A Northwestern Road Trip
Hey all. Last time I talked to you guys, I was sadly moving out of my summer oasis in Jackson Hole, but my summer wasn’t over yet. Evan and I packed up his truck, and instead of heading back to Fort Collins, we hit the road for two weeks. I had very meticulously planned a road trip with the best trails, the best views, optimal shower availability, and some kickass campsites. So, with a plan in hand and two bikes over the tailgate, we headed north.
We left on a Friday afternoon after Evan got off of work, and by the end of the night we had made it to Big Sky, Montana. We spent a good amount of time picking a campsite in the dark while eating some of Pinky G’s Pizza. We set up the roof tent for our first night of the trip, and went to bed. Our campsite was nice and high up in the mountains, and we were about 25 minutes from Big Sky.
Crossing the Montana border!
We woke up the next morning to some bikers climbing the dirt road we were on, and we broke down our campsite. Once it was all put away, we drove down to the bike park. Big Sky was having an enduro race on the mountain, so we definitely had to navigate what trails were open. Luckily, some pretty fun downhill trails were waiting for us.
We got to ride some pretty loose trails on one side of the mountain, with some steep tech. That trail put is into a really fun, jumpy trail to make it down to the lift. The other side of the park was fun too, with some fast, technical trails with a few big drops. Overall, Big Sky bike park treated us well.
The top of the mountain… too bad the smoke blocked the view.
Skinnies are NOT my thing.
That night, we made our way to Bozeman to hang out with a friend that lived there. We went out to Burger Bob’s, and we had some delicious burgers. We went out to a friend’s house that night, and the next morning, we ate at the Western Cafe. I had the most delicious French dip ever. Soon enough, it was time to hit the road and go further north.
Evan and I took off to Whitefish, MT, but not without sitting in completely stopped traffic for at least an hour and a half. It was very entertaining though, because for some reason, there were about a million grasshoppers on the highway just hanging out while the cars weren’t moving. I am not sure what they were doing, but it honestly scared me when I first realized.
Eventually, we got moving again, and stopped for a snack at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere. We came up on this gorgeous lake on our way to Whitefish, at the perfect hour of sunset. It was called Little Salmon Lake, and it couldn’t have been more serene.
The beautiful golden glow of the sun.
On our drive to Whitefish, the trees kept growing taller and taller. I couldn’t explain why if I tried, but I just felt like I was headed home. We found a pretty amazing campsite that was waterfront on a lake, and we called it a night. The next day, we had big plans to see as much of Glacier National Park as possible. We woke up and headed to the park, grabbing breakfast on the way. Our first stop in the park was the iconic Lake McDonald.
Lakefront campsite!!! I sure do like how two bikes look in the back of Evan’s truck.
Colorful rocks and clear water… taken by Evan.
Strutting on the beach.
After messing around in the lake, it was time to start our first hike: Avalanche Lake. We first did the short trail, Trail of the Cedars, where we saw a lot of big, beautiful trees. It led straight to Avalanche Creek, where the water was bright blue and the rocks were smoky red. It was rushing through the gorge. The whole trail was beautiful; there were tall beautiful cedars surrounding us, ferns left and right, and mushrooms on the trees. It was about 2 miles to the lake, that seemed to emerge out of nowhere. There were several waterfalls coming down from the mountaintops, pouring into the lake. There were a bunch of logs in the lake that you could see all the way from the shore. Once we arrived at the actual lake, we walked the trail that went all the way to the far side of the like. I wore my Teva’s, which is always the best because then I can wade around in lakes and rivers. This hike was definitely a great hike to do, and we had a great time.
The rest of the day we spent making pit stops along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. We drove all the way over Logan Pass, and all the way to the bottom of the other side. We made stops at most of the river crossings, and at all of the marked stops.
On our way out, we made a stop at the Visitor’s Center so that we could get a pin or two. After we exited the park, we went to our first Airbnb of the trip. We took advantage of a hot shower, and a free bottle of wine. We also cooked a nice steak dinner on our awesome Coleman camp stove/grill along with some grilled corn. It was an absolutely awesome day.
The next morning, it was time to head west through Idaho. We stopped at this weird little rest stop right before the Idaho border, where I stocked up on some huckleberry taffy. We made it all the way to Washington that afternoon, where we stopped at a river overlook to eat some pasta with my homemade sauce. It was a great way to finish a long drive (around 9 hours). We found a campsite late that night, and the next morning we woke up to check out North Cascades National Park.
That day, we walked the Thunder Creek Trail all the way until we arrived at a bridge. Along the way, we saw an amazing amount of fungi growing on downed logs. The vegetation was absolutely lush, and now I might need to move to Washington for a year or two. (Whoops.) Afterwards, we went to Diablo Lake, which very strongly resembled blue Gatorade.
Ah, yes. Gatorade.
After doing a few short hikes, we headed to the coast. We made it by dinnertime, and we cooked steaks on our camp grill on the beach. Our view was awesome, and I am not sure if a tailgate dinner had ever been that good. After finishing up our steaks, we went to our motel for the night, so we could have a shower. The next morning, we woke up and headed straight to Galbraith Mountain.
Galbraith Mountain is a pretty well-known biking destination, and it is located riding distance from Bellingham, WA. The rides we did consisted of a pretty solid road climb to the very top, and then a bunch of downhill afterwards (with one small climb in the middle). Once we got to the top the first time, we rode Evolution. It had a couple of pretty sweet wooden features, so when it met with the road, we climbed back up and rode it again. After the second round, we linked our route with Unemployment Line, which had a super fun, flowy ride, and some awesome ocean views. To get to the very bottom, we rode Atomic Dog. Galbraith was probably my favorite of the mountains we rode on the west coast. It had perfect dirt, some really fun features, and some pretty steep parts, which I really like. I cannot wait to head back there sooner rather than later.
That’s what I like to call biking with a view!
Afterwards, we ate dinner and crepes, and slept one more night at the motel. The next day, we got up and drove towards the ferry port. We were taking a ferry from mainland Washington to San Juan Island, where we would camp for one night. Our ferry wasn’t until the afternoon, so after we figured out where the loading area was, we went to a corner store to get some snacks. Evan got an entire block of cheese (how could I forget). Eventually, it was time to get on the boat, which we got to drive onto! I am sure that is not unusual, but it was definitely new for us. We were on the water right about the time the sun was setting. It made for a beautiful ride between the San Juan Islands. Once we got off of the boat, we parked near the water and went to a restaurant to get some dinner. I won’t mention the name, because I really did not like what I got. Oh well, we would soon be compensated with good food elsewhere.
So, after eating, we met up with a friend of Evan’s dad, who took us to his friend’s place. He had this awesome property up higher on the island. He had this super cool home that was basically a garage/man cave on the lower level, and his room was upstairs. We camped in the meadow next to his house, surrounded by some very tall conifers. He was probably the most interesting guy that we met on that trip, and we hope to visit again.
The next morning, we woke up to deer in the meadow surrounding the truck; a great way to start a day exploring the island. The first thing we did was drive to the west end of the island, where a lot a sailboats docked. We got freshly made donuts at the Lime Kiln Cafe. We ate on the harbor, and then did our tour of the island. We went down to some tide pools on the south end, sat on a bench at a coastal park, and saw some poppies! I also got to use some handy new books that I bought to identify some of the coastal trees.
Eventually, it was time to catch the ferry back to the mainland, or so we thought. Turns out it was delayed by about 2 hours, which worked out well for us, because we got to eat some delicious food. We ate at Friday’s Crabhouse, where we got steamed clams and clam chowder. It was so tasty, and we got to sit on the top floor deck looking over Friday Harbour. We also got to see The Whale Museum that was nearby. We finally caught the ferry back, but by the time we arrived, it was very late (too late to feasibly drive into the mountains to camp). We stayed one more night at the motel, and the next morning it was time to ride bikes at Chuckanut Mountain.
Chuckanut had similar riding to Galbraith, however, there was a parking lot at the top of the mountain. So, we parked at the top, with high hopes of hitching a ride back up once we were done. We rode Double Black Diamond to Double Down, and both were a lot of fun. Again, they had some pretty unique wooden features, and the dirt was perfect. I am glad we visited when we did. I would definitely recommend riding that mountain (and probably every mountain in Northwest Washington). Afterwards, we headed south, because our next stop was Mount Rainier.
We swung by a grocery store first, so that we could buy something to cook for dinner. We drove past Mount Rainier, so that we could camp somewhere, and we found a pretty awesome campsite. We grilled some steelhead trout with lemon and a whole bunch of spices, as well as some green beans and bell peppers.
Jumping through some big trees.
Campout cookin’.
When we woke up the next morning to head into Mount Rainier National Park, it was so cloudy that we couldn’t see the mountain. Although that was pretty unfortunate, we drove around the park anyways, and through the national forest on the way to Hood River, OR. We got some pretty decent views of Mount Baker with the sun hitting it just right.
Once we got to Hood River, we got some fast food, and it was already about time to head to our camp ground. That camp site wasn’t the greatest, but we were pretty close to where we were going to ride the next day. When we woke up, we packed up our gear and drove to the trailhead. This area was very different than the places we rode in Washington; the vegetation wasn’t quite as lush, and the trees were different. We had to do a road climb in some pretty hot weather, which I wasn’t exactly thrilled about, but nonetheless we made it to the top.
Post Canyon had a good handful of trails to pick from, but we ultimately ended up riding Bad Motor Scooter and Grand Prix. We enjoyed these trails quite a bit, but to me, it was no Bellingham. With that being said, however, it was still a killer place to ride, and I would definitely go back. After that, we headed to our Airbnb, where we showered before heading out to dinner.
We ate at my favorite restaurant in the entire world, Riverside. We got the best caprese salad ever, and our pasta dishes were probably the best I have ever had. I still talk about this restaurant at least once a week, and it has been a whole year. After having the best meal ever, we went to bed to prepare for a pretty long drive to Salt Lake City the next day. Evan lost the key to the Airbnb however, but we won’t get into that.
The drive to Salt Lake City and then to Fort Collins was long and monotonous, but it was well worth it considering the amazing trip we just had. I am so grateful that we had the chance to take that road trip; I think it will remain my favorite road trip for a very long time. Of course, a good time always happens with good company. See y’all next time, go love your mother.
Sweet ride…
Home, sweet home.
