Huckleberry Tuesday - By Richard Tanner

The morning started well with a visit to the Grouse Mountain Lodge gift shop where I found a cool poster and a gift for my wife Gail.  The food was great at breakfast. One of the great things about biking is the feeling that you can get away with eating like a pig.  However, our server at breakfast was very clear that anything different from the menu would be an “upcharge” - this was a hint of coming attractions.  Upon checkout we chatted up Kim who was very friendly, so we asked her all about Huckleberries.  They are not Blueberries (much better) and a bit tarter.  They are also very hard to pick because they are low to the ground and it’s hot and buggy when in season.  We found out why there aren’t Huckleberries in Ohio as well.  According to Kim, the bushes are spread by bears that eat the berries and deposit the seeds in their scat.  That’s polite for bear poop.  After that things went downhill with Kim.  The bill had a series of confusing entries that appeared to double charge golf and room charges, and  although we were polite throughout, it appeared that Kim was upset and that’s all there was to it.  She was great on huckleberry info but not math. 

Before getting started on our ride, we found a store that sold huckleberry stuff of all kinds.  Peter had his heart set on a pie so he cashed in a portion of his IRA and bought us a pie.  We found out later that the pie cost $26 dollars.  We continued our deep research on huckleberry lore and Curt learned that calling a huckleberry a blueberry might get you a black eye.  Montana folk really love their local berries.

Once we arrived at Apgar Village by van, we got ready for our ride for the day - which was to go about 25 miles starting at Lake McDonald and ending at a high point lookout called The Loop.  The air was cool and I had to use my bright yellow green windbreaker at first.  The first 15 miles were breathtakingly beautiful with the road following the lake.  Since most drivers were going slow and taking in the scenery like us, we had little trouble going up. I stopped a few times along with way to take pictures, soak up Gods glory and share a few moments with Charlie.

 Lunch was at about the 15 mile spot and that’s where we broke out the Huckleberry pie.  Curt felt inclined to cut manly pieces and we all felt obliged to be manly.  While the pie was good going in it was rough going up.  What I mean by this is that the last 10 miles were a 6% steady grade up with no breaks and it was hot.  Peter led the way and I kept a close second.  The pie was working against me so my lesson is don’t eat huckleberry pie and do vigorous exercise right afterwards.  In fact, any idiot should know that but now I really know it.

Once we reached the top of the pass, we took a few minutes to look around and marvel at the engineering involved in building this amazing road.  You will hear more about this road later.  Even though I was pretty tired, I wanted to coast back down but our schedule was tight so we took the van back which was just fine.     

Later, as we were checked into the Apgar Village Lodge, we saw the most awesome view I have ever seen.  Our rooms had a perfect view over Lake McDonald which rivals the beauty of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, which my family can appreciate from a trip we took years ago.  God makes great stuff!!!!!!!!!  At the lodge, Charlie and I spent some time taking in the view over a beer and a cigar (I had the beer and cigar while Charlie drank his 257^th glass of iced tea). While sitting on the porch we met a couple from Chicago, Brian and Kim. Before long Charlie knew their entire family history and their favorite food (Indian).  Our other next door lodge neighbors were two recently retired Wisconsin couples traveling across the Northern US by van and having a great time.  There are a lot of Cheeseheads here.  Oh did I mention, both Charlie and I are Cheeseheads (a very positive characterization of people from Wisconsin).

Later that evening Charlie and I went out for dinner at Eddies (the only place available) and we both had elk and buffalo burgers.  Very tasty.  Charlie got to know our waitress by asking lots of great probing questions, a talent he clearly has along with a love and curiosity about people.  Finally, I had to complete my research by consuming a gigantic huckleberry milkshake.  Real huckleberries, ice cream and loads of whipping cream.  What was I thinking?  I took a bullet for Peter who was craving a milkshake all day but couldn’t get it done.

While this blog writing was likely a lot longer than required, it was fun and I am very grateful for the opportunity to be on this trip with these men.  I would love to share this amazing place someday with my entire family. 

Dodging Deer and Trucks outside Glacier National Park

Today’s ride, on Labor Day, was a study in contrasts. We are staying 30 miles outside of the Park in the town of Whitefish Montana. The Park ride begins on Tuesday, they day after all the tourists have departed, we are told. We anticipate roads free of campers and RVs (except Vanna). Nothing but us, Elk, Moose and the occasional Grizzly. Well, after today’s ride, we believe that the park must be empty. It was like rush hour in Manhattan on the roads surrounding the park. The roads we, with gung ho fervor, decided to tackle on Labor Day, the DAY OF DEPARTURE for all tourists.

We have a program called MAP MY RIDE, which will find back roads that are bike friendly. It did an excellent job for the first half of our ride from Whitefish to Columbia Falls. We meandered through meadows and grain fields with very little traffic. The biggest excitement was a young buck that came trotting out of a field and took an immediate liking to Charlie. But I rang my little warning bell and the buck halted long enough for Charlie to escape its amorous advances. Will this bell halt a Grizzly? I hope to live to answer the question.

MAP MY RIDE was unable to find any back roads into the Park once we left Columbia Fall. That’s because there are none – only one way in to the Road to the Sun! Leaving Columbia Falls our ride became an exercise in dodging orange barrels, road kill, and extra wide RVs. Thankfully there was a bike path for about half of the stretch into West Glacier.

Curt had preceded us in Vanna to find a picnic spot in Glacier. He found a nice one on the banks of the McDonald River. Folks were floating down it on rafts, headed for Lake McDonald just a few hundred yards to our east. We relaxed with smoked turkey sandwiches washed down with Vitamin water. (Gotta stay hydrated!) The only thing missing from our feast, we decided, was Huckleberry pie. Huckleberries? Apparently it is the local delicacy. We are determined to try them, and there are Huckleberry stands everywhere. We can get pie, jam, ice cream, pancakes, and probably even Quiche made with Huckleberries.

But what, exactly, is a Huckleberry? A quick surf of Wikipedia indicates that it is similar to a blueberry but smaller and darker. What it tastes like, we don’t know. We shall report more knowledgeably on Huckleberries tomorrow, for a stop at The Huckleberry Patch, an emporium advertising on billboards about every 50 feet all the way to Glacier, is on the itinerary.

Peter Conway

Charlie Potts

Richard Tanner

Curt Johnson

Prequel- Rendevous in Whitefish Montana 9/4/11

Thank the Lord for small Blessings! The roads were clear, the Montana Big Sky was cloudless, the planes were all on time – and thus we all arrived at approximately the same hour at our base camp, the Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish Montana.  Circled by mountains and nestled at the foot of deep blue, sparkling Whitefish Lake, Whitefish is the penultimate tourist town. Its western motif contains Outfitters, boutiques, cowboy brewpubs and intriguing restaurants like Tupelo – a Cajun joint we plan to check out. 

Leaving the longsuffering Curt to clean the multitude of dead bugs from Vanna and other nasty chores, Charlie, Richard and Peter decided to take a tune up ride to get the kinks out – both of us and our cycles. 

We set out in search of a bike path rumored to run along the Whitefish River and up to the lake. We eventually found it, only to discover a critical section closed due to railroad construction. Montana still has its logging priorities, it seems.

Running out of bike path after only nine miles of flat riding, Richard brightly suggested that we ride up Big Mountain Road to check out the view of the valley from the ski area perched atop the mountain. Only a rookie would ignore the portent of that road’s name. And on a tune-up ride, when we really don’t need to. 

Not wanting to appear faint-hearted, Charlie and Peter feigned great interest in this idea, and so up Big Mountain we started.  For the cyclists reading, Big Mountain proved to be five miles of unrelenting 8-9% uphill grade. Or so we were told by someone who actually did the whole thing. We quit half way up. Nonetheless, even halfway up we were rewarded with an outstanding view of the lake below. The ride back down was much more pleasant. 

Monday we plan to ride from Whitefish to the gates of Glacier National Park, about 30 miles. We will then shuttle back in Vanna to Whitefish, as our Park lodging is unavailable until Tuesday, when the REAL riding begins!