Another Montana trip question

[Robinhood]

I have enjoyed reading the trip reports here on Sport-Touring.Net and they have inspired me to do a weeklong trip to Montana and this year. What I’m hoping to do is tap into some of the wisdom and experience of the riders on this forum. I’ve looked though some of the related posts on here but did not find any routing quite like this,
I have the route for the first two and a half days worked out and then some must ride roads picked out after that
The plan at this point is for me and two friends to take off early from work Friday after noon and head to my cousin brewery in Ellensburg WA and stay the night at Timberline motel & motorsports near Peshastin WA. I’ve got the route figured out for day 2 to the Dirty Shame Saloon in Yaak MT for the next night. Day 3 form Yaak though Glacier to East Glacier Village or somewhere just south of there.
This is where I start needing some help. What is the best way to get from East Glacier Village to Columbus in a day? Day 4 is our Bear Tooth ride. I’m not sure where we will end up that night. We have two days to go from Columbus over the Bear Tooth hwy, stay the night somewhere, do Lolo pass and end up in Lewiston Id or Enterprise Or. We are trying to stay on motorcycle friendly back roads and off of hwy 15 & 90.
Is there a good way to go from Cooke City MT to Lolo Pass without using hwy 90?
We have all been to Yellowstone before and would like to avoid the traffic but if that’s what it takes to get to some good roads we will go through there.
We have from July 8th-14th to do this and would like to be in the range of 350-425 miles per day. Any tips on camp grounds, cabins, food, gas or sites to see will be greatly appreciated.


Thank you for the help

[Guy]

I did a route back in '06 that might help you get from Cooke City to Lolo  Pass. It will require you to go through Yellowstone and that might slow you down a lot. Exit out of park at West Yellowstone and take US287 North to Ennis and then take MT287 West to Twin Bridges. Get onto MT41 South/West to Dillon. Take MT278 West of Dillon to Wisdom, then MT41 to US93. At that point if you are up for it, turn left, ride down to the bottom of the pass, turn around and head north back up and over. Some fun mountain pass riding. Now you are in the Bitterroot National Forest. Good camping to be had there around Sula. Around 350 miles

[Robinhood]

Thanks Guy for quick reply. I just checked out your route and how it might work for us. Columbus, MT to Dillon, MT through Yellowstone is about 350 miles, stop for the night, then Dillon to Lewiston through Wisdow and down Lolo pass is 380 miles. Looks like a plan. What kind of roads and scenery is it from West Yellowstone to 93? Do you have any suggestion from Glacier to Columbus?

[Guy]

You go through farm country for the most part, wide open valleys with smaller mountains. It is beautiful, but not very much technical riding. If you have the time, just south of Beartooth Pass is the Chief Joseph scenic highway, it's definitely worth doing for the road over Dead Indian Pass.

As far as Glacier to Columbus, I've got nothing.

[mtrider16]

Remember that Goint to the Sun road usually doesn't open til July.



If you are going to Columbus you can turn on Hwy 12 to Harlowtown and then 191 to Big Timber.  A short trip down I-90 will get you to Columbus.  Basically none of the riding you'll be on is technical.  The stretch by Neihart is fun.  The alternative is to continue down to Livingston and take I-90 to Columbus.  Another alternative is to stay on the roads to Helena and then ride over the pass on Hwy 12 and continue on to Harlowtown.  Its a coin toss for any of these routes.  Kings Hill by Neihart probably has the most curves of the routes.

About goint to Lolo pass, I avoid 93 from Darby north.  The other routes I show bring you into Missoula from Hwy 200.  I should warn you, that the road from Three Forks to Helena is pretty boring also.

Anyway, as long as you aren't expecting Montana to be some Blue Ridge Parkway, you should be fine.

David

[mtrider16]

linky

Here's a link to more discussion that goes with that map.

David

[Robinhood]

What do you think of this. From East Glacier take Heart Butt Rd to 89 to 287 go through Helena to Townsend. I saw on another post that you suggested a pass that went from Townsend east to hwy 12. The last part would be 89 to 90 and on in to Columbus. Maps out to be about 372 miles. Are there any pit falls along this route?

David I just got your last reply, now i'm thinking maybe it would be better to keep going after Glacier and loop back around on hwy 2 through Hungry Horse and stop for night near Seeley Lake.
The next day head to Lincoln and south on Flesher Pass Rd, through Helena to Townsend and hwy 12.

Any thoughts?
Thanks for all the great information

[mtrider16]

I haven't been on Heart Butte Road.  It is possible that it is not paved.  Tough to tell from the maps and the fact that it is on the Rez.

Yes, the pass from Townsend to White Sulfur (Hwy 12) is fun but short.  Kings Hill (Niehart) is longer and a little tighter.

Looping back like you are suggesting would also be a good route.

There are too many roads, I think your going to have to make another trip or take more time.  

David

[MstrJim]

I did a route back in '06 that might help you get from Cooke City to Lolo  Pass. It will require you to go through Yellowstone and that might slow you down a lot. Exit out of park at West Yellowstone and take US287 North to Ennis and then take MT287 West to Twin Bridges. Get onto MT41 South/West to Dillon. Take MT278 West of Dillon to Wisdom, then MT41 to US93. At that point if you are up for it, turn left, ride down to the bottom of the pass, turn around and head north back up and over. Some fun mountain pass riding. Now you are in the Bitterroot National Forest. Good camping to be had there around Sula. Around 350 miles

Just be forewarned.  I did the trip to Yaak last fall.  Great road and no traffic but sorry to say that the Dirty Shame was closed down.  There is however, a not bad little pub right across the road with good food and cold beer.  A dirty shame about the Dirty Shame.

[birdrunner]

You go through farm country for the most part, wide open valleys with smaller mountains. It is beautiful, but not very much technical riding. If you have the time, just south of Beartooth Pass is the Chief Joseph scenic highway, it's definitely worth doing for the road over Dead Indian Pass.

As far as Glacier to Columbus, I've got nothing.

Yup,  actually I find Chief Joseph a nicer ride than Beartooth (close call there though), just not as high.

[Sputnik]

Heart Butte road is paved. It's not in great condition, but it's a nice ride and quite scenic.  A nice alternate to Hwy 2 which is boring in that area. Try not to stop/linger in Browning. It's the asshole of the world.

[Robinhood]

Im back.
Sorry I could not get to a computer this week.
Thanks for the replies so far.
I called up to Yaak last week and had a nice talk with the lady that runs the Dirty Shame Saloon and reserved a cabin for July 10th.
We were thinking if we had time we would go from Beartooth down Chief Joseph then turn around and come back up and head west.  Im still not sure on our route from there to Lolo. Great to hear Heart Butte road is paved, if the condition of the road is not really bad it should work out fine. We do alot of gravel roads, pot holes and under-maintained roads around here.
I was planning on riding from Going to the Sun road to Looking Glass Rd then out Heart Butte road so we will miss Browning. (or not miss)

I know it seems like I'm over planinng this trip but really this is just me wishing it would stop raining and warm up some. We will be heading in this general direction but we will see what comes minute by minute and mile by mile.

I'm sure you have more suggestions so keep them coming.
Thanks