Going-to-the-Sun road is a scenic drive through the park. It's the only road that traverses the park crossing the Continental Divide through Logan Pass at an elevation of 6,646 feet, which is the highest point on the road. Construction began in 1921 and was completed in 1932 with a formal dedication in the following summer of July 15, 1933. The length of the road is approximately 50 miles and spans the width of the park between the east and west entrances. The road is quite narrow and winding with hairpin turns, especially west of Logan Pass. It is named after the Going-to-the-Sun Mountain which dominates the eastbound view beyond Logan Pass.
Shortly after we entered the park, we had to slow down for workers along the side of the road. When we passed this same work area during our bus tour, our driver told us they were working on a new pull off area. They were grinding the trees that had been taken out and he entire area smelled just like Christmas! We wanted to just pull over and breath in that cool sweet smell!
The next thing we ran across were these bicyclists taking a much needed break. The van was just sitting in the parking lot when we stopped and then the cyclists came rolling in. The van was there, I assume with any supplies they may need, or assistance. We saw cyclists all through the park. The traffic is so heavy through the park this time of year that the cyclists are restricted to riding only certain hours.
Heaven's Peak was beautiful with the early morning sun.
More of that scary road, but now in our car!
Small waterfall ahead...the road makes a sharp turn and heads up.
Coming out of a tunnel and then the road takes a hard left.
Vehicles over 21 foot in length are not allowed to drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road. There are quite a few narrow places and tight turns.
This waterfall went under the road and came out through the tunnel below.
Gorgeous!
Another roadside waterfall. There are several of these smaller waterfalls along the road, however, if you are into hiking you can travel by foot to see really spectacular ones.
These wild flowers are called Bear Grass. They look like a Q-tip. We understand there is a story behind why the flower was named Bear Grass, however the bears do not like the flower, but the deer do.
Love these pine trees. It looks and smells like Christmas. I would love to see them snow covered.
More water coming from the mountain and under the road.
I was not completely sure these were huckleberries at the time. They are in season here and stores and gift shops are selling jams, syrups, jellies, candy.......anything with a huckleberry in it. We saw several people in a gift shop even buying plastic buckets to go pick them. You are allowed to pick up to 10 gallons. The only problem with picking berries in these parts are the bears......they are picking them also. The berries are about the size and shape of a small blueberry. I didn't try any of the actual berries, but tried the syrup and loved the taste of the berry.
As we were driving around Saint Mary Lake, we saw these boats with people lined up to board.
We decided that if we could get down there in time, we would see if there were any seats available. We were in luck. The girl at the ticket booth contacted the captains and one of them said there was room for 2 more.
Our boat captain was female (like our Red Bus "Jammer" driver). These Montana girls Rock!
Our boat and another larger boat left the at approximately the same time on the same route. When we purchased our tickets, we were asked if we wanted to do the 2 hour hike to a waterfall. We were not prepared to do the hike so we declined. Seems the larger boat had the hikers aboard and our smaller boat was just for sightseeing. We did, however, dock along side the other boat and were able to get off and walk to a small waterfall only a few minutes down a path. We weren't expecting that, so it was a nice surprise. The boat below is the smaller boat. It was built in the early 1920's.
The boat in the this picture was the larger boat.
The lake was like a mirror. Our captain said we were very lucky because the lake was usually never that calm. It was a smooth ride!
As we approached this rock, I thought it familiar. This is the same rock we climbed up on when we were on the Red Bus tour.
We had to zoom the camera to see the people on top.
Mountains are in every backdrop! Beautiful!
This was the path we took to see the smaller waterfall. It was a well worn path with lots of pretty wildflowers along the path.
You can see how big the falls are just by looking at the people standing on the rock beside it.
This was a wooden bridge you could walk across.
Or use it to take a photo of Alan!
As we were heading back, we walked up front in the open air and a nice man took our picture.
After the boat ride, we stopped at the Saint Mary Visitor center at the east entrance to Glacier National Park. We saw these colorful teepees and had to go have a look.
Lots of teepees throughout this area.
We decided to take a different route back to the West Glacier, so we left the park and headed for a new territory. Once you get out of the park, you are in an Indian reservation. From a distance I thought we had spotted a large bear, but as we got closer we could tell it was a cow. There are free range cattle even around the larger roads like this one. He moooooved on out of our way. :)
Just as we were giving up on finding a spot to have a picnic lunch, we came upon a pulloff with a shade tree and creek. It don't get much better than this!
When we looked to the left, we saw what we thought was just debris in the river. We heard a large splash and saw a beaver headed back into the water and into his hole.
The beaver swan underneath the brances.
We saw this strange looking bird in the road and slowed down to take a picture. Pretty sure it is a Grouse. He wasn't in a hurry to move and was cooing, so we didn't know if he was injured or not. Hopefully not. We were miles from anything to get help for him if was hurt.
More scenery as we were headed back to the other side of the park.
We passed this lodge on our way back. Does this look familiar Mary?
The sun was at the wrong angle to get a good picture, but the place is huge and beautiful!
Great Photos, What kind of camera are you using? Looks like a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bill. We use two old point and shoot cameras and the phone. Can't get rid of the old cameras because they do take decent pictures.
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