Day Four - Choteau, Montana to St. Mary, Montana (353 miles)
As we enjoyed our adult beverages, and ate dinner from the local gas station/sub shop we met a couple from St. Paul on their roundabout way to Sturgis. They told us of all the good roads in and around the park. They completely rerouted our trip into the park, and I'm glad they did. First we traveled south on U.S. 287. This road is in very good condition. This particular stretch of road was through the tableland; we would ride high up on a mesa, and then dive down into a small valley, ride back up the next mesa and continue the process. We turned and started heading south and east on St. Rt. 200. This road was another fabulous road in good condition full of mesas and valleys. We stopped as we passed over the Dearborn River. As we were enjoying the scenery we spotted a bald headed eagle overhead. As we continued down the road we skirted around the southern portion of the Lolo National Forest. We turned north on St.Rt. 83 through the heart of Lolo National Forest and ran directly for the west entrance to the park. This road was scenic as well. We passed several picturesque lakes, and stopped at one for a break (Seeley Lake). Once north of Swan Lake the scenery turns to flat, more populated land. We bypassed Kalispell and went into the park. Glacier has a speed limit of 35mph, so we took off our helmets and just cruised through the park at a very leisurely pace. Turn after turn of simply breathtaking beauty. The "Going-to-the-sun" portion of the park, which is towards the eastern part of the park outdid the rest of the park. Once we got through the park after about three hours of riding only 53 miles we stopped at the eastern entrance in the town of St. Mary. We decided we would get a room in St. Mary and go up into Alberta to explore Waterton Lakes National Park. It would have been a nice little 120 mile roundabout before dark. It was not to be; just as we got to the border the skies opened up on us. The rain started as a drizzle, but before we made it back we got zapped. It poured so hard the park service had to close the western entrance to the park the next day. After dinner at the local café (we walked from our room) the rain had stopped. We walked down the hill to the local tavern and had a brew.
