Cascades to Glacier Epic Tour

DAY 1: We’ll start our tour with an afternoon orientation and a bike prep meeting. There will be an optional fix-a-flat session out in the parking lot. In the evening, we’ll celebrate the upcoming adventure with our first dinner together. 0 miles.

DAYS 2-17: The days will quickly fall into a comfortable rhythm. We'll start early with a light breakfast provided by our inn or the hotel. Then we'll pack our bike bags with snacks of raisins, nuts, energy bars and peanut butter sandwiches. We'll make sure we have an extra layer of clothing and a rain jacket with us. We leave on our own, usually between 8-9am and cycle at our own pace.

We follow the cue sheets that have been meticulously prepared for us, along with the expert Adventure Cycling maps and optional GPS directions. We each ride at our own pace, sometimes alone and sometimes in small groups and we stop where we want along the way.

About every twenty miles, we’ll meet our SAG vehicle. It holds water, snacks, tire repair tools and a first aid kit. Even if we don’t need anything, we’ll stop to chat and talk about the wonderful tailwind or the panoramic view. If we’re too tired to bike anymore, we’ll take a ride in the SAG vehicle to our hotel for the night. The SAG makes sure everyone is in safely at the end of the day.

Once at our hotel, we find our luggage, (delivered earlier by the WomanTours van and trailer,) check-in to our room, and meet our roommate. Most of our hotels are chains and most of us will be in double occupancy rooms. We rotate roommates every night, unless you’ve requested the single room upgrade. There’s time to shower before dinner and perhaps take a dip in the hotel pool.

If anyone has experienced bike problems during the day, we’ll use the time before dinner to work with the guide to fix it. If it’s a more complicated repair, the bike will go to a trained mechanic at a nearby bike shop.

Tour Highlights

• Cascades National Park
  
• Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge
  
• Going to the Sun Road
  
• Crossing the Continental Divide
  
• Crystal & Kootenai Waterfalls
  
• Libby Dam
• Lake Koocanusa
• Glacier National Park
• Small town charm across the northwest

Then we eat dinner together, served buffet-style outside. Our traveling chef prepares hearty and healthy dishes from our trailer kitchen. While she will accommodate guests with specific allergies and provide a nonmeat protein source for vegetarians, she cannot adhere to everyone’s likes and dislikes. You'll need to be flexible. If you require a vegan or gluten-free diet, there is a fee of $125.

After dinner, the guide holds a map meeting to discuss the highlights of the day and to go over the details of the next day’s route. We'll celebrate every day that we cross into a new state. 

We’ll have two layover days on this tour to give our bodies a chance to recover. This will also be the time to clean our bicycles, do laundry, and explore the local town. There is no cycling on these days and meals are on our own. We’ll spend the last couple days of the tour in Glacier National Park. Average of 51 miles per day.

Day 18: This morning, we'll provide a shuttle to the Glacier Park International airport in Whitefish, MT, arriving by 11:00am. The train station is less than a mile from our ending hotel if you’re traveling via Amtrak. 0 miles.