Leaving St. Regis this morning we go North on Rt. 135 to catch Rt. 200 near Paradise, MT. We use that road to catch up with Hwy. 93 to join Hwy 2 again in Kalispell. Rt. 200 leads us along the Flathead River, a beautiful area of a slow winding road through the Flathead Indian Reservation. One can easily imagine the time the settlers crossed through here on their way West, or only to the Coeur d'Alene lake, bison grazing, and wild horses roaming the land. I'm definitely adding Rt. 200 to my favorite road list, this recommendation by the Harley guys in Spokane was a good one. Coming to an end we join Hwy. 93 and go North to Kalispell. The road currently under resurfacing in places leads us along the never ending Flathead Lake and Mission Mountain range, and one view over the lake is more beautiful than the next. In Kalispell we join our Highway 2 again, and cross between Glacier National Park and Flathead National Forest East. The road is gently dividing the two and so we roll to East Glacier. Here abruptly the mountains end and the great, vast plaines open up. Wheat, falafel, and grass land in rolling hills dictate the scenery now, no more mountains. Once again looking North, South, East, or West, it all looks the same. It reminds us of our 2014 trip crossing through the Canadian provinces Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and I think I can even look across the border from here. No difference for sure. But thinking back 200 years and imagining buffalos to the thousands on this land is no difficulty neither. But none for us today, only horses and cattle. So we rake up some more miles going through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and stop in Shelby, MT.
A perfect riding day with moderate temperatures and some light clouds comes to an end; great scenery and lots of different pictures and impressions have to be worked off.
Along Rt. 200 to Hwy. 93
Facade climbers in Kalispell, MT
Glacier National Park, MT
J.F. Stevens statue at the Continental Divide Monument at Marias Pass, the man who found a way for the Great Northern Railway to the Pacific
Marias Pass Obelisk (Theodore Roosevelt Obelisk) in commemoration of his leadership in the conservation of the forests of the United States.
'The forest problem is in many ways the most vital internal problem of the United States." - Theodore Roosevelt
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