2023 - West - St Regis MT - Superior View Trail & River Trail - August 25 - 26

 August 25 - Vaughan, Jim & Jill hiked Superior View Trail in Superior MT. 

Later Vaughan & I drove out Mill Creek Road to see if there was a good spot to view the night sky later on. We found a perfect spot.

August 26 - We hiked behind the campground today 2.3 miles and then Vaughan, Jim, & Jill drove out Mill Creek Road to hike River Trail.

2023 - West - MT/ID - Hiawatha Bike Trail - August 24

 August 24 - WE DID IT! 

We rode the Hiawatha Bike Trail which is close to the Idaho border. The trail is 15 miles downhill with 10 tunnels and 7 sky-high trestles.

This is the beginning of the trail - East Portal. You park here, get your tickets and then when you've done the 15 miles downhill you can take a shuttle back which carries your bikes, or ride the bikes back up.

The trail start with a 1.66 mile single lane tunnel. It had rained the day before so it was a muddy mess with drainage ditches down each side. Once you got inside it was pitch black - headlights and headlamps were necessary. Very spooky.

Bad selfie time - at least I got Vaughan, Jim & Jill.

It was in the 40s in the tunnel and our fingers nearly froze. So good to pop out into daylight.

At the tunnel exit was a waterfall - payment for getting thru.

The scenery was incredible - 

There were 9 more tunnels to go but they were all under 1000 feet long.

The trestles were truly sky-high. 

Here is another in the distance that we will soon cross -

Tunnels sometimes held little surprises. Vaughan found this guy in one of them.

We all finally made it to the Pearson end. 

Jim, Jill & Vaughan decided to ride back uphill the 15 miles to the parking area. There was no way I was going to do that with my knee. I waited for them to ride up and come back for me in the Jeep. 

The buses came and went - I seriously thought about taking one back but the $50 in my pocket said "Don't do that - there is a prime rib in your future". They charge a premium to take e-bikes.

Vaughan on his ride back up had a few issues. First he was stung by a bee in the neck. Then going back through the last tunnel he accidentally hit a wrong button on the bike and turned out his headlight. Pure darkness! Remember - narrow road with drains on both sides. He immediately hit his brakes and found the light switch. Very frightening but being the daredevil he is, I think he actually loved it.

The drive out from Pearson was gorgeous - you could see some of the trestles in the distance.

Dinner that night was well-deserved. We stopped in Haugan, MT at the 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar.

There were actually 83,774 silver dollars mounted on the walls and ceilings. Very impressive.

My dinner companions - 

A long day - 30 miles of ride for my companions but never a more beautiful ride.

2023 - West - Montana (West Glacier to St Regis) - August 21-23

 August 21 - We all took a cool rainy drive around Flathead Lake thru Kalispell and Polson. Tried to see Kerr Dam outside of Polson but all entries at the top were closed for road construction. We managed to find a dirt road down to the base but could still not see the dam. 

August 22 - Today was deep-cleaning day - you'd be surprised how much sand gets everywhere when you hike as much as we have. 

August 23 - Driving out of West Glacier Village will make anyone with a big RV cringe. Jim & Jill took pictures of us driving under the train. Yes, we scraped a little but only a small antennae.

The drive to St Regis Montana was wonderful. We did drive through Paradise MT where 4 days before they closed the roads because the fires were so intense. At one point we saw where the fire jumped the road and burned down a barn down a barn on the side of the road.  Small fires were still burning but roads were open. In the middle of the picture below you can still see two places with a little smoke coming through the trees.

Here we are driving thru this amazing landscape (Thanks Jill for the pic)

Nugget RV Resort in ST Regis had a small ghost town. Jill was trying to drum up a little business to pay for the trip.

2023 - West - Glacier NP - St Mary Falls & Virginia Falls - August 20

 August 20 - Today's hike was on the other side of Glacier at St Mary Lake. 

The drive on Going to the Sun Road was back to being smoky.

Driving on these cliffs over these bridges make me very nervous.

These next two pictures are of Jackson Glacier.  Back in 1910 they documented 100 glaciers in the park. In 2015 only 26 remain.

This is a view of the western end of St Mary Lake. A fire back in 2015 burned over thousands of acres. This side of the river was destroyed but the other side is green and lush.

A great place for bears - lots of berry bushes along the trail.

This is St Mary Falls.

From St Mary Falls to Virginia Falls were numerous smaller waterfalls.

Here is a view of Virginia Falls from its base

and, of course, that is Vaughan walking across its middle.

and then Jim & Jill joined him.

Yes, that's me down below.

The hike out and back was about 4 miles. So far this trip we have hiked over 42 miles.

But there is beauty amongst the burned trees.