gauvins

Will cross the US border tomorrow, and enter a (probably busy) national park.
I usually take my place in the car lineup, unless there is a dedicated path for bikes/hikers (as in Jasper IIRC).
You wait in line or you ride up to the gate?

Maricopa404

I don’t know what the answer to that is, but I’ll share an experience I had.
My wife and I ride a tandem. We were entering Saguaro National Park in Arizona. We waited in line. My reason for this is that the law in Arizona states that it is legal for bicycles to ride in the traffic lanes, as long as they adhere to the same street laws as motorists.
So seeing that I hope vehicles respect me as a cyclist on the roads, I should respect vehicles and be considerate just as I would hope they do the same for me.
On that same note, I didn’t have any irate motorists yelling at me for cutting in line.
I just know some motorists will find any reason, big or small, to yell at us cyclists.
Either way, good luck and enjoy the park!

indyfabz

Wait in line unless you are directed to do otherwise. I’ve done that entering and leaving. No problems, and you won’t piss off anyone. For example, at Fort Erie we were waved over to a special place after crossing the Peace Bridge from Buffalo.

When we reentered the US at Chief Mountain we waited in line. When it was our turn we rolled up. The car behind us crossed the stop bar. Guess the driver thought bikes didn’t count. The border agents, who were quite nice to us, let the driver know otherwise.

Which crossing?

gauvins

Carway.

I was told by a Blackfoot that friends had used Chief Mountain on Father's Day. Perhaps because First Nation have a different status. I'll ask tomorrow (after having waiting in line

indyfabz

Yes. Chief Mountain Highway is on Blackfoot land and they have some power to make some rules. IIRC, other parts of the park were closed by the Blackfeet during the height of the pandemic.

saddlesores

shouldn't that be blackFOOTs?

mev

I typically take my place in line.

National borders are a special situation since often there can be a separate path for pedestrians crossing the border and hence I am extra on the lookout.

indyfabz

Yeah. That’s what happened to us at Fort Erie. It wasn’t clear where people on bikes were supposed to go. We finally saw an agent waving us to a building, so we followed her directive. Had to enter the building to clear customs. The only downside was that an agent rolled her eyes at me when I asked for a stamp on my U.S. passport. She gave me one and wrote the word “courtesy” on it. At least she had neat handwriting.

Tourist in MSN

My generic rule of thumb, if you have to pay an entrance fee or for some other reason have to see the staff at the entrance, get in line.

The border between Waterton and Glacier, ten years ago when I went through the border, there was no separate bike lane. But things may have changed in ten years. As you can see, there was no waiting line to cross the border either.



Canadians did not mind if I took a photo, but on the American side they get upset about photos.

That day had some nasty hills.

a_d_a_m

A feller on CrazyGuyOnABike just mentioned a few days ago having waited in a car lane for 45min only to find out about a pedestrian lane. That'd suck. Most of the Canada/US crossings I've gone through via car have had a pedestrian/cyclist line to one side or the other of the vehicle lanes. Keep your head on a swivel. When in doubt:
Checking Google Streetview for the Carway crossing, I see no specific signage or lane designation for pedestrians or cyclists - but the imagery is fairly outdated (2008-09).

BobG

The guy in the cartoon is right! All humor aside, It's actually the Blackfeet Nation.

I staffed one of the early ACA Cycle Montana tours. One evening a spokesman from the Blackfeet tribe came up from Browning to give us an after dinner talk at our camp in St Mary. He made the Blackfeet pronunciation clear to us. He also let us know that they preferred to be called "Indians" as opposed to the politically correct term "native Americans". He pointed out that most everyone in the audience was likely a "native American". He jokingly said "We're just glad Columbus wasn't looking for Turkey!"

stardognine

Ha, that's good stuff there. 😁

My mother told us kids that we have a bit of Blackfeet & Cherokee blood in us. But she was mostly English, so I never knew if I could trust what she said. 🤔😉 One of these days, I'll have to take one of those blood tests, that checks your genealogy.

I've never crossed any international borders on a bicycle, but I've gone through a few weigh stations, when highway traffic was pretty heavy. In that situation, you just stay as far right as possible, to make sure you don't get in anyone's way. Common sense, really.

A major reason for stopping there, besides traffic, is there's often a restroom, and/or drinking water. Something to consider, in the desert areas. 🙂

Yan 

For any kind of lineup, if there is a bike path or pedestrian sidewalk, I take that. Otherwise I wait in line with the cars.

dgodave

I encountered this same question waiting in line for Japanese car ferries.

Am I a vehicle or pedestrian for ferry purposes? Turns out I was a vehicle every time, and so was probably smart to line up with the cars. This ferry man fully and properly secured my bike for the (not) perilous crossing to Shimoshima Island.

zandoval 

Ya Know... This is a real hard question. It's well worth taking the time to feel it out.

Jumping ahead of the line at our southern Border (Mexico) could get ya in real deep ship. On the Mexico Border it's best ta just get in the Walk In line and walk your bicycle through no matter how long it takes...

indyfabz

When you sail on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry between NJ and DE the helpful folks tell you to cue up at a certain spot. You then roll on you bike, put it in one of the racks between where the cars will eventually go and then walk up to the upper decks. Then they load the cars. Disembarking is the opposite. Cars first. Bikes after that. (Pedestrians get on and off via a totally separate, elevated “boatway.” It’s always gone smoothly.

gauvins

Turned out that Carway has no pedestrian lane. The wait was short. Same thing at Glacier (which is closed for all practical purposes. I'll post in a separate thread.

WRT Black foot/feet, turns out that it is Blackfeet in Montana, and Blackfoot in Alberta/BC. According to Blackfeet/foot î spoke with.

Pratt

I'll be doing Highgate/Noyan, Northbound, on Sunday I'll try to report back here, but it may have to wait until I return.
BTW, ArriveCan was having colic today because of Rogers' problems. I had never even heard of Rogers.
When I called the Help # I got a recording saying "You are not authorized to dial this number."
Never heard that before either,