Glacier Park

One hallmark of the trip so far is that I have seen some exceptionally beautiful and interesting places, so much so that frequently I am left wondering if I have experienced the highlight of the trip, and everything to come will be a let down. Well, once again I was wrong. Glacier Park, and the "Going to the Sun Road" over Logan Pass blew away everything that came before in terms of dramatic scenery. We got to the west entrance of the Park at about 5:00 and planned to ride the 50 miles or so of the "Going to the Sun Highway" with the late afternoon sun on the mountains. We also tried to take some video of us riding which I will try to post if I can figure it out.

The first ten miles or so was fairly flat as we followed this river into the Park. We stopped for a photo op by a lake and were completely blown away by the view. Little did we know that this was merely a warm up. We continued up the road, gawking at the mountains and waterfalls on either side. Then, straight ahead, loomed a huge mountain that spanned the entire valley, and as we peered up at it we could make out the trace of a road, and the occasional gleam from a moving car, on this road that seemed to be scratched out of a sheer cliff. Well, let's get on with it! Up and up we rode. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Once we started climbing the road surface narrowed considerably and the drop-offs increased significantly. There was a moderate amount of traffic and some construction delays, but it didn't matter, we knew we were on a special ride. Everything was breathtaking - the light, the views, the road, blah blah blah. We camped that night at St Mary's campsite in the eastern end of the Park, after a pretty good meatloaf special served family style at Johnson's Restaurant. We picked up some camp firewood on the way back to the campsite and eventually Mike got a good fire going. We sat around for a few hours watching the campfire, thinking and talking about how incredibly lucky we were to be doing this ride, and how fantastic was the ride over Logan Pass. Again, we both slept soundly.

One last thing: Glacier Park belongs on everyone's "Bucket List".