beat and had to turn back. We went all the way back to the store and Andy asked if any of the passes to the west were open and was told none were. This was information we could have used a couple of hours before but it was what it was, and the trail had been fun. We retraced our steps as far back as Camas Road that led into Glacier National Park and headed east toward East Glacier along highway 2, having decided that we needed the shortest way home now. I led the way along 2 east and then highway 49 north to meet 89 near St. Mary. It was a great twisty pavement run to the border north of Babb, Montana. The rest of the ride was a fight with brutal, tiring winds that didn't let up the whole way to Calgary. The trip was fun, and with great company, but it was great to roll into the driveway at home. My first ride of the season was a memorable one. Thanks for coming along!
Thought I recognized the bikes - I'm the guy on the black Victory taking a break at the Fish Creek boat launch on Lolo. Great day on the pass. Thanks for the ride report, looks like it was a ton of fun.
Found this at work, I'll have to read it tonight (Ok, I found this at quiting time, otherwise I would read it at work) It looks like a great trip
Report Extras: I saw you wave, Cool! Hope your ride was a good one as well. The Boys humming over an interesting bridge not far south of the Falls. Another shot of the Valley south of the Falls. Random shot of the Gingers. East of Lolo Pass. An old homestead that made for an interesting picture. .
Report Extras: Videos and more pictures to come. Hopefully the other two guys post up here as well. Our own Hill climb. Damn this snow is deep. Peace brother.
The first Video is from the Hill Climb last Sunday. Cruising in North Washington. Snow's deep[.... Just Chillin' the leg. Pictures above courtesy of Andy. Early morning, early season at the Polebridge Mercantile / Bakery!
Lee - great job on the trip report. Many of my photos were of the same scene as yours, but of a much lower quality - I'm not much of a photographer. I did take quite a few snaps of the hill climb machinery - here's a few of those. Bret Peterson's very tricked out nitro-burning KTM 950 getting ready for a climb: A few more close-ups of same bike in the pits... no spark arrester on this baby :) A couple of 1190 KTMs in the open class: Best name ever for a competitor - yes, that's his real name: Nice to see an Aprilia racing in the 700cc class: A couple of very evil-sounding Kawis... they fired them up in the pits while I was about 6' away. Pretty sure my ears were going to bleed: a couple more getting ready near the start line: And the fastest bike/rider of the day - Jason Smith on a gorgeous fuel-injected, nitro-burning bored out XS650: One thing we don't see in Canada - gas stations selling bongs. Is this just a Washington thing...? Getting my hillbilly vibe going while taking a break on a classic Cadillac equipped with a fake hood scoop: Enjoying our evening in Kamiah ID near the end of the trip: I have lots of video from the hill climb - will try to edit it down to something reasonable and will post it here in the next few days.
South of Polebridge MT. Old Abandoned Canadian border crossing north of Polebridge. The road across to Eureka MT. Blocked with snow higher up this early in the season. Goofing around for the camera.
Thank you, I use an old Canon T1i and a variety of lens; 10-17mm and a 50mm, as well as a 100-300 zoom. I enjoy playing around with the camera. I do still have a bunch of pictures to post, but not much more as far as story or videos. The other two riders will have more video and pictures to post yet. This road south of Eureka MT was too high up at this time of year and we had to turn back. From what we could determine it would have been deep snow for about a mile.
Rebuilding after loosing the pictures to Photobucket's greed. Real Sports have choppers standing by. I'm The Flyer, with only one desire... I'm Digging it. So was he. Launch time! .
Miscellaneous pictures from the trip, found again at long last. The Eye in the Sky at the races. Retreating from the road to nowhere. An Old abandoned highway that we had to check out. The things you find in the woods... Peace Brother. .
Three Lost days of May After a hard lesson about third party hosting and the corporate greed of Photobucket, all of the pictures in this ride report where lost. I shoot in RAW format and I was sure that I had all the original files on my hard drive. I had all but three days at the start of the trip, apparently. I scoured the drive and every back up location but to no avail. It was very unlike me to lose files and why the first three days of this trip? I could clearly remember what the shots were but try as I might, I could not find them. I processed what I could find and reposted them in the ride report with the 4 picture limit. I had all but given up on them, when weeks later, I was reorganizing some books and out dropped two DVD-Rs from between the pages of a learn to speak Spanish book. They were not labeled so I had to know what they were (a glimmer of hope for the lost days). The first one I popped into the drive had my lost three days from years ago backed up on it, along with a video from another trip. Somehow, rather than copying the files it had moved them, deleting them from the hard drive after copying to the DVD. It was a relief to finally find them and be able to complete the rebuild of the Ride-Report. It may seem like a minor thing, but I was angry at having lost something that I had trusted to someone else for safe keeping. It was a tiny, insignificant, part of my riding history that in the grand scheme of things, likely mattered only to me. That said, it did matter to me and it taught me a lesson about backing up files that were important. I now keep my files on at least two separate storage systems separate from my main hard drive (since nothing last forever), not in the hands of any faceless corporation. If I lose the files now I will have only myself to blame. For the Guys; The Grande Coulee Dam . Fun roads north and south of it. Just south of Metaline Falls. Damp start to the morning. The Pilot. Excuse me my leg hurts.... Maybe you could have a look? That's All Folks........me being a ham. Hope you enjoyed the scenery.