Today was one of our earliest starts - bicycles are banned from the 'going to the sun road' - an engineering achievement that's part of our route - between 3pm and 6pm due to the sheer density of traffic returning from trails and generally touring along one of the USA's most famous roads. The road is named after Going-To-The-Sun mountain. See Wikipedia. So we needed to do 50 miles by 3pm. We set off at about 8.15am. The National Park has a great density of bears so we were a little apprehensive and also carrying bear spray. Bear spray is nestling right by me as I type this in the tent - and the food is all packed awayin a bear proofbox. Most bear spray cans are never used and indeed I met a man at the top of the Logan Pass - part of the Going-To-The-Sun route - who was carrying two cans of spray with one dating back decades and neither ever having been needed during walks in this and other parks. Walking in the woods isn't as dangerous as all that. A driver of the shuttle bus mentioned that bear spay was accidentally fired in one of the shuttle buses when a passenger brought bear spray with the safety catch missing. Asthmatics are likely to need hospital treatment after experiencing that... Early on on the ride Guy, who was ahead a few yards, spotted a bear crossing the road - about the size of a large dog, say a Great Dane - but that was our one sighting during today's ride. It evidently wanted just to cross the road and this road is the one that goes right through the middle of the National Park so it's expected.
We crossed the Continental Divide at the Logan Pass, 6646', which was an exciting moment since it now means we are in the Pacific watershed. The mountains are tremendous, walls of sheer rock into which the road is often cut. There are some glaciers visible high above the valley, and huge forests, below the walls of rock, where the bears, and lots of other creatures (mountain lion, wolves, moose and such), live. The real climbing started after leaving St Mary Lake then there's a well graded road that only has one proper hair pin bend (apparently the original plan for the road had lots) before reaching the pass. But there is about 2000' of climbing. Noticed a few burnt areas of forest on the way up. It got rapidly busier and there was a touch of Blackpool on a Bank Holiday at the summit with parking full and milling crowds. The easier alternative to cycling is to take a shuttle bus that stops at all the main sights. A smiling man, of Indian (as in India) origin but from Minnesota, said he had done a tour of Britain but it didn't include Wales - just Stonehenge, Windsor and the like. Well I think we have been more comprehensive with the USA - the thousand miles of maize as well as the National Park. We reached the pass just before noon and were down at this campsite at Apgar (run by the National Park) by 3pm. Later we saw another long distance cyclist - probably a transamer - as we hurtled along. No-one was inclined to stop given the 3pm deadline so sadly no more is known. 3pm was usefully early because my sleeping mat needs mending, again, so I've stuck more patches on the hole. Seems fine. Proper sleep is a great thing. Prices here are tourist honey trap style so I was charged $13.89 for a large loaf of bread.... the camping only cost $16 - though it almost cost me my sanity too doing the booking on a flaky wifi signal and a wearisome website (far more stressful than looking for bears). The camping site is a hard oblong of crushed stone which is almost impenetrable to tent pegs. Oh for lush grass. There are no showers so I have swum in Lake MacDonald - cool but not that cold considering you can see snow on the mountains around the lake - it's a glacial lake. We are here. The odometer says that we have completed 3612 miles and we're well on in our second month of cycling.