| 13 cycling days | 1039 km | 10850 m ascent | 3 border crossings??? |
After nearly a week at the Airbnb, it felt kind of strange to wake up early to the sound of an alarm. Despite there being a lot of cycling paths, leaving the city on bikes was fairly stressful and it felt like an eternity until we made it far enough away from the city centre. The landscape south of Calgary is funny – long straight roads as far as the eye can see. We found five Alberta license plates on one day… they really aren’t as attached to their license plates as we Europeans are. The weather was incredible and after so much time off the bike nearly too hot for us. We stopped for some ice cream at a gas station and had a shorter day than planned.
The next morning was quite efficient and we were on the bikes earlier than usual. While rolling out of Longview I stopped to take a picture and an elderly man started talking to me. He praised my “damn bright tail light” and at first thought that I was a cop, haha. He introduced himself as Sam, a farmer from Longview. He was incredibly impressed by our bike trip and proceeded to invite us for a coffee in a cute little coffee shop around the corner. In return, we had to tell all his friends about our adventure. They were very interested and asked us lots of questions. Before leaving, we took a picture of Sam, all his farmer friends and Sebi – What a nice encounter! It was another day with seemingly endless straight roads. We cycled into some wildfire smoke around sunset, which made for a dramatic smokey-orange sky.
We were getting closer and closer to the American Border and the third day after leaving Calgary, it was already our last full day in Canada (or so we thought…). We stopped in Pincher Creek and had our lunch in the shade of a Tim Hortons building at a large rest area. It was so hot that day! There were some ridiculously big truck/trailer rigs on the parking lot, something we Europeans are just not used to seeing. I mean – a motorbike/quad garage in the back of your camper? Why not!
We left Pincher Creek and after a few kilometers somebody was waiting for us at the side of the road. She had seen us on her way back home and quickly grabbed some of her home made peanut butter cookies and a whole jar of cold water. She had been bike touring herself years ago and knew exactly what we needed, so sweet!
A thunderstorm developed in front of us and our beautiful tailwind quickly turned into headwind. We had planned to camp at a viewpoint on the top of a hill. We made it there before the thunderstorm hit and continued to observe the weather. The view was incredible though! It was around sunset and we could see the Waterton Lake and National Park from up there. Magically, the clouds seemed to disappear right in front of our eyes – lucky us!
The following day was a rollercoaster of emotions and definitely a lot different than expected. After nearly two months of cycling through Canada we’d cross back into the US. We had an early start with a beautiful sunrise. After a few kilometers we stopped at a bison paddock and saw some from the distance – bicycles were unfortunately prohibited on the inner loop. We had chosen the Chief Mountain border crossing, which sits on top of a hill between two national parks, Waterton (Canada) and Glacier (US).
The climb up to the crossing was beautiful, the trees were taking on the colors of autumn, it was very warm and there was very little traffic. Of course we’d heard stories ever since we started preparing this trip and we weren’t completely unworried when approaching the border. We had mentally prepared ourselves for the weirdest of questions, but not for what was about to come.
As usual, the officer took our passports and proceeded to ask us how long we had planned to stay in the US. Truthfully, I told him we had a route plotted for roughly 2.5 months, planning to cross into Mexico at the beginning of December (we only get 90 visa days on arrival and that was less than that at the time of our crossing). The officer looked at us and replied that we only get seven days. Seven. days. SEVEN. DAYS.
We stared at him in complete disbelief. He tried to explain that when we had entered Alaska in June, our 90-day visa had started. And that they didn’t stop counting days when we were in Canada, and it also wouldn’t reset now that we were re-entering the US. And no, he couldn’t do anything. Our only option was to let the old visa expire and try to enter once again. Whether or not a new visa would be granted would be up to the officer and a “more detailed look at our history would be made”. Oh boy.
We entered the US, but would have to be out of the country in a week or less. We rolled onto the rest area behind the border control station and there we were. Devastated and unsure what to do. It didn’t help that the border crossing was on top of a hill… We had lunch and were thankful for the cell phone reception up there. After some research and some debating we decided to descend on the American side of the mountain. We heard good things about the Glacier National Park and thought that maybe we could do some hikes there. Facts were that we would be in a national park on either side of the crossing without good resupply options and that we would have to be back in Canada in a week or earlier. There was no other border crossing nearby and no nice loop we could do as an alternative. At least we had an annual pass for the American national parks and didn’t have to pay any entrance fees.
We had terrible headwind descending into the Glacier National Park and were more than relieved when we got to St. Mary, the small village at the entrance of the park. Our spirits were quite low and didn’t get better when we realized that the only shop in town was not only ridiculously expensive, but also terribly stocked. We also learned pretty fast that nearly all the cool things to do and beautiful hikes were on the other side of a pass and we were absolutely not in the mood to cycle more kilometers we would have to backtrack in a few days. Not to mention that we were still fairly pissed at the regulations. Especially after some research had revealed that in a case like ours it seems to be up to the officer if the visa gets renewed with an old one still active or not. Other cyclists in our situation didn’t have to wait for the old one to expire.
After an off-bike day on the campsite we decided to cycle back into Canada. Some half-hearted, unsuccessful attempts at hitchhiking later, we were on the bikes and backtracked the 80 km and 1000 m of elevation gain back into Canada. We got one of the last spots on the main campsite in Waterton town and would continue to stay there for nearly a week. Our only problem was food, as the small shop in Waterton didn’t have a big selection either and we would need food for the time there and supplies for the first days in the US (hopefully).
What started as half a joke turned out to be our best option and so the next day we emptied our saddle bags, stored everything in our tent and cycled 60 km to Pincher Creek. The town we had just been to four days ago and which was the nearest supermarket from the border. We bought as much as we could and everything we needed. When we stepped out of the supermarket, the sky was pitch black, it was windy as hell and thunder was rolling in the distance. We rolled to the gas station next to the road going out of town and tried to find a ride, without any luck. Once the thunder got a little bit better, we decided to start cycling. At a pullout, I wanted to give it one more shot and held out my thumb. We were about to give up, when a car turned around and came back. He felt bad passing us and offered us a ride. Chief Moon, a person of the Blackfoot Nation, was super friendly and took us a bit more than halfway to Waterton. That gave us enough head start to make it back to our campsite safely. Still, 85 km just to buy some food! Ridiculous.
The remaining four days in Waterton were spent with writing blog posts, producing Instagram content (such an exhausting task) and making backups of all our data.
Day five was THE DAY and for the second (well, third) time, we cycled up to the Chief Mountain border crossing. We got real lucky and the officer on duty turned out to be the same one as last week. He recognized us quickly and without having to explain a lot he sent us inside to get a new 90-day visa! The officer issuing the visa though asked a lot of (basic) questions nevertheless and we were not relieved until we left the small office with new stamps in our passport. The last 40 km downhill towards St. Mary were obviously against the wind again, just like the week before…
From St. Mary, we would cycle the Going-to-the-Sun Road through Glacier National Park. A road we’d heard a lot about, apparently very scenic and so busy in summer that bicycles are forbidden on the road after 10 (or 11?) am. Lucky for us, it was off-season. It was indeed quite beautiful, a gentle uphill over 40 km and lots of autumn colors. Unfortunately, bikes turned out to be still prohibited between 3 and 6 pm, which we only learned upon reaching the top. We had a quick lunch and tried to make it downhill before 3 pm. The other side of the pass was even more beautiful, but unfortunately also very narrow and busy. There was no shoulder and we very quickly got to know the bad side of American traffic. So many drivers didn’t care to give us room and were honking at us from a distance, even though we’d stop to let cars pass whenever we could. Very stressful. We paid for a campsite in Apgar, very glad to have made it off the road alive. While cooking dinner, I noticed that I must have lost my beloved leg warmers somewhere today and Sebi fell from the bench while burning his pants and leg with the stove.. There are good days and then there are days like this.
The next days were a lot quieter, for a change. We cycled into Kalispell mostly on secondary roads and stopped at a supermarket, an outdoor shop and a bike shop. Sebi bought new tires and I finally got a bigger cup. Mine was just a tad too small to boil enough water for the both of us for breakfast and this way I’d drink a lot more. More and more we noticed that the days got shorter and after so much daylight over the last couple of months, that was a tough change.
About three cycling days away from Butte, up on a hill, is Garnet Ghost Town. Garnet used to be home to around 1000 people during the gold mining boom around 1890, but was abandoned about 20 years later. Apparently it is one of the best-preserved ghost towns in Montana. Going there wasn’t even a detour, on the contrary, if I remember correctly it was the most direct way. But mostly on gravel with a lot of uphill, so very likely not the fastest. That morning, we met Bethany, the first female solo cyclist since we left Deadhorse. How cool! We turned onto the gravel road and enjoyed a nice, slow uphill with little traffic. We got to Garnet in the afternoon and were incredibly lucky that a ranger was around. Some of the better restored buildings are closed when no ranger is there, but this way we got to have a look inside the old saloon, the old hotel and the former shop.
We wild camped near the ghost town and experienced our first night below freezing. The bumpy descend the next day was quickly followed by a slight and steady uphill and I could feel my legs from the day before. We camped at a free campsite next to a creek and were again surprised by how quickly the sun was setting.
The following night was one of our most sleepless nights so far. I bolted awake when I heard a noise and woke up Sebi. He peeked outside but couldn’t see anything. Shortly after, we could hear a growling noise and Sebi checked another time. And what did he see? A huge, male moose standing in the bushes, maybe 15 meters away from our tent. I’ve always been saying that moose are way too big and we were certainly more than relieved when he decided to walk away. When waking up to our alarm the next morning, we heard something in the bushes and when I glanced outside the tent there was a young moose eating some tree branches, mama moose close by. Way too close for comfort! As sneaky and calm as possible we started stuffing everything in our bags, moving the tent and our stuff slowly away from the moose and towards a picnic table. Although they seemed to have accepted our presence, we did not feel entirely comfortable. The next hour or so we kept moving away when the moose came closer, took pictures and waited patiently for them to go away so we could have breakfast and pack our things.
It was a lot of downhill into Butte with great weather and we couldn’t stop saying how crazy the landscape was. Everything was dry and beige. We somehow both didn’t expect the US to be so dry and desert-like that far north. I especially was also very amused by the way-too-tall signs of truck stops and fast food chains on our way into the city. We didn’t have any other option than staying at a quite expensive campground and were more than thankful for the cyclist discount they gave us. We spontaneously ordered pizza as no one of us had the motivation to cook dinner.
The next day was Sebi’s birthday and we decided to have an off-bike day. Quite the unspectacular location, but the weather was a dream and we spent most of the day talking to our families, something that has been way overdue. I went to the supermarket to buy food for the next days on the bike and we ended up ordering pizza for the second night in a row.
Published on November 25 2025
Experienced from 06.09. – 25.09. 2025
