Tour Nine

Great Northern Extended Tour
12 riding days and 13 nights lodging
2600 miles

This tour will take you to two of the most famous and scenic national parks in our country, Glacier and Yellowstone. But in addition to that, you will have the opportunity to travel two of the greatest motorcycle roads in the western United States.

You start with an extreme opposite of what you will eventually see by traveling across the Bonneville Salt Flats into the majestic open spaces of Nevada and stay in the small historic gambling town of West Wendover. Next you travel north and into the Sawtooth mountains for a night in the Sun Valley area.

Now you hit the mountains, forests, and rivers to travel north in the Sawtooth Mountain range through the towns of Stanley, Banks and McCall before you land in the small town of Riggins overlooking the confluence of two northern Idaho rivers.

The next night you will stay at a resort on Flathead Lake but to get there we will travel over Idaho’s Highway 12 which boasts a sign that says, “Curves, next 76 miles.” This scenic highway was just voted #9 on the list of top 15 motorcycle roads in the United States by members of the American Motorcycle Association. This bikers dream follows a river up to a high mountain pass and drops down into Montana and through the town of Missoula and on to your evenings destination on Flathead Lake.

The next day, you take a scenic route for a two nights stay in Whitefish, Montana which is the Gateway to Glacier National Park. Your two night stay will give you time to explore one of the most famous roads in the country, the “Going to the Sun Road” which cuts through the park and then into the less visited “Many Glaciers” area. This road was just recently voted #6 of the list of top 15 motorcycle roads in the United States by the American Motorcycle Association. If you choose not to ride, you can opt to take one of the “Jammer” tours through the park. These vehicles are circa 1950 open air busses that have been refurbished and reflect the classic history of the park. If you are sensitive to heights and extreme drop-offs while riding motorcycles, this might be your solution.

After Glacier, you ride south along the scenic Salmon river for an overnight stay in Salmon, Idaho before making our way to Ennis, Montana with an afternoon visit to Virginia City, Montana, a “Living” Ghost Town with an incredible history to explore. The town is owned by the state and is an excellent example how the first settlers lived in the “Old West”.

After a night in Ennis, the “Fly Fishing Capitol” of the world, you follow the Madison river into West Yellowstone and dive deep into Yellowstone National Park. You will explore several of the hot springs in the Yellowstone caldron, Old Faithful, Yellowstone Lake and exit the east side of the park and spend the night in the “Cowboy Capital” of Cody, Wyoming.

From Cody, you leave and travel over the incredible Beartooth Highway in Montana which is a motorcycle road you need to do before you retire your bike. It was just recently voted the BEST (#1) motorcycle road in the United States by the American Motorcycle Association. It rises to 11,000 feet and travels above the timberline past hundreds of lakes and drops down a switchback into the town of Red Lodge. Then, just for fun, you back track across the ridge again and spend the night in Cooke City. From there you spend another day in Yellowstone NP and end up in Jackson, Wyoming where we recommend an incredibly fun "Chuck Wagon" dinner experience.

The valleys, high plains and mountain passes of Wyoming and Utah will bring you back to Salt Lake to finish your travels through the best that the northern Rocky Mountain region has to offer.

This is the self guided version of the Great Northern Guided Tour.

For our international guests, please go to the following site for converting currency to the U.S. Dollar. Now is an excellent time to visit our region!

http://www.xe.com/ucc/

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