Day 8. Malta, MT to Two Medicine,
Glacier National Park, Montana
   Miles today = 300
Total miles = 1685		  
     
   
     
     
   
 
 
In the distance is Glacier and the edge of the Rockies. Behind me, to the north, was a monument for Cape Disappointment, the furthest point north that the Lewis & Clark expedition went looking for the Northwest Passage, hence Disappointment.
Words cannot even begin to describe where I am. All I can say is that riding into Two Medicine I was not very eloquent with my chosen words.
All day has been ramping up to this spot. It was a beautiful day, chilly, partly cloudy—the kind of clouds that just kind of lazily float by all big and fluffy. Not more than an hour out of Malta I entered Hill County and it should have been Hill Country. It was amazing to see these essentially treeless hills looking like velvet draped with soft folds toward the stream which could have been hundreds of yards away if the only evidence that at some parts of the year or some parts of the history of Montana it was a raging tempest to be reckoned with.
Then progressing onward it flattened out, and I mean it flattened out, Big Sky indeed. At one point I had to stop because of the beautiful endless sea of yellow geometric crop patterns remaining after a recent wheat harvest for miles to the distant horizon. I pulled to the side of the road and running right toward me is an antelope, and I mean right toward me. Within maybe 75 yards he veered in a lazy arc away and across the highway just in front of me. I'm sure he/she was as surprised as I was to all of a sudden see the unexpected in its path. So I snapped some shots of the scenery and turned around and on the opposing horizon was something I thought with much larger antlers but I'm sure was just another antelope.
Got back on and the next progression of events unfolded as my indecisiveness leading to my (-->) 		riding on the low fuel light for far longer than I was certainly comfortable with. I ended up at a podunk filling station and the guy came out, could have been full service I guess, said a couple words while I filled up the tank and I proceeded to surprise him by filling with exactly $10 worth with my back to the pump the whole time. I guess in normal circumstances this would have been more of interest. Me? I was just happy to have gas because I certainly couldn't have made it to the next town.
And of course the next town was a mirror of the last one, which was a mirror of the one before that. A geometric square of houses centered by a grain elevator or two, at its center, and not very nice houses at that. In fact, in that one I saw him, two guys in a car, three kids and me. Could have been a ghost town.
Further on I came to Shelby, a pretty little town at the intersection of two highways but I moved on to Cut Bank, which is famous for its location on the Weather Channel maps. I stopped in the Albertson's, which I might have done a bit of work on their cheese packaging in a previous life, and bought some foodstuffs in case I holed up here in Glacier. Little did I know it was water I should have been shopping for. The woman ringing me up had an eastern European accent, which I had to think a time or two because there are so many indigenous people in these parts. As my time in Glacier would reveal, there are a fair amount of people from all parts of the world here to work.
 
I'm not much for city life but I don't think living out here, miles from my nearest neighbors, would be the life for me.
A shot of the handsome navigator, here in full battle regalia.
Just miles upon miles of yellow. The main house is on the right and the other spots in the middle left are silos and I think a neighbor to the left. When I stopped to take some pics, this antelope was running right towards me before I even realized it was there.
Cut Bank is certainly the gateway of the Glacier horizon. Just absolutely unbelievable scenery that rolls to the very foot of these mountains then straight up to the snow covered jagged crests. Take out the mountains and it would still have been incredible scenery. Just made for a cattle drive in an old western. I was just dumbfounded.
Then passing through the gateway into Glacier I passed one of the grand Glacier hotels in all its magnificence with the mountains behind it. Then the road finally got twisty, as I headed to the target campground for the night, and I was happy with that. That is except for the sign that said Free Range Cattle that to me means a very large beefy motorbiker killing obstacle. Would only be fair, I guess, since I do love my steak.
But lo and behold, the road into Twin Medicine was ... un@#^$#@# believable. I can only hope the pictures do some justice because I am dumbstruck with the majesty of it all. Walking about I can see way up on the mountains moving white specks of Mountain Goats. I saw close to a dozen in one spot on the mountain over my campsite and two more around it from another vantage point.
The only downside was unpacking all of my stuff, which takes a long time to pack it all in, even when its not raining, to find a pen so I could fill out the form

for the park vehicle pass. Then I pricked my finger on something which then got all bloody which was fine by me because it got on the money and the envelope I put it in so now they have something to remember me by, if not to use as DNA in case a wild Grizzly or chipmunk drags me off into the brush to get at my PowerBook.
So what exactly is a motorcyclist supposed to do to bear proof their food? They post signs that food has to be in the trunk of the car at all times that it isn’t in immediate use. Not just food either, anything that could smell like food, which basically was my largest bag and everything in it. But I did find convenient bear proof food containers to put it in and actually very near my campsite. Now all I need to do is track down some water because a week ago they shut off all the water. Luckily I carry a quart, which is enough for food but not to keep clean by.
So again it’s past sundown with falling temperatures making it difficult to type. And to think that it’s colder on the other side of the continental divide. With that I leave this to be spellchecked another day when I've juice to run this thing and warmth to use my fingers with.
Sleep tight kids.

Route: Highway 2 to Highway 49, north to Two Medicine.
Evening on Upper Medicine in Glacier National Park.
     
  Clearly this was the time of year to be in Glacier after the crowds are gone and its so peaceful.    
Billy Goats were all over this mountain. I needed to watch to see if the white specks moved.
 
click on images to view larger