Day 15. Columbia Falls to Apgar Campground (Glacier National Park), 23 miles

Honestly, I’ve been dreading this post a bit, because my experience of Glacier was so-so, which was a bit of a letdown. Not its fault! But it was not my favorite part of the trip by any stretch.

Today started early, with a reluctant 6:45 departure from Mel and Asher’s lovely haven. The ride into Glacier was beautiful: quiet, cool, verdant, and relatively flat. I wish I had been able to slow down and enjoy it more–I was rushing to get to the park by the 11 am cut-off and make sure I got one of the hiker/biker sites.

I arrived just after 9; the park wasn’t yet busy, with traffic just starting to pick up, and I had my pick of the three available sites. My campsite was really nice: wooded and a bit lower than and set back from the road; the ranger recommended it over the group site in the other loop, and when I saw it on my way to the showers there (only two, yikes!) I understood why–it was big and open and right on the road.

Soon after I got there another pair of cyclists showed up. They—Katherine and Tom from NC—are doing a stellar-sounding extended Northern Tier tour, with lots of stops for hiking and exploring. We chatted and shared notes for a while, including some well deserved shit-talking about US 93.

Settled in, I sat down with a map of the hiking trails. The park is enormous (3 miles from the entrance to my campground, which has its own “village” of stores and restaurants); I don’t think I had a sense of the scale of the thing. I got a bit overwhelmed trying to find a trail I could reach, park my bike at securely, and hike around, particularly given that I foolishly did not bring any sort of backpack. And biking on much of the main road—Going to the Sun Road—is prohibited for cyclists between 11 and 4. I talked to the rangers, who told me the campground near a trailhead out to a rocky outcropping would be a good spot to leave my bike in the ranger station.

Off I went! It was a few confusing miles to the nearby campground with park traffic now in full swing, but I found the ranger station and they were like “nuh-uh, we don’t hold bikes.” The ranger was kind enough to let me stash the bike in the netted employee break area across from the entrance booth and assured me someone would be in it at all times.

Glacier is beautiful, stunning. I bet one of the longer or more challenging hikes or a trip with a backcountry permit would be phenomenal. But my experience of it was … lesser. The trail was crowded, with occasional traffic jams near the best spots, and the chatter inane to annoying. “Oh was that the view? Not that impressive.”

It really harshes your mellow, you know? I found a few quiet moments, but they were brief. Some kind folks did, after happening on me trying vainly to commune with nature, offer to take my pictures, so we have this proof I was there. I made a loop then headed back to my (still there!) bike.

The quietest place at that time of day was the campground itself, so I enjoyed the tranquility for a while, then made my way to the showers, and did some bike cleaning and maintenance.

The wind was pretty stiff by late afternoon, and Katherine and Tom decided to delay their trip up Going to the Sun Road until the next day. I had already mentally nixed it; I admit I was not excited about—this is going to sound strange—riding up a mountain for fun.

The creatures—birds, deer, chipmunks—are so cheeky and bold at Glacier! They fear no man; while Katherine and I were chatting a chipmunk nearly ran across her foot, and a deer wandered into my site at some point to sample my foliage and seemed annoyed at the incursion when I returned from the bathroom.

Dinner was a new addition to the beans and rice routine; at Andrew’s recommendation I tried Chef Boyardee for the first time. Yum! So much sodium! I bedded down with my Kindle and was out almost immediately. The library e-loan approach is not going to work if I can’t get through a book before it’s due.