Our son Nate met us this morning in Three Forks, Montana to ride with us to Flathead Lake where we're meeting up with Nate's wife, and other son Duncan and his wife, and both of their dogs to spend a long weekend on the water.
We stayed last night in the Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks and really enjoyed the early 1900's era hotel with a wide covered porch and comfy chairs plus elegant interior.
After getting through traffice on the outskirts of Helena, we turned west onto Montana route 12 which wound and twisted over 6312' MacDonald Pass on the Continental Divide. We're at the lowest elevation of our trip, starting off at 7800' at our home in southwestern Colorado, climbing to over 10,000' on mountain passes in Colorado, and now at <5000' in Montana.
Once over the Pass we continued on winding and curving Montana route 12 through ranchland.
After stopping for lunch at the Avon Family Cafe with really friendly people, hearty food and delicious homemade pie, we continued northwest on Montana 141 and then Montana 200, enjoying riding along and crossing the Blackfoot River.
It was getting much warmer with temperatures in the low 90's under clear skies when we reached the outskirts of Missoula, so we put on our neck coolers before a quick 13 mile ride on I-90. We then rode north on US 93 through the Flathead Reservation, home of the confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes.
The Mission Mountain Range runs for 45 miles and features several mountains over 9000' elevation with several glaciers in these high mountains.
In Polson we turned east on Montana 35 for about 8 miles before we reached the VRBO on Flathead Lake which is our home for the next 3 days. Flathead Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi and we're thrilled to enjoy time on the lake with our family.
We start the trip back home on Sunday so look for more tales of the roads in a few days.
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