BY BICYCLE AND TRAIN

Experiencing Glacier, the New Way

By Bill Schneider, 9-13-10

	Early morning crispness on the Going to the Sun Highway. Below: Two riders enjoying it. And not just geezers bicycle Glacier--these kids rode up from New York. Riding Looking Glass Pass. Our bikes all packed and ready to go. Finally, Amtrak to the rescue. Photos by Bill Schneider.

Riding a road bicycle over Logan Pass on the world-famous Going-to-the-Sun Highway is hardly a new idea. Thousands of people do it, and most--if not all--conclude that it’s the best way to thoroughly enjoy the scenic splendor lining the historic roadway.

On a bicycle, you can soak in all the scenery, not just glimpses out your window. You can hear those cascading streams starting their long plunge down to the oceans and wind working hard to wear down the mountains, even the red-tailed hawk’s cry from above. Every pedal stroke of the way, you can feel the fresh breath of the wilderness on your face. Can life get any better?

Traditionally, cyclists have had three options for seeing Logan Pass: (1) riding up and back from either the west or east side, (2) riding over the pass to the other side and then getting a ride back to your vehicle, (3) riding the entire, 140-mile loop route over Marias Pass on U.S. Highway 2.

The option of riding over and getting a ride back is now much easier because you can take advantage of the park’s wonderful new shuttle system. On the east side, all shuttle buses have bike racks (two bicycles per rack) and on the west side, half of them do.

Riding up and back on the east side is still a great option, but the park’s restrictive regulations on bicycles make riding up and back on the west side challenging at say the least. From West Glacier, only super-fit cyclists willing to leave at the crack of dawn and not stop and smell the glacier lilies can make it up and back before the 11 am deadline. Regular cyclists have to wait five or six hours (until 4 pm) ride back down. Fortunately, though, those road closures go away on Labor Day, so you can wait for some nice September weather and ride the west side all day.

Suffice to say that doing the entire loop route in one day is only for competitive cyclists able to pedal hard for about 10 continuous hours.

I’ve done all of the above three options, but now I’ve found an even better way to experience Glacier on skinny tires. Pretend you hear a train whistle because it’s Amtrak to the rescue.

I ride Logan Pass at least once every year as part of our annual--and quite informal--GAG Ride That stands for Geezers Around Glacier; no young guns allowed.

This year, as usual, we geezers rolled out of West Glacier at dawn and enjoyed perfect early morning weather all the way up to Logan Pass. Once there, we kept going--past Rising Sun and down to St. Mary, up the toughest hill on the route, down to the base of the little-known but spectacular Looking Glass Pass, past the lake-filled Two Medicine Valley and into East Glacier. Total distance: 84 miles.

We stopped on Logan Pass for a long rest and snack and again at St. Mary for coffee and a nasty (something like chocolate runs through it ice cream or a white chocolate huckleberry scone) at the St. Mary Lodge. Even with those delays, we made it to East Glacier by 2 pm. In past years, we’ve stayed overnight there and rode back over Logan Pass or over Marias Pass the following day to return to our vehicles.

But this year, we had a new plan--now, unanimously, our Plan A. For the first time, we took the Amtrak Empire Builder back to West Glacier.

Here’s how it all worked out for us.

About a week in advance, we shipped a box of clean clothes over to Brownies Grocery and Hostel in East Glacier, so that was our first stop. (If you decide to do this, be sure to call the friendly folks at Brownies first to coordinate it.) As a bonus (and a big one) we could also borrow a towel and take a much-needed shower for only $5 each.

All cleaned up, we rode our bikes a half-mile over to the Amtrak Station. I’d purchased the tickets online in advance, so all we had to do was pick them up. (Be sure to do this in advance. The train might be full, and you’ll be out of luck.) The tickets were $18 per person with no charge to ship bicycles. What a deal!

Fortunately, this particular Amtrak station stores its used bike boxes and had enough for all of us, so we didn’t have to pay $15 each for a new box. Not all stations do this, apparently, but nonetheless, if you try this, be sure to ask for the used boxes, a good move environmentally and economically.

We had to do a minor breakdown of our bicycles to fit them into cardboard boxes. The train boxes are bigger than those used by airlines, so all you have to do is remove the pedals and turn the handlebars. We forgot to send shipping tape in our box of clothing, but the Amtrak folks bailed us out and let us use their tape. In the future, we’ll ship tape with the clothes. You should, too.

Then, we strolled across the street to Serrano’s Mexican Restaurant for a relaxing and tasty early dinner. We finished in plenty of time to walk back over to the station and catch the 6:45 pm train back to West Glacier, arriving about 8:23 pm. You can keep going over to Whitefish, arriving at 8:58 pm, if that works better for you.

The train ride was relaxing and scenic, and it sure beat tacking 56 miles onto the day’s ride or any other option we found for bicycling Glacier.

So, if you want a new way to experience Glacier, think about our Plan A. We geezers would not lead you astray.

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