Glacier Park... Canada,my first multiday ride. Ideas?

Aug 18th-21st or longer I am planning on taking my first multi-day ride.
First day:Starting in Lewiston, Idaho up Hwy 3 to St Maries, through Avery to St Regis . I don't think I would have a problem making it to Kalispell the first day, but is there anything between St. Regis and Kalispell that I should see or places to stop for the night?

Second day: I know I want to go through Glacier and end up on Hwy 89 heading for Canada. Somewhere about 150-250 miles from hwy 89 at the border would likely be a good second day stop. I will bring my passport. In Canada I think I would like to go by Ainsworth hotspring. I need a better map of B.C. Any ideas on Canada would be welcome.

Third day?
Fourth day? maybe head home
Fifth day ? likely head home
Sixth day? definitely go to my home

Idarider,

Sounds like a great start. Since you are coming into ST Regis, I would normally recommend Hwy 135 to Hwy 200 East. Unfortunately, Hwy 93 from where it intersects 200 northward is under construction and very slow moving. A better option might be to go West on 200 to Plains and then catch 28 North. You come out on Flathead Lake near Elmo, MT..
FWIW, the construction zone on 93 doesn't end until Ronan and will add about one hour to your time. It was miserable two weeks ago when I made that mistake. Lots of traffic !
Hope this helps

TC

I was at Ainsworth 2 wks ago, a great choice. Be aware that Nakusp Hot Springs was closed for maintenance 2 wks ago.
The ride there is a classic. Consider heading north to Pincher Creek once out of Glacier. Then, head est along Hwy 3, all the way to Creston. Go north on 3A, up to the Kootenay Bay ferry [longest free ferry boat ride in North America]. At Balfour, Ainsworth is only 1/2-3/4 hr north. Kaslo is a cool funky little town just north of Ainsworth. Then, you could consider the Monashee Pass road. To get there, go west on 31A to New Denver, 6 to Nakusp and Fauquier, cross another free ferry to Needles [get gas at Fauquier] and west again to desert country to Vernon. Then south along whatever route you like.
Ciao, Steve G.

I went the oposite direction a week ago but I went down 93 from Kelspell to Missoula then west on 12 to Lewiston. I loved 12 it was allot of great twisty road but I'd ride the extra 20 miles east to take 83 north to avoid the construction. I'm still trying to get all that shit off the bike from the construction.

Good riding through Canada out of Glacier, Wife and I just got back from 8 days of riding up to Banff and Jasper. Beautiful scenery but alot of traffic in the parks.
We rode from Glacier through Waterron and then took the route toCrows nest pass and to Fernie then headed north on 95A to Kooteney.
Came home from the north through MT Robson and took highway 5 to Hope.

All good riding lots of nice places to stop.
One mistake was staying in SKookumchuck. there was no restaurants open by the time we got there and ended up eating a can of soup for dinner out of the general store. So make sure you go to Canal flats or to the hotsprings north of there for the night.

Wayde

All good advice above. Don't miss anything in Glacier/Waterton Park. We liked all of it and the roads in the Waterton side are great as is the views.

My advice is to plan a few less miles than you normally can do to allow for side trips and exploring interesting places.

The Hwy 93 construction information from Thumpercrazee will save me a lot of pain and suffering. I will be making up a list of all of the Canadian routes,towns, and helpful hints to take with me.
I am thinking that I can do about 250-350 miles a day, and still gawk at things. I need to borrow my brothers back packing gear and buy some stuff like a tire patch/inflater kit.

Anyone else with ideas or info ?

I couldn't agree more with Steve G, the Creston to Kooteney Bay (3A) is one of the best biking roads in the country, you'll love it, if you do head to Vernon and you'd like the ride of your life, from Vernon head out hwy 97 to the O'keefe Ranch, just past the ranch take a left onto Westside Rd, this is an awesome twisty road running along okanagan lake, you'll end up at hwy 97 again, turn right and take hwy 97C the okanagan connector over to merritt, the connector is boring but it'll take you to the ultimate biking roads, from Merritt take hwy 8 over to Spences Bridge, this is another beautiful twisty road in a hot desert setting and most of it runs along the nicola river, when you hit hwy 1 turn left toward Lytton and then take hwy 12 over to Lillooet, all these roads are awesome biking roads but if you want the most amazing ride of your life, carry on down hwy 99 to Pemberton and Whistler, this is the Duffy Lake Road, the God of all biker roads.

I want to go now! I found out that I only get the 17th-20th to go, although I don't have to be at work in Pullman til 2:30 P.M. on the 21st so I could start the day as far north as Cranbrook and still make work on time.

Hey! I just got back this afternoon from a 9 day ride from Boise to Yellowstone and Glacier/Waterton. On your way up, there is a 30 mile stretch of super nice dirt between Avery and Wallace. You may have already seen it on the map. DO DO DO take the road. It is an old railroad bed and goes through a 1/2 dozen of these crazy cool old tunnels. That little stretch of road was one of the best parts of our trip.

Also, we took old Highway 93 instead of Whitebird Grade for the first time, and MAN that was so much fun. You catch the old Highway from within the town of whitebird. There are about 2 dozen banking switchbacks. Just have to watch your speed as it is a little gravelly.

When you are in glacier, try to stay at the Many Glacier campground. It's first come first served, but there is alot of wildlife activity up there right now and they have showers. Second choice would be rising sun campground. That's where we stayed. They have showers there too, but not as many. According to the rangers, as long as you get to the park by 5pm, you shouldn't have a problem getting a campsite wherever you want.

It was a phenomenal trip. I could go on and on, and probably will in the form of a ride report. I can post some GPS tracks of the dirt we did in the panhandle if that would help ya out. If your trip is 1/2 as awesome as ours was it will be one that you never forget!

My first day paln includes Hwy 3 to St Maries, then to Avery and then over the top to I-90. I thought I could come out at St Regis, but the road over to Wallace sounds like lots of fun. I drove to La Grande tonight and borrowed 600 bucks of backpacking gear from my brother. Now I don't have to depend on motels. Been looking at camping threads and found some really good check lists .

NOTE: Anyone riding Hwy 129 from Lewiston to Enterprise, the grades on both sides of the Grande Ronde have gravel hiding half way around some corners. I was happy to be in the car when I found it.

If I get to Glacier the first day I will try to find the campgrounds mentioned by ra+ional. Where ever I get to each day will be just fine. In Canada I will likely follow the excellent advice being offered and include Kootenay Lake , Kaslo, ( I am planning on going by Ainsworth hot springs) and likely the beemer rally at Nakusp. At least part of the time I will just have copies of the posts where I can read them on my tank bag, instead of a map.

Clarkia to Avery...rt into Clarkia...rt past general store...lft about 500 ft onto the gravel county road. Rt at bridge. Lft at top of mountain toward Roundtop, Avery, Little North Fork. Don't be intimidated by the "trail"/road, It opens up around the corner. After crossing the little North Fork. 30 ft across with a bridge, hard to miss, Head toward Avery/Fishhook Rd. Rt at the bottom into Avery.
This is a great road, similar to Magruder, witha 20 mile ridge section. About 40 miles of empty. 100 plus mies takes about 4 hours from Clarkia to St Regis. No gas in Clarkia, Yes gas in Avery.

Avery to St Regis is a very nice paved road. 50 miles of twisty, no bldgs, no guard rails, no white lines, almost no traffic.

Turn RT onto The Red Ives Road 40 miles from Avery. Lft at the Red Ives Ranger Station, enjoy. Dirt road, 1000ft cliffs, wilderness river, rugged. A 2+ hrs to Superior.

Wallace to Pritchard/Murray over Thomson Pass to hwy 200 in Montana is a scenic paved road. Do stop at the Murray Museum. Good food here.
And on and on.

not far off hiway 200 near plains MT is hotsprings, they used to have a springs right in town, it has been some time since I've been there so confirm it .

if you wind up in bonners ferry the ( 3rd street? ) pizza house has great pizza, hiway 3 in BC is incredible. Fernie is cool, the grand central is cheaper then camping , the owners are nice there $19 CA, and its NICE and clean, better then some $150 places I've been, its good to break up the camping, and its a short stumble if your tipping a glass ,

http://www.ferniecentralreservations.com/hotels/ski_and_see.html

Looking forward to it!

My wife is from near Bonners Ferry so we go there every spring and stop in at Bonner Books. We will eat pizza next spring and drive the bike around through Troy MT for fun. I will find out what is in Hotsprings, I was already thinking of going through there. Fernie may end up a good place to stop, and the tipping and stumbling could be a good thing, also.

I printed out all of the ideas everyone has given me and will keep them handy on the trip.
I will be posting an open, recurring, dinner invitation to N46 29.492 W115 48.082 Pierce, Id. I will be there on the 26th and every weekend in September.

Thank you for your ideas, they helped make it a memorable ride. Glacier-Waterton was as advertised.

Thumpercrazee, RiverRat280, I went from St Regis to Elmo and missed the road construction.

Steve G, I went through pincher creek and Crows nest pass. I had heard about the Frank slide, but had never seen it. The Creston-Kootenay bay-Nelson-Kaslo-New Denver -Nakusp road was great. Went to the Beemer rally in Nakusp

yota, wa.tarider, FatChance, thank you

Pursang, ra+ional, thetourist, I am saving your ideas for next year.

HighwayChile, I enjoy Bonners Ferry also. I did think Fernie was cool, but the Grand Central was closed. Stayed at a nice place next to the Best Western.I pulled in to Hot Springs Mt. for a quick look and didn't find the hot spring. The town looked very sleepy, with some buildings just sinking into the prairie. ( 3 minute tour of town) . Highway by there was great at 85 ( making time to Glacier)