7/4/17 Ride C2C Day 17 Whitefish to Lake McDonald Lodge

7/4/17 Day 17 Whitefish to Lake McDonald Lodge
Miles: 40.8 Total Miles: 846.5

Happy Independance Day! Yesterday, In the organic grocery store we had purchased soy & regular yogurt to go with our granola. What a treat (or so we thought). Doug said that his tasted bitter, but thought it was just the brand…

We had to leave with haste in order to make it to Lake McDonald before 11am. The road between Apgar (just inside Glacier National Park) and Lake McDonald closes to bikes from 11am-4pm. This is a safety thing - it is a no shoulder narrow road with HEAVY traffic of vacationers eager to see the sights and wanting to make good time doing it. (Ironic, right?). If we didn’t make the time, we’d have to spend the afternoon in Apgar.

As we cycle out of Whitefish off the highway on a lovely backroad, Doug is saying that his stomach is in knots and he’s feeling like he might toss his breakfast. After about 8 miles we stopped in the sun and Doug curled up in the grass to try to wait out the belly pain or throw up - Neither happened but he decided he could go on.

Recovering by the side of the road

I lead a relaxed pace until about 12 miles and Doug took another time out. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do - and today we were not going to be pedaling fast. Thankfully we were on lovely roads

- with one 2.5 mile section of rough dirt road - that was all worth it (to keep us off the main highway).  It was a very gentle uphill. When we hit HWY2 we were ready to do battle, but, SURPRISE! There was a bike path. This was so good!

Entry to Glacier National Park was $15 per bike.   Here we are at West Glacier - we have arrived!

We have arrived! Glacier National Park, MT

We pedaled into Apgar Village at 10:50am - and so there we would stay until 4pm when the road re-opened for bikes (it's a $250 fine if you are on the road between 11-4). This actually turned out to be a blessing. What a view! Lake McDonald and the Rocky Mountains in the back.

We took in the view, Doug napped - his belly was still vastly unhappy - and we listened to a ranger talk “Animals in the Wild” about the animals you’d find in this area: Otter, Beaver, and Moose. Fun Facts: The otter pelt has 300,000 hair follicles per square inch where the whole human head has 100,000 follicles (that’s why otter fur is so soft); Beaver babies are called “Kits” and are born with their eyes open; A moose can be 9feet tall to its shoulder (his head hangs down from there) and weigh about 1,000 lbs.

At 4pm we rode the stretch from Apgar to Lake McDonald and the road was STILL super congested. Made me think the ride up to Logan Pass would not be so fun.  Beautiful along the shore of the lake, but not an enjoyable bike ride. Lake McDonald Lodge is spectacular - built in the early 1900’s - huge timber alpine lodge construction. Our reservation is in the “Cobb House” - another arts and crafts influenced rustic house. Our room is lovely with a very comfy bed. We were super lucky to get these reservations - someone cancelled and we called at just the right time to snatch it.  We are both looking forward to 2 nights here.

Doug hadn’t eaten much all day and was still feeling rough. We had dinner in “Lucky’s Lounge” in the lodge - he kept to bland with soup and mashed potatos. I enjoyed a Bison pastrami sandwich.

From the shore of Lake McDonald at the Lodge

After dinner, we grabbed our books and took up very comfortable leather chairs in the “Creekside Reading Room” - in fact, it was so comfortable and quiet that I woke myself up with a big “snork”.

Creekside Reading Room

We sat out on the deck in front of our room (we don’t have the whole cabin, just one of the rooms) and enjoyed the sunset.

Sunset at the Cobb House