9/2 to 9/4/2018 – I’ve been itching to put this trip together since moving to the Flathead Valley a few years ago and riding my first lap on the classic Napa-to-Wire section of trail. Alpine Trail 7 is  a glorious 70 mile strip of dirt woven along the crest of the Swan Mountains. It runs from the old Napa lookout location all the way to the northern terminus of the range, at the top of Columbia Mountain. For the most part, the trail hugs to within a 1000′ of the ridgeline and wanders through alpine meadows, pocket lakes, talus fields, and deep dark forests. Certain pieces of the trail see more traffic, but the sections in-between the more popular chunks remain thickly grown in and adventurous.

Joe is one of my best riding buddies in the valley and enjoys recreational toiling quite a bit. He and I had been talking about this trip since working together at Glacier Cyclery, during both of our first summers in the valley. When the weather window arrived and schedules finally lined-up, we rallied to the Swans to make it happen.

I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story of our 3-day sojourn along Alpine Trail 7…

A special thanks to the folks that kept this trip rolling:

• Grete for the evening drop off…
• Becca for the rescue filter mission and AWESOME note.
• Trav-dog for the replacement wheel, the company/comedy, and the beer!