We left West Yellowstone and headed to Kalispell, MT. Kalispell is a growing city about 45 minutes west of the West Glacier entrance. We headed up route 191 through Big Sky, MT to Belgrade, MT. It was going to be another long day so we didn’t stop to see the ski resort in Big Sky. Route 191 goes along the Gallatin River. It’s a beautiful meandering road in the valley through the Custer-Gallatin mountains.
We continued on and into Belgrade, MT on our way to Helena, MT. Between those towns, it was mostly flat and there were a lot of farms. When we reached Helena, we filled up right next to Missouri River Brewing Company, so we stopped for lunch. They had really good food! While we were eating, it seemed like it was going to storm so we stayed a little longer to wait it out.
Well, we didn’t have much luck. When we left, we headed right into another storm. We could see it coming. It was like a wall of rain. We pulled over and suited up JUST in time. We were heading up route 279 through Flesher Pass which was also suggested to us from a Facebook group. It’s located in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. It was a nice road but right when the good turns started, the rain came so we couldn’t enjoy it like we would have liked to.
When we got to the end, we took route 200 to route 83 all the way up towards Kalispell. This is a really nice area! Route 83 goes passed Salmon Lake, Seeley Lake, and through Flathead National Forest. I believe they are Douglas Fir trees that you can see right off the road. They’re not as big as a redwood, but they’re still cool to see right along the road.
We arrived in Kalispell with about 400 miles on the day. We stayed in a Hampton Inn and did some laundry which was perfect. I was running out of clothes. While waiting for the laundry to finish, we went across the street to get McDonald’s, but their indoor dining was already closed. I ended up using DoorDash to order McDonald’s because they wouldn’t allow us to walk through haha
More photos: Day 7 Photos
Adventures of Matty Q 