We spent four great days in Glacier National Park. The weather was very cold, windy and rainy. We still did some great hikes up to some alpine lakes. The Many Glaciers area was supposedly the place to see grizzlies and we did! On a hike to Red Rock lake we saw a mother with two cubs on the other side of the valley. We were not close enough to get a photo, but we got a pic of a black bear the next day foraging on the side of the road. On the last day, the weather broke and we went from daily highs of 43 degrees to 75 degrees. The night time temps are still in the low 30's though. After Glacier we camped in a remote Forest Service campground that we had all to ourselves.

Out West Again!

When you see miles of sage brush and a BIG sky, you know that you are in the West again. After a frosty night near Minot, North Dakota, we camped next to the Peck Lake in Eastern Montana. This is one of the largest man made lakes in the U.S. and we were completely alone in the rustic, free campground. Tomorrow we head to Glacier National Park.

2011 Trip West Has Begun!

We finally are in a small state park in the middle of Minnesota called Lake Bemidji State Park. The best thing about it is that it has a rockin' WiFi.
The first three days were spent pretty much driving through heavy, cold rain until we got to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The sun came out and the weather warmed from the sixties back into the eighties. We stayed at four state parks in the UP -all on shores of one or another of the Great Lakes. We did a little hiking and biking. Yesterday, in the Porcupine Mountains, I took off for what was supposed to be a ten mile easy mountain bike ride on an established trail system. The trails were overgrown and looked like they had not been ridden on in years. I followed them to the top of a ski mountain and then down the ski runs and then back up again. I scared a coyote and several deer in my path and ran out of water. I finally got very lost and wound up pushing and carrying my bike two miles through underbrush, over deadfall and finally made it back to our camp with twenty miles on my bike computer and at least ten bleeding cuts on my legs - thus a typical Bill hell biking adventure.
Debbie likes her new Dahon folding bike. It takes about a minute to unfold from a tiny size to a great riding bicycle.
The UP of Michigan is basically empty wilderness. I was surprised. It looked like some of the remote parts of Canada that we have visited. There are funky little towns with friendly people and lots and lots of rivers, lakes and water falls.
Tomorrow we should be at least halfway across North Dakota and then on to Montana and Glacier National Park.