Going to the Sun
We started early and drove straight to the pass, bypassing all interest points for our return trip.
There is one road that goes from one side of Glacier to the other. It is called ‘Going to the Sun Road’. One might wonder about the name until you drive it. The road is 50 miles long from West Portal to East Portal. There are two long lakes at each end of the road. Each lake is about ten miles long and the road follows the shoreline of each lake. Allowing a couple miles transition at the end of each lake that leaves around 24 miles of road to go over Logan Pass. The road starts up and never even levels ‘till it reaches the pass. The other side is the exact reverse – down constantly. You go from a forested flat valley to sub-alpine or even alpine meadow and back again. If you started up the road early in the morning headed east you would literally be ‘going to the sun’. There is a size limit for vehicles on this stretch. Twenty one feet long and eight feet wide. Even that is pushing it. A very narrow road carved into the side of the mountain with a couple of switch backs and a lot of tight turns with wall on one side and nothingness on the other. Great views!
Water falls and cascades everywhere. Mostly water falls because it is so steep. Will try to get some pictures from Sue. I was sort of busy on this stretch. Here’s one.
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At Logan Pass there is a visitor canter. We got there about 10:15 (they were right about the time to drive there) and the lot was already 3/4 full. There is a trail that goes a mile and a half uphill to a vista of Hidden Lake. The first 3/4 mile is on a boardwalk over the meadow. The rest is steps and stone trail up to the ridge. The upper part of the trail is pretty strenuous and the elevation gain for the entire trail is pretty substantial. On the other side it has easy access, a definite objective at the end and does not require taking provisions (back country). Because of this it is by far the most trafficked trail in the park. We were there early so it wasn’t too busy. Coming down we met so many people I had visions of pictures I have seen of the stream of humanity headed over the pass to the gold fields during the Alaska gold rush.
The view at the vista point is outstanding as is every view in the park.
One of the objectives when visiting any national park is to see wildlife. The rangers always tell you the animals are there and even give evening talks on what you might see. Most of the time you are limited to squirrels and birds. We had the same hopes on this hike that we have on all our hikes. On the way up we saw one ground squirrel and a small bird. We kept scanning the cliffs for mountain goats. The best we could do was spot an animal trail across a snow bank on the other side of the canyon. At the overlook I made a light hearted comment about the long hike without even a glimpse of a mountain goat. The man next to me said “There’s one right over there”. “Where?” “Right back there where the trail splits.” We walked back up the trail about 20 yards and there, less than ten feet off the trail, behind a small tree was – a mountain goat. Not across a canyon on a cliff, ten feet off the trail behind a tree.
Needless to say that made the whole hike worthwhile.
About a quarter mile from the visitors center on our way back a man pointed to the edge of the boardwalk.
We looked over the edge and there was a marmot. Less than three feet away and totally unperturbed by the people walking over it on the walk.
I turned around and about 30 yards away in the meadow on the other side of the boardwalk was this.
White tail buck still in velvet.
On a roll I turned around and looked down the meadow. Guess what.
Two bighorn sheep about 75 yards away.
We were now only a few yards from the center. In the greenery along the trail we saw four or five of these.
Columbian ground squirrels having lunch about five feet from the trail.
It was like a zoo without fences. Best day we have ever had for wild life.
We went to the eastern border and then back to our campground, sightseeing along the way. Here is a small portion of the lake on the eastern side looking west into Glacier park. I think the island is called Lone Goose.
As I have mentioned before, every national park of any size and age has a historic lodge. Here is one of Glaciers’.
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