Cycling way to truly see Glacier Park’s Sun Road

The mostly cloudy skies open for just a moment to let the sun shine through as Corey Weathers looks up from his handlebars to take in the view of Mount Oberlin on Glacier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road.

“This really is the only way to truly see the park,” he says with a smile.

While Weathers has been cycling the road on family trips to the area for the past 18 years, this is the first time he has offered guests the opportunity to ride the road as the co-founder of ROAM Beyond. The Columbia Falls-based destination adventure company is offering its visitors the opportunity to join the thousands of cyclists who take in the views of the Sun Road before vehicles are allowed on the road each spring.

“In my mind, cycling is the best way to see the park. There is so much more you can see when you don’t have a roof over your head and you don’t have to focus on driving,” Weathers said. “You really get a chance to take it all in.”

WHILE HE loves giving his clients the chance to experience unique adventures in the Flathead Valley, it took an interesting chain of events to bring Weathers to the area.

Also the co-founder and CEO of Homegrown Trailers in Kirkland, Washington, Weathers was using the company to produce sustainable, handcrafted travel trailers when he came up with the idea that became ROAM Beyond.

“While our customers loved our trailer product, they were really more interested in the experience that it might provide,” Weathers explained. “People love that romantic idea of getting off the grid and having unique stays in unique places.”

With that in mind, Weathers began looking to partner with wineries, bed and breakfasts and national and state parks promoting experiences where people could go and stay in Homegrown trailers. Weathers never expected his group would wind up being the ones managing the destination adventures.

Partnering with 20-year adventure travel industry veteran Jake Haupert, the duo launched experiences in partnership with Airbnb Adventures in 2019 with their first destination experience just south of Olympic National Park in Washington.

After a promising inaugural year, the group planned to expand to four new locations in Washington before Covid slowed them down.

Undaunted, the company offered small group “quarantine” stays during most of 2020 until disaster struck just before Labor Day weekend in September when a large wildland fire forced the evacuation of their destination site along the Yakima River in central Washington.

“We faced the question of where to head next,” Weathers said. “We had 16 trailers, tents and all of the amenities sitting in a hotel parking lot and we had to figure out where the future of the company was going to be.”

WILE HIS wife Heidi’s (a graduate of Flathead High School) ties to the Flathead Valley, Weathers decided that would be the perfect place for ROAM Beyond to land.

What began with seasonal locations at Stillwater Landing and in Whitefish in the winter in 2021 has now expanded to include the company’s “Glacier” location on the former home of Rising Peak Academy south of Columbia Falls.

Partnering with local groups such as Glacier Country Tourism, the Glacier National Park Conservancy and Whitefish Outfitters, ROAM Beyond has been hard at work focusing on building programming, especially bringing people in during the offseason to help spread out the impact.

“This year, we wanted to work on building a series of thematic weekends for people. We wanted to provide people with more than just a place to stay. We wanted to be able to provide a truly inclusive experience,” Weathers said. “We want to identify the truly unique recreational opportunities in the area and work with local providers to build a program for visitors. Cycling the Going-to-the-Sun Road before it is open to cars is a perfect draw for that kind of adventure.”

ROAM Beyond will be hosting the fourth, and last planned, outing on the Sun Road next weekend, but there is the possibility of an additional weekend outing if the road has not been opened to vehicle traffic the following weeking.

In the meantime, Weathers and his team will continue to look for additional adventure destination opportunities for its visitors while continuing to work with local organizations.

“I know there is a lot of concern in the valley about growth and things changing with more tourists coming to the area,” Weathers said. “One of the things we are trying to convey is that we are not just a lodging provider. We are really trying to become a key part of the community by working with local partners and by educating our guests about how to recreate kindly and responsibly.”

ROAM Beyond does not lead or guide guests on cycling adventures in Glacier National Park but instead partners with Whitefish Outfitters, which provides transportation and rental bikes used by guests on self-guided cycling experiences on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. To learn more about guiding in Glacier National Park and Commercial Use Authorization, visit https://home.nps.gov/glac/getinvolved/cua.htm

Reporter Jeremy Weber may be reached at 406-758-4446 or jweber@dailyinterlake.com.