Thought you might like an idea of what to expect if you are planning early trip to Kalispell MT area.
Current temp: 42 degrees high, 20 or so lows
Off the beaten path conditions: 3,300' elevation two foot snow/ice, daily melt and refreeze.
Main valley roads clear wet/dry conditions, patchy ice in shadows, lots of standing water and ice at edges of roads and intersections.
Here is a pick of my parking area and part of my back yard

Looks cool, but bet it would get old quick. lol

Oh ya I would say cabin fever. Just make up for it in the LATE spring. Nice country there.

I need some of this


A little of this

A lot of this

And none of THIS:

Current temp: 14 F
Wind chill: -2 F
Winds: N 16 with gusts 25
Light snow, drifting snow after night of heavy snowfall.

Well after the last storm, things have warmed significantly. My Ice War 2009 phase II has begun.

Valley roadways are clear with some standing water at edges due to melting snow. I drove by one of my favorite access points at 3,300 ft elevation and the dirt road was still covered in slush and ice. Most forest service routes are still impassible on two wheels. It will be another month before access opens to local traffic.

Highways are open, wet during the day in shady areas with patchy ice in the evening. Saw a bunch of Harleys out today and a KLR in downtown Kalispell.

Looking forward to spring! If these warm temps keep up the last 1,000 feet of driveway will clear soon (I hope) and it'll be time to ride.

How much land do you have there? I bet in the summer and spring it's pretty nice over there. My Mother in Law lives in Roundup, about 80 miles North of billings in the bull mountains. A couple years ago while we were visiting, I almost bought a 122 acres over there for 80K. I just looked here a while back, and the same property is going for almost 300K! It's getting a little expensive over there. But it's still a great place. I really like Montana. Also just for curio, is that an Aussie Shepard?

Hey XCR

My place is 2.34 acres. You can't see it in the pic but I have a direct line of sight view of Big Mountain Ski Resort (7 miles as the crow flies). We love it here as it reminds us of the small communities both my wife and I grew up in. My house isn't much, but the dirt and trees sold us. It took a couple years to clean up the place after the previous owners sold to us. Kind of a diamond in the rough type of thing.

I am hoping to expand my social skills this season by offering up tent space with the added benefit of having someone to ride with now and then. The place really does clean up nice. We used to go backcountry dry camping but nowadays it's hard to plan a trip when all of us are available. So we spend a lot of time around the campfire in the back yard.

The dog a springadore, LOL springer spaniel/lab cross. She's a heinz 57 I picked up from a friend who was forced to take a litter to the pound. We ended up getting her and one of her sisters. Their mom was a black lab cross and she had a huge litter from all over the neighborhood. That dog got around!

I bet that property you considered is really nice. I hope to eventually do some riding on the east side of the divide. I can't imagine having 120 acres.

later,

griz

Hey Griz...When does that "crap" usually melt up in your neck o' the woods?

We are at 3,300 ft. elevation and there will be patches of snow left on the ground through April 1st but the lower elevation dirt will start opening up. Road surface temps are good enough right now that they are wet during the day and most main roadways are dry.

The upper half of going to the sun road in the park doesn't open until June depending on how much snow is up there. It is not uncommon to have the upper half stay closed to nearly July. But even going half way up is a thrill.

Because our valley is like a big 15 mile wide, 21 mile long bowl the surrounding dirt can get some elevation (4k to 5.5k elevation) those dirt roads are impassible until after memorial day or so. But that can change depending on how fast the melt happens. Many of the forest service roads don't open until June 1st. But there are many places to explore that don't require backcountry access. Southwest backroads get very muddy but open sooner. Typical spring up here includes plenty of rain off and on through memorial day. Even though we get fire restrictions later in the season, my favorite time of year is late summer and fall. Last year I rode and camped to the end of September.

I'll take some pics of the valley floor roads so you can get an idea. My driveway isn't really representative of what things are like only five miles away.

regards,

griz

Awesome info Griz! I'm heading that way around the 8th of June.

Hey Griz, I feel for you man. I keep thinking; just a couple more weeks and I can get out to some riding and it dumps more of the white stuff.
It will probably be late june early july before I can get up to some of my favorite trails.
I have to look at the bright side and maybe concentrate on finding rides to go on lower and closer to home.
Hang on.

Man...I'm hoping that global warming kicks in soon!

Cool Griz. I'm not sure how far north we're gonna make it. Once we leave Bend, we'll be playing it by ear! I'll let you know!

I am going crazy

I am determined to start using the bike to commute into town


I am pretty exhausted but the bike actually touched asphalt today, he he...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11308&id=1636837394&l=36b86889c6

later for now

griz

lols. I like that pic.

Thanks for the report Griz. Your pics make me feel better about my "shitty" weather in Bend!

Here is something fun and uplifting instead of telling you how it is snowing again today.

Fourth of July parade in Polebridge Montana. 40 miles of dirt road followed by politically incorrect parade, huckleberry beer, fresh baked forest ham sammich and last but not least:

"Aliens with rectal probes"

My plan to ride up to Polebridge got a little snow this morning. Will need to wait a couple days.

More snow, coming down heavy and sticking.

That is all...

Feel free to post some more ride reports to boost my spirits!

regards,

griz

Oh ya! Rode last night. Spring is here, side roads are still slushy with patches of ice but give it another week or two of warmer temps and it's rock and roll time. Taking the cage up towards Polebridge tomorrow to check north fork road.

Valley roads, feeder roads are icy in the morning (run off still freezing). Lots of gravel in corners, highways are clear.

Tent space is defrosting nicely, fire pit area is a bit swampy still but will dry up over the next two weeks.

Woo hoo! Keep them pics comin'! I'm glad it's breaking up for you. It got to 73 here today! I rode home from work at 1030pm tonight and it was still in the upper 50's! I took the long way home of course.

Wanted to scout the nearest defrosted riding area

And have a black forest, fresh baked pocket bread sammich!

Hey Buck - ended up here


Here is your turn bud:



We made it to within 2 miles of the Canadian border but I didn't want to get stuck. The north fork road was clear until 3 miles away from the border. I'm going to go back up on my bike in a week or two to scope it out. Kind of a cross it off my list thing to take a pic with one foot in and one foot out

You guys are going to have an awesome trip! Here is a little scenery teaser (and the pics don't do it justice)

WORD!

Can you actually cross the border (for photo ops at least) in that area? That way we can say we went to Canada w/o being shot by the RCMP? Wait...Do they even have guns?