Let's Just Go Somewhere: Logan's Pass

On Tuesday, we drove into Glacier National Park a little after lunch. The entrance fee to Glacier is $25 but for us it was $0 with our America the Beautiful pass. :)

We stopped at the Visitor Center again and got another map and some information on some easy day hikes and then we started up Going to the Sun Road. The ranger told us that the parking lot gets very crowded at Logan's Pass making it sometimes impossible to find a parking spot; but he thought that by the time we would get there, the crowds would be lessening.

Our first stop was a pull-off along Lake McDonald.

The water is so incredibly clear in Lake McDonald (and the rest of the lakes, rivers and streams in Glacier National Park).

Look at how clearly you can see the rocks at the bottom of the water along the shoreline.

Glacier National Park incurred a forest fire in 2003 that burnt 136,000 acres or about 13% of the park. In the areas that were affected by the fire, most of the dead trees are still standing and appear gray in distant shots like this one.

The trees along Going to the Sun Road had not been damaged by a forest fire. While we were at the lower elevations along the road, we would just get glimpses of the incredible mountains.

At the same time, Chuck was getting glimpses of the river on the other side of the road and kept saying "that is the clearest water I have ever seen."

Then I would see another glimpse of the mountains between the trees and say "oh my goodness."

The conversation continued back and forth between us with my saying "oh my goodness" and his saying "I can't believe how clear the water is" but then we were stopped by construction and just enjoyed the surroundings while we waited.

After passing through the construction zone, we began to climb in elevation and went through this tunnel on the road up.

We reached a switchback with a parking area called "The Loop" where the views were spectacular.

Maybe this "View From The Loop" movie will gives you a better idea.

Going to the Sun Road is narrow and has rock overhangs in several places which is why vehicle length is limited to 21 feet. The overlooks and pull-offs were few and usually not very big plus there was a lot of traffic so many of the pictures were taken as we were driving.

Going to the Sun Road was completed in 1932 and is a National Historic Landmark. It is an "engineering marvel" according to Wikipedia.

We agree. Can you imagine this road being constructed in 1932?

The road is very difficult to snowplow and usually does not open completely until summer. This year it did not open until June 21st. Below are a couple of pictures I found online from the 2008 season snowplowing.

I wouldn't want their job!

And the snow is still built-up along portions of the road....

...in the middle of July!

The views along the road are breath-taking and pictures cannot even begin to show you the grandeur and immenseness of Glacier National Park.

You can ride along with us for a short distance up the mountain in this clip.

At several points along the road, waterfalls would come down the side of the mountain...

...with the water sometimes flowing right on to the road like here at "Weeping Wall."

This waterfall near the top of Logan Pass passed under the snowdrift and then under the road.

Because it was later in the day, we lucked up and got a parking spot fairly quickly at the top at Logan's Pass. Logan's Pass is the highest point along the road providing even more incredible views.

We watched these three boys play in the snow....in July!

And we walked through the snow on one of the trails around the visitor center.

We saw a few marmots as we were walking around.

We saw a buck (deer) but were unable to get him to come out of the trees to pose for his picture. Because it was getting late in the afternoon, we did not continue across Going to the Sun Road today. On the way back down the mountain, we also saw these mountain goats. Mountain goats are the official animal of Glacier National Park.

We continued down the mountain...

... and (like several other cars) took our dirty car through a "glacial carwash" as we drove by the Weeping Wall.

When we got to the bottom, we pulled into a pull-off where we could get some better pictures of that incredibly clear river that Chuck had been looking at on the way up the mountain.

It was getting close to dinner time so we decided to try out a Mexican restaurant in Columbia Falls called Los Caparoles that was very good. Their portion sizes were so large that we took our leftovers home for dinner another night.

On the way back to the camper, we saw a sign for Hungry Horse Dam and the sign said it was 564 feet tall. We turned off down the road and pulled off at an overlook. Wow! Hungry Horse Dam is huge!