Going-to-the-Sun Road

Everyone told us that we must take the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier, so that was the first place we went. Arriving from the east, you start at St. Mary's, wind your way through the park (east to west, more or less) and come out at West Glacier, MT. We were told by some folks from Washington that the west side is more spectacular than the east. I don't know if it was because of construction vehicles blocking all of the scenic views at the top of the west side of Logan's Pass, or that most of the spectacular views were behind us, but we didn't agree. In retrospect, I think that with Logan's Pass before you, you'll find it the most beautiful. They probably never drove east to west as we did. If we drove from West Glacier to Logan's Pass, we probably would have agreed with them.

This Going-to-the-Sun Road was forged in the 1930s with the many workers in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). This bridge reminded me of other CCC projects. It was near the entrance on the St. Mary's River. (If you don't get out of the car and look back, you will miss it.)

The wind whipping out of Logan's Pass causes the east side to be much windier, especially down at St. Mary's Lake, which looked very choppy.

Our first glimpse of the historic Red Buses of Glacier National Park.

These are one of the icons associated with the park (along with the mountain goats). We were fortunate to get a tour with Larry Perry the next day in one of the buses that had been relegated to the Smithsonian after it wore out, before Ford Motors and some other companies found a way to economically refurbish them. More about that in another blog!

We saw that several of the Red Buses had pulled over at a spot, so we did, too. You've heard the expression about something taking your breath away. When I came around the trees and looked out at Wild Goose Island and the mountains surrounding St. Mary's Lake. Apparently, I'm not alone, because I read or heard somewhere that this is the most photographed spot in the park.

There were a number of wildflowers blooming. Here are a few, although I can only identify the first ones--Indian Paintbrush.

Actually, the one on the left below is a Showy Daisy (or Aspen daisy in some books).

We stopped between the first and second construction flagmen (notice the construction area on the left side of the photo) to take photos of Siyeh Creek, downstream. As we entered the park, we saw signs that Logan Pass was closed from 9 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. Our thought was, why would anyone want to be on this road in the dark?

Here's the view of Siyeh looking upstream.

Just before the east-side tunnel, we were stopped for construction again. I got out of the car and ran across the road to quickly take some shots. (A super-friendly construction worker gave me the heads up when the last car was coming down the mountain, so I got back in the car just in time.) Not the sharpest photo, but the wind was really whipping and I didn't have time for a tripod.

This tunnel was more picturesque than the one on the west side of the mountain--minus all the construction paraphernalia. But I was glad that the park is keeping up the road so that we can see these beautiful views.

The parking lot at Logan Pass was full, so my hubby stayed with the illegally parked car. (He found a group from Washington State to talk with and didn't mind at all.) This photo was taken from the sidewalk near the visitors center. Our car was at the opposite end of the parking lot.

It was very windy on the pass and I didn't take out the tripod, so the shots probably aren't as sharp as they could be. The next two views were taken looking eastward.

I wasn't able to climb the trails beside the Visitors Center to see what views there were then. Had expected to come back on the road again, but didn't get to. Oh, well--next time! (And there WILL be a next time!)

As I said earlier, going down the western side, we were limited in where we could stop. These shots were taken through the windshield or the driver's side window (past my hubby who was driving). Here you can see the Going-to-the-Sun Road hugging the curves of the mountainsides.

In this one I got a little of the window, but left it in to show I'm telling the truth about how I got the photo. The places where you can see the rock strata, the snow is new. In the places where it's thick and white, the snow probably has been there since the spring snowfalls. You can't see but a couple glaciers anymore on the American side, so it was nice to be able to see the snow packs. But it will always be Glacier National Park because they still are what carved these beautiful mountains. 

While the car was stopped for another flagman, I jumped out and snapped these harebells.

Bird Woman Falls drops 492 feet. This is the view up the mountain, but it continues far below. Bird Woman is the Americanized name for Sacajawea, the Shoshoni woman who helped Lewis and Clark on their 1804 expedition.

We stopped at Lake MacDonald to mail postcards and took this photo, but the lighting wasn't great. Didn't get any "mirror" lake images because the wind was always too strong.

Next up, our Red Bus tour on Sept. 2 to Two Medicine Lake, which included a boat ride and a nature walk to Running Eagle Falls. I hadn't heard of Running Eagle before, but she sounds like quite a warrior (and horse acquisitions expert, to put it nicely).

Approaching Glacier

Just a short blog to share in the anticipation for Glacier. Eastern and northern Montana (along US 2) had been rather bleak and depressing for us (both its weather and scenery). So, imagine our excitement when we saw that the mountains were getting closer. This photo was snapped outside Cut Bank, I believe--my first glimpse of the mountains. (I pulled off the road to relish the moment and take photos.)

When I saw that there was SNOW on the tops, I can't tell you how excited I was. We later learned that this snow had fallen just a night or two before we arrived--probably in part from all that rain we had encountered the day before.

Outside Browning, I believe, we stopped again for this shot. We were now in the Blackfoot Nation and would be for several days, when not in Glacier National Park.

We stopped on the western side of Browning (Highway 89), while heading to St. Mary's, one of the eastern entrances to the park and one end of the Going-to-the-Sun Road.
 
 

 
This photo (taken while riding through the windshield) shows the recovery from a forest fire in either 2001 or 2003.
 

 
Getting closer all the time ...
 

 
Just inside the St. Mary's entrance is the Visitors Center. The best part for me was the Native American exhibit--a huge teepee that you sit inside and listen to recordings of four Indian tribe members telling about themselves and their relation to Glacier. Just outside the teepee was this saying, which touched a cord with this editor/writer.
 
 

 
Next up, the Going-to the-Sun Road through Glacier National Park. But first some sleep and maybe a few more miles!

Where the deer and the buffalo roam

Sorry for the long gap in blogs. The town of East Glacier, Montana, was supposed to have wireless throughout, including the Circle R Motel where we stayed two nights, but it wasn't working in our room and we were too busy (or tired) to try it elsewhere in town.

Not sure when I'll ever catch you up on the trip, but I did manage to write this blog about the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where we were on August 31. This was the same day we drove the Old Red/Old Ten Scenic Byway.

We fell in love with western North Dakota! It's such a shame that most Americans never get to North Dakota. A store clerk I was talking with in Medora, N.D., said you wouldn't believe how many people come through who have on their bucket list to see all 50 states (or all the national parks) and North Dakota and its Theodore Roosevelt National Park are usually last on the list. I must admit that, if my husband didn't have this as one of his last 48 lower states to "check off," we may have gone through South Dakota and missed it, too!

From I-94 West, we exited at the Painted Canyon Visitor Center for the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and took photos of the badlands. Gorgeous views and my first glimpse of this kind of geologic formation.

We drove on to Medora, N.D., a very interesting place. It seems to be “owned” by the Theodore Roosevelt Foundation. Most of the people working in the motels and shops are “volunteers,” who give up 3-4 hours a day in exchange for room and board. Lots of senior citizens (and the ones we talked with who had multiple homes certainly could afford to pay). But they enjoyed the experience and came back year after year to “volunteer” again. We were talking to some people from Minnesota who said that the waiting list to get the opportunity to volunteer in Medora is very long.

We stopped at the Badlands Motel, but opted for the less expensive option—the Bunkhouse. We just happened to arrive on the last Tuesday Senior Discount of the season, which gave us 15 percent off the regular price. The clerk put us in the Red Fox bunkhouse. These units aren't much to look at. Each one had 8 rooms and a center hallway. A tiny, functional room, but the best mattress I’d slept on the whole trip.

We unloaded our things, took a nap (all this driving is getting to us!), and then headed to the National Park at about 5:30. It was kind of exciting to see the ranger station where fees were collected, because my husband was going to get his “senior pass,” a $10 pass for those 62 and older that gives them free admission to the National Parks for the rest of their lives. What’s even better is that, if the park charges by the carload, everyone in the car gets in on the pass. My mother first learned about these when she got hers while living in Albuquerque in the 1990s, which is how we knew to ask for one. With four or five National Parks on the agenda this trip, what a bargain! (Glacier and Yellowstone alone charge $25/carload each!)

If you don't have much time while passing by on I-94, try to do all or part of the South Unit loop. It took us about three hours, but we stopped at every wide spot in the road to take photos. What we enjoyed most was the lack of cars that we expect to find in Yellowstone after Labor Day. There were lots of places to pull off and observe the scenery and wildlife. We stopped at three prairie dog colonies and you could get rather close to them.

But the high point was encountering two groups of bison. (Neither was quite a herd, but six or seven in each group grazing together by the roadside.) We had seen bison manure at every stop we’d made, but didn’t know if we’d actually see the real thing, so this was very exciting.

The males are enormous! This one was taken through the passenger window (while I was in the driver’s seat). It was just a few feet away!

If you go, be sure to take the drive up to Buck Hill. When you get to the parking area, climb up the hill (not too bad) on the right (western side). The view is breathtaking. A park ranger told me this would be a great place to view and photograph the sunset--but we were there an hour too early and didn’t want to be that far from the exit at night.

We also drove up to the Coal Vein Trail, but it wasn’t that interesting. (Probably was back when the vein was on fire, but now, not so much.) Then we came upon a mule deer alongside the road and I managed to take a picture through the windshield. My, what big EARS she has!

Later, we saw three more, but no photos then. When it looked as though sunset was imminent, we just pulled into the next parking area. Not the best shots, so I won't even share, but another chance to practice the aperture/shutter speeds to find the right combination. I don’t think I captured it, though. It looked gorgeous through my hubby’s binoculars, though.

It was rather eerie driving the rest of the way out of the park in the dark. At one point, I came around a bend and there on the right was a huge bison. I asked my hubby, "Did you see that?" "What?" So, I put the car in reverse and backed up to look at it a moment as it scratched on a post. I didn’t take a photo, because the flash would have startled it. But it was nice to just share a parting moment with one of the park's bison.

Next stop, Glacier National Park! While hiking a very populated trail, we came upon a grizzly bear sow (and saw her later with her twin cubs). What a moment! More to come!