BMW Sidehack - "Going to the Sun"

I was able to pull an extra day last weekend so what better thing to do than take a sidehack trip! Finished the left piston/valve spring / valve replacement last week so the bike was ready to give it another try...We pulled out on Thursday noon and headed up over the Little Belt Mountains towards White Sulphur Springs. Stopped at an interpretive site I built years ago...met some Canadian bike riders and they took our photo....


Beautiful day and a long straight stretch of road.

Nice old rural church.

We crossed the little Belts...stopped at white Sulphur Springs and said hi to an old school buddy, then off over the Big Belt Mountains to Canyon Ferry Reservoir.

Ran into a few miles of new road construction outside of Helena MT....of course I get right behind the water truck. We planned on camping. Stopped at a campground we stayed at years back and found it to be in a state of disrepair...bad enough that I would not set up a tent and leave anything unattended. A lot of questionable folks about. Since there were no other camping options nearby we ended up in an old 1930's "Motor Hotel", which had great old renovated cabins. $60.00 / night which is a deal these days. The place was nice and I'd stay there again. At about 8:00 pm a huge thunderstorm blew in so we were glad not to be tenting it...

We hit the road Friday AM and stopped at the top of McDonald Pass for this photo.

Cut upwards towards Lincoln MT. turning over towards Seely Lake...big cows around there...

A lake south of Seely Lake

We made it to Kalispell MT...again huge thunderstorms around so decided to Motel it again...glad we did as the Columbia Falls area which we were going to camp in had golf ball sized hail and massive winds...We headed towards Glacier Park at 8:00 AM..

River outside Columbia Falls

Entered Glacier Park in a big waiting line...took a few minutes to get through the gate...$12.00 per person for MC riders....

A nice view of lake McDonald...kind of hazy

Darian working her camera...

The ride into the park was great...many miles of brand new pavement as smooth as glass...

The smooth road came to an abrupt end and we were bouncing through terrible sections for quite a few miles. Some bumps were so bad I had the front end wobble a couple times, even with the hydraulic steering damper.

Up towards Logan Pass we go...

Traffic up the mountain wasn't too bad...some road construction had things down to one lane.

A wonderful place.

The "Triple Arch Bridge"

Road work.

Logan Pass looking back down the grade.

A few nice views

Some more miles of gravel...would not like to be here in the rain...

Heading out towards the plains...old fire area.

Stopped in Browning for a lunch break...bike started up rough and back fired a few times...decided to just hit the road and head home for the final 150 miles...bike got us home just fine but will need some valve adjustment attention before another ride...