I was to meet Gary, Joyce, and Bill near the old Costco store along Hwy 2 at 9:20 am. This would save them from having to backtrack to my house to pick me up. I was a few minutes early but found they were even earlier as they already had been to the rendezvous point and were now backtracking to get me. I was a half mile away.
We were early at Sue Ann's house so we loaded her bicycle into the pickup bed while she finished getting ready.
Last weekend Sue Ann decided to burn some grass in the field behind her place. The fire apparently was getting away from her - or at least one of the neighbors thought so - as the local volunteer fire department arrived before she got the fire put out.
We started our ride before 10:30 am. Only a couple other vehicles were in the Lake McDonald Lodge parking lot. While the morning sky was clearing and sunny in the Valley, the clouds hung on in the mountains.
Bill didn't think of bringing gloves. It is a good thing he is a hardy Scandinavian and that living in California for many years didn't erase his Wisconsin upbringing. He survived. Me? A few times my hands felt a touch cool in my light gloves, but I too survived.
The snow is off the road the 7 miles between Lake McDonald Lodge and the Avalanche Creek area. Past Avalanche Creek snow was sometimes on part of the road as it was mixed with rock debris from last Fall's heavy rain and flooding.
When we stopped for a lunch break Joyce rode a little ways up the road to take a bathroom break. She came back and told us that in the middle of her bathroom break, and with her pants down, she saw a black bear a little ways away in the woods. Each quickly went their own way. When we later rode by the area no bear was to be seen. Joyce... were you making up a bear story?
After about 10 miles Joyce and Bill turned around. Gary and I wanted to continue a little further up the road. Sue Ann joined us. After a little bit Sue Ann told us to go on ahead as she planned to turn around soon. The road was now climbing steadily. At the west side tunnel - 13 miles into the trip - Gary told me he planned to turn around. I continued on to The Loop. It was another half mile - up.
While taking my bathroom break before heading back down the mountain I was surprised by - not a bear - but Gary as he decided to continue riding up to The Loop.
While it was still cloudy, up higher the clouds didn't seem as heavy. Looking further up the Sun road there were no signs of snow on the road or of the plowing equipment. Gary heard on the news that the crews were clearing the road several miles beyond The Loop - up where there is serious snow.
After Gary took a few photos of the snow capped mountains we coasted back down the mountain. We went at speeds up to 25 mph for over 2 miles before we had to begin pedaling again. Some small rock debris was on the road. Fortunately the one small rock I hit with my bicycle tire did not cause the tire to go flat.
During our ride back we met over a half dozen other bicyclists heading up the mountain.
Gary and I caught up to Sue Ann a few miles from his pickup. When we reached the pickup Joyce and Bill were returning from a walk down to the Lodge and the Lake.
Gary and I rode a little over 27 miles.
Later, after I returned home, I went to downtown Kalispell to a talk on the damage in Glacier Park from last Fall's massive rains. The talk was held at the local art museum, the Hockaday Museum of Art.The talk had a park official show photos of the damage to the Sun Road and also some of the trails. Then George Ostrom showed slides of Park trails and scenery and spoke of hiking in the Park. He has hiked in the Park since 1936, when he was a kid.
George is hard of hearing and he couldn't hear the audience's comments - which was good and bad. Bad in that he couldn't hear people give the names of mountains and lakes whose names he forgot. Good in that a few people (quietly) made a few comments about George. George is - I believe - a founding member of the "Over-the-Hill Gang", a group of older people who hike in the Park weekly. Another member of the group, sitting next to me, explained George doesn't hike much anymore and is also a fair weather hiker. A few people grumbled when George mentioned the "Over-the-Hill Gang" as being HIS group.
After the talks were done door prizes were given away. The group had George auction off a framed print and an out-of-print copy of one of George's books. George is not an auctioneer and is hard of hearing, so the auction wasn't a success.
The audience was mainly older and retired. I suspect a number of people were members of the "Over-the-Hill Gang" hiking group. The few younger women looked to be affiliated with the museum as they looked too delicate to be serious hikers.
The event had wine or pop, cookies, veggie items, and other finger foods for people to snack on. I had a small glass of wine.
The event was mainly to get people to donate to a fund to fix the trails. They want to raise a half million to a million dollars to fix the trail damage. I am not sure how successful they were in getting donations. I think most people were mainly interested in seeing and hearing about damage to their favorite trails. A number of gasps were audible when some photos were shown.
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