I did a 3000 k trip the last week of June to the Cypress Hills, Elkwater, Glacier National Park in Montana, them up part of the FTR (forestry trunk road) in Montana. I had intended to do Logans pass which usually opens mid June but this year they expected the second week of July due to excess snow in the mountains and a late spring. I was surprised at the number of European bikers I met. One group from Ireland on rented Harleys and one group from Germany with a mix of bikes.

Day one was slab from my house to Pine Cree Park just outside of Eastend. A great little campground in the hills with a trout stream in the middle of it.

Packed up at home ready to go


You park the bike, walk across the creek and setup your tent, it was a cool little place and yes there were trout in that little creek




The campground is in the bottom of the valley


The hills heading down into the park


This is a hobo's cave. Story is a fellow dug in here in the early 60's, no one really knew his story, maybe a draft dodger or something. He stayed for a while and eventually disappeared never to be heard from again.


Day two
Set off for Elkwater. Stopped at the T Rex museum in Eastend first though and it is better than I expected, lots more than just Scotty in there.

Southfork Ranch by Pine Cree Park


Ravenscrag area, lots of good gravel roads

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Cypress Lake north of Consul, water is real high there now and lots of Walleye getting caught


Heading northwest from Cypress Lake to the hills


Battlecreek, you can stop pretty much anywhere on this creek and catch trout


The road going up along the southern slope of Cypress Hills/Elkwater


Grayburn Gap heads from the south slope down into the Elkwater area. There was a real nice campground right at the bottom of the road.








Campground at Reesor Lake for the night

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I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me

Day three went from Elkwater to Havre and over to Glacier National Park:

Reesor Lake in the morning








Bob's sheep farm is not doing so well, that is the Sweetgrass Hills in the background


Its a long lonely road from Elkwater to the Wildhorse border crossing. Many miles of nothing, no power lines no telephone pedastles, no buildings, just grass and antelope and some fence posts. I stopped along here a few spots and there was no wind, it was just so different to stand there with absolute silence except for the birds and being able to look 360 degrees and see nothing and yet everything, it was a really cool place to be.


Lots of these west of Shelby


Heading west of Browning into Glacier Park and Two Medicine Campground. The road from St Mary's to East Glacier is spectacular motorcycle riding. Lots of curves and awesome senery.









Here are some pics from a hike I did to Upper Two Medicine Lake. The ice had just come off the lake and there was lots of snow up there yet. Had to take my boots off several times to do water crossings




These folks are very unafraid due to this being a park with no hunting




The sign says camping here, not today I don't think








It was a 15 k hike up here and worth every bit of it. You just have to get out of the populated areas to see wome really nice country.


Day four I packed up the tent just as it starte to rain and it rained all day so no pictures. Make it from Glacier Park to Coleman and rented a room to get everything dried out. Can't complain about only one day of rain though.

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I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me

Day five I rode the Forestry Truck Road from Coleman to Nordegg. The night before I met a fellow at the Subway in Coleman riding an F800. He rode the trunk road on many occasions and was a wealth of information. That day he was out scouting routes as he did guided motorcycle backcountry tours. Pretty helpful fellow, he was a musician and a biker and had a really neat outlook on life in general.

It was a perfect day for riding the truck road. The rain the day before had settled the dust, there was very little traffic anyways so not a big deal.




There is still a lot of damage from the rain storms last year south of Kannanaskis. The only bad area of road I hit was just south of the paved section of #40 to this washed out bridge. There was some really slimy black dirt and then got into about a mile of large round stones. the whole section was only about two miles long and just when I got to the end it it I talked to a grader operator and asked him if the road was like this the rest of the way and he said "oh no you just passed the worst of it" Good thing as I was seriously considering turning around at that point.








This is on the paved Kannanaskis section, that is the guard rail form the washed out section hanging there, still just a temporary bridge to get around








Ram Falls and the Ram River




Guess this is why they call it Ram Falls, there were about 15 of the rams in a group


I camped the night in Nordegg intending to go the rest of the way on Saturday but it rained all night so I heaeded home to come back another day.

I am thinking of going back in the fall. maybe labor day weekend or the week after to ride the whole FTR and do Road to the Sun before it snows in. If anyone is interested in a trip about that time let me know.

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I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me

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Chris

2017 Versys X
1991 Suzuki TS200R

Yes that is 49, maybe a few days in early Sept would work to do a roadtrip out there again

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I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me

That trip looked awesome! Been on a couple sections but very little. Encompasses many areas I would like to see!

Did you GPS your route so we could see it on a map?

Tell us more about your sept ride as my throttle hand is itchy! How many days and KM are you looking to do? Last time I rode through Nordegg it was pissing rain for hours before and after I stopped there and I was tempted to trade my KLR to a guy for an old 70's Chevy truck and a really plump gal. He had a way better thing going on than me! He thought my bike was awesome!

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The guy riding the red farkled up 08 KLR where ever the front wheel goes!

I plan on going to Red Deer to visit family August 30, 31 and heading to Hinton to camp the night of August 31 and starting out from there Sept 1st. Two days on the FTR, one day through Glacier Park, one or two days to head er home so home again the evening of the 4th or 5th, probably the 5th. No I did not GPS it but the FTR is on most Alberta road maps #40 for the most of it.
So meeting up at a campground at Hinton the night of the 31st would work.

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I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me

The trunk road is generally highway 40, but it is highway 734 for a stretch between the Red Deer River (west of Sundre) and Nordegg on highway 11. Between Nordegg and highway 16 it is listed in Google Maps as both 734 and 40.

Now I want to get back there. It's a really nice ride!

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Chris

2017 Versys X
1991 Suzuki TS200R

This is an awesome RR and the kind of riding I love. Well done Snobear. Wish I could have been there. Great pics too. I'm going to add it to my to-do list.

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17 Honda Africa Twin DCT
14 Honda CRF250L (305 big bore)
08 V Strom 650
Former: 82 Honda XL500R, 80 KZ750LTD, 01 XT225, 80 XS650, 07 Vulcan 900, 08 Vulcan 500, 03 Vulcan 500, 83 KZ440LTD

Great story -- thanks for sharing! I've got to add this to the list.

One general question. What are you using for taking photos? I've carried a camera in the past but with cell phone cameras being as good as they are, I'm thinking to just use it.

Rod.

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Rod.
2013 F 700 GS