Jon Hallander - The Great Bike About 2025

Early June 17th I flew from Newark NJ to Kalispel Montana with a Lynsky GR300 Gravel bike in a box and a bunch of stuff to put on the bike and carry along and I reassembled the bike in the airport baggage claim and rode first to the REI in downtown Kalispel but then I rode NE the 25-30 miles that took me into Glacier National Park. And so began the first day of 70 days on the bike riding first in Glacier and then meeting two companions Denise and Rebecca, for two weeks on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) where we rode Southbound to Jackson Wyoming from Whitefish Montana. I left my companions a day or two early and started my Eastward trek to pick up the Adventure Cycling Association's (ACA) Parks, Peaks and Prairies Route out of West Yellowstone that took me across Wyoming and into South Dakota. Halfway across South Dakota I jumped onto the ACA Lewis And Clark Route to get to Iowa where in Orange City I joined some friends and twenty thousand other cyclists for the Register's Anual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). After Iowa I rode to Chicago to pick up the ACA Chicago to New York Route which took me to Pittsburgh where with the help of a dear friend Larry and his son Drew (Drew drove Sag for us) we navigated 4 rail trails and some connecting roads to get across to the West/East middle in Holidaysburg and and then up into Bald Eagle State Forest where I took some days off to spend a weekend among friends (Thank you Bruce, Terry, Ed). After that I jumped onto the PA North To South (PANTS) Route going North until I intersected the JORTS Route (It doesn't stand for anything other than Jean Shorts) to get to Hancock NY via The Endless Mountains (And are they ever endless!). Once in NY and across the Catskills it was all Empire State Trail to Manhattan where 69 days later, in the company of John and later Joanne, I met the Seastreak Ferry that took me back to New Jersey where there was a gathering of friends and family waiting at the Ferry terminal.

This page will update as I add more image content.

Lake MacDonald as seen from Apgar Village

On the Road to The Sun

Logan Pass

On The Road To The Sun

Haystack Creek

Canola Flowers ???

Fresh snow on the mountains

Some of that snow fell a few days ago.

Taking a break after a tough climb.

Denise taking in the view

On the Divide high above Sealy MT

Empire Mine

Big Sky Montana

A Lone Bullin a BIG open range

These valleys are BIG - One side

Big Valleys - Other side

Oh look a Bigger valley

Did I say BIG valleys?

Impala in the upper fields - Yellowstone

Yellowstone - Virginia Cascades before the storm

Yellowstone - A walk into a hot spot

Yellowstone - Gathering clouds

Yellowstone - There are Bison in there somewhere

Yellowstone - Bison

Yellowstone - Yellowstone River

Shoshone River from Dam

Buffalo Bill Res Water Project Dam and a log jam

Big Horn Road Climb Old 14

Big Horn Climb looking at new 14

Camp where you want Big Horn Climb Old 14

Custer was an ass and led his men into disaster

Spearfish Canyon South Dakota

Town on the edge of The Badlands

Badlands National Park Sage Road Vista

Prairie Lands

Somewhere in South Dakota I stopped stopping to take multi-shot panoramas for a long long time. Why? Well, as I was getting into the irrigated farmlands and open range land, the vastness of the country just seemed to be all the same at this point. Corn is corn, Wheat is wheat, and soybeans are soybeans, so I limited taking a lot of composite parts of stuff that to me just looked all the same. Maybe this was wrong as there was a fair amount of contrast to the background, but endless irrigated corn fields just felt like "You see one corn field, you have seen them all."

D&H Rail Trail Pennsylvania

When I find more, if there are more I will add them in.

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