Ride Day 6 (Day 7) of 2025 Epic Motorcycle Trip: Idaho Falls, Idaho to Missoula, Montana
Ride Day 6 (Day 7): Idaho Falls, Idaho, to Grizzly Harley Davidson in Missoula, Montana
We start off Ride Day 6 again watching The Open (www.theopen.com ) – Scottie Scheffler has a one stroke lead on Saturday! Free Hampton Inn Breakfast is great and then we pack up, gas up and head out on Interstate 15. Go about 25 miles to Rexburg, Hwy 33 to Hwy 28. We’re doing the Sacajawea Historic Byway starting on Hwy 28 to Hwy 93 up to Missoula, Montana.
Interstate 15 was pretty nice since it wasn’t too windy and
we had the road to ourselves (and it was newly paved). Exit in Rexburg and turn
left onto Hwy 33 (and stop at the info sign for Sacajawea Historic Byway).
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| Sacajawea Historic Byway Information Sign |
Per Visit Idaho (https://visitidaho.org/things-to-do/native-american-culture/sacajawea-historic-byway/
): “Tales of the past surround you on
every side as you drive the Sacajawea Historic Byway. Parallel to the
Continental Divide, this byway makes its way through the Lemhi River Valley,
summits the Lemhi Pass and then drops onto the Snake River Plain. Discover rich
Native American history and learn more about Sacajawea’s story and her impact
on the Corps of Discovery and Idaho.”
We go about 20 miles (of farmland and then nothingness) and get on 28 to head about 134 miles to Salmon, where we’ll get on 93. This may be a historic byway, but most of 28 is nothingness (well, some farmland, but mostly nothingness, and according to Google, the Salmon-Challis National Forest). We have the road to ourselves.
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| Nothingness to nothingness to turn onto 28 |
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| Tony studying the historic sign. |
We do stop and the one town, Leadore, about 45 miles from Salmon, to take a break.
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| Leadore has a Post Office, Vistor's/Community Center and Gas Station |
There were a number of historic signs along
the way, but we only stopped at one. We also pass the 45th Parallel
at one point (but the sign was on the left and we were too late, and didn’t
turnaround).
In Salmon, we gassed up (it’s 302 miles from our Idaho Falls, Idaho, hotel to our Missoula, Montana, hotel, and we can’t make it on one tank. Salmon is a bustling little town. But you get through it quickly and turn right onto 93. Pretty farmland. The Salmon River runs along it a lot of the way, and then you get into mountain areas, some sparse, and finally some wooded areas (we haven’t really seen many trees for a couple of days). Finally, we get into the uphill and turns. It’s pretty and good riding. And then… a momma bear and her two cubs cross the road! I couldn’t get my phone out fast enough, but we saw them!
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| This is where Momma Bear and her two bear cubs crossed the road! |
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| This is where Momma Bear and her two bear cubs went (no, I didn't go down there)! |
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| Yes, we stopped to see if we could see the bears. |
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| Stopped to look for bears. Blackberry tried to help. |
We cross into Montana eventually (not a new state for us to ride in).
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| Montana State Line! |
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| Windy in Montana |
Later on the ride, I did see a deer. And it gets really,
really windy. We went through some towns that blocked out some of the wind. And
then it’d get windy again (I think this is considered the Bitterroot Forest
area). Nice riding, but so windy. I’m glad I have a full helmet because that
helps. We finally stop about 15 miles away at Hwy 12 in Lolo (where Lolo Pass
is) and head to Grizzly Harley Davidson. I get a T-shirt with a bear claw on
the back, and a sticker and a poker chip.
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| Grizzly Harley Davidson in Missoula, Montana |
After Grizzly Harley Davidson (grizzlyhd.com (closes at 5 pm and is closed on Sunday)) we head about two miles back to 93 to Hilton Garden Inn (3720 North Reserve Street, Missoula, MT). Unload everything. We’re staying here for two nights! May do laundry. When we’re heading to dinner (we’ve been lucky and there has been something to eat at our hotel so we don’t have to get on Blackie. It’s a pretty good meal, bison burgers, at Blue Canyon Kitchen and Tavern (https://bluecanyonmissoula.com/ ).
Sunday: “Rest day” but maybe ride Lolo Pass (or if it’s too
windy in the morning, just watch The Open)! We may only do the pass to Losha
Lodge (about 60 miles, so a 120 mile ride day). We’re spending two nights in
Missoula so that we can do Lolo Pass AND get some laundry in. It will be nice not
to have to ride loaded up like we are doing for the majority of this trip.
Maybe Breakfast at KT’s Hayloft Saloon (11885 US Highway 93 S, Lolo MT). If we
keep going like everyone says we will, lunch in Kooskia (get Gas @ Conoco) and
then turn around and head back.
People Side Stories: We meet a number of people along the road and ride. Sometimes at a rest area (the couple from McKinney, Texas, with the camper).
Sometimes at a gas station (Saturday, two guys from Ohio riding
from California back home to Ohio who say we’ll love Lolo Pass, but the Idaho
part is better than the Montana part.).
Sometimes at the hotel:
· Thursday, we met a couple in front of our hotel – guy just started talking to me like he knew me forever – from Atlanta, Georgia. They were supposed to go to Black Gunnison Park, but it’s closed and they were staying a couple extra days in Moab. We told them about US 128 for a drive (they don’t really like super curvies, especially without guard rails) and said that the drive from Salmon to Idaho was super curvy – after riding it, a brief part, but most was straight, straight, straight!
·
Saturday, we met a couple who are heading back
to Colorado Springs after being gone since July 2 (they’ve also been to California
and they were coming from West Glacier – rainy and cold and foggy). They weren’t
loaded up at all (only a little backpack/bag on top of their tour packs. She
said her husband won’t let her. He says that you wear your underway one way one
day, one way the next day and then inside out. LOL. He also almost ran out of
gas on Lolo Pass, but there is a gas station at Losha Lodge (and nice cabins)
· Saturday, we also met a group of 21 guys from Hope Church in McKinney, Texas, coming from a seven day ride with Missoula being the trailer, fly-in, get the bikes, starting point. 21 guys on bikes is a lot of organization and they went all the way to Washington and Oregon and back to Missoula, with all of the rides along the way. Dustin Hodge (I searched his company on Google), the ring leader and Founder and CEO of Blue Sage Pools (https://bluesagepools.com/ his company name was on the truck hauling four of the bikes back). They stored their trucks and trailers while they were on the road since the hotel wouldn’t let them.) It’s always interesting to meet people.
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| 21 guys trailering from McKinney, Texas (one of the trucks hauling four of the bikes). |
Bear side story: What kind of bears were they? I said Black
bear (yes, they can be brown). Tony laughingly said Grizzly because it was
brown. At Grizzly Harley Davidson she asked if I saw a hump on her back.
According to: https://wildwesttrail.co/grizzly-bears-in-idaho/
:
Grizzly bears have lived in Idaho since the last Ice Age –
about 10,000 years. However, for the last 100 years, their presence has all but
been extirpated inside the state. Recent sightings in January 2020 have put
this keystone species back on the map. Their range is expanding and the grizzly
bear is officially back in Idaho. 200 years ago grizzly bear was found
throughout North America. It might come as a surprise to some but these animals
are historically great plains animals. Their range encompassed the prairies of
eastern Idaho, the canyons of the salmon river, and the entire mountainous
interior.
As settlement in Idaho expanded, the economy became focused
on resource extraction. Lumber, gems, gold, and furs made grizzly bear a
lucrative prize for many frontiersmen. Combine the market demand for grizzly
pelts with increasing ranching and farming competing for their habitat and it
was a recipe for extinction. Luckily, the grizzly bears found refuge in
Yellowstone National Park, northern Montana, and the dense inland temperate
rainforest of the North Idaho Panhandle.
In 1975, grizzly bear was put on the endangered species
list, protecting the few remaining bear from hunting and trapping. Over the
last 50 years, grizzly bears have been nothing more than a myth for most of
Idaho. Their population in the Panhandle is well documented and growing slowly,
as is their population in the Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem – far east Idaho. But the interior of Idaho –
the largest wilderness area in the lower 48 – has been absent of grizzly bear
for a long time.
Also, in 2024: A grizzly bear was sighted in the
North Fork Salmon River near the Montana border on May
23.
But, according to https://vacationwildlife.com/idaho-bears/
:
There are two types of bear species in Idaho, which include:
- Grizzly
bears
- American
black bears
Grizzlies aren’t as widely distributed across North America
as American black bears. Grizzly bears can mostly be found in Alaska, parts of
Canada, and the northwestern portion of the U.S.
American black bears are more common throughout most of
Idaho.
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| The bears looked like this as they crossed the road (we didn't get a picture). |
I’m going with them being black bears (that were brown)
based on our Tennessee bear viewings of black bears.
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