Riding south on US 93 in Montana into Idaho

Three days at Flathead Lake, Montana with family was awesome - lots of swimming, stand-up paddleboarding, hanging out with the dogs, and cooking meals together. 

Today we said good-bye to everyone and rode 212 miles south on US 93 to Salmon, Idaho. We followed our son Nate on his bike to Missoula, then continued on our own.

US 93 at Flathead Lake is bordered by the Mission Mountain Range and then south of Missoula we rode by the 165 mile long Bitterroot Mountain Range.

These mountain ranges are part of the Rocky Mountains that stretch from New Mexico to northern British Columbia in Canada.

Much of US 93 was arrow-straight until we started heading up toward Lost Trail Ski area on the Montana/Idaho border. This was one of the rare times when we actually saw wildlife posted on the roadside signage - this time a small group of Bighorn sheep.

We had been riding at about 3500' elevation and the twisting climb, complete with hairpin turns, took us to about 6500' before we started winding our way down the mountain, passing trucks loaded with carnival rides.

The ride into Salmon, Idaho is absolutely gorgeous with tall and craggy mountains all around the curving, sweeping 2-lane US 93 and criss-crossing the 425 mile long Salmon River.

The temperature climbed into the mid-90's so we stopped for ice cream at Salmon Scoops before back-tracking less than a mile to our hotel right by the Salmon River. 

Tomorrow we continue southeast through Idaho, planning to stop for the night just over the state line into Wyoming. It will be another hot day, so we're hoping for ice cream in the afternoon.

Riding in Montana to Flathead Lake

 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.

We rode north on US 287 toward Helena, passing by ranch land rolling hills. There was always a railroad along one side of the highway, and we saw a couple of trains during our ride.

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.