On our second morning in the park, we woke to a much nicer day. The clouds were mostly gone, and the only hints of rain were the remnants left on the car, and in the parking lot puddles.
With priorities being what they are, we headed out of the park and grabbed our breakfast burritos and coffee. It was still pretty cool as we headed up the Going to the Sun Road. The hot coffee and breakfast burritos were just what we needed as we headed for Logan Pass.
This time, we bypassed the stops we’d previously been to along Lake McDonald, hoping to reach the vistas clear of yesterday’s clouds and rain. Our climb towards Logan Pass rewarded us for our decision to see the road again. We had wonderfully clear skies and incredible views. We made multiple stops and grabbed plenty of photos.
Looking back towards McDonald Lake
Just after navigating ‘The Loop’ switchback, we have a clear view of the valley we’d just driven up from Lake McDonald. By this time we also had some clouds starting to build on the western side of the mountains.
Once we cleared Logan Pass, the skies cleared and we had great views of the impressive peaks, valleys, and lakes. Sadly, most of the glaciers have retreated over the recent decades. Today they are just shells of their former selves. We spotted several for the road as we traversed the park. Had we the time, inclination, and maybe some camping gear, we could have taken one of the many hikes back to the glaciers.
Recommended
All in all, Glacier National Park turned out to be a fantastic experience. We’d highly recommend a visit. Suddenly, it’s time to hit the road again and head further west!
It was our wedding anniversary when we arrived in Glacier National Park. One thing that everyone needs to know about Glacier National Park is the cell service. It is somewhere between non-existent and abysmal. For most of the park, expect to see No Service on your mobile device. As far as WiFi goes, forget about it as well. No place has WiFi (or WeeFee as one local pronounced it). After two days in Grand Teton National Park with no cell and marginal WiFi, we were prepared for several more days cut off from technology.
Breakfast On our first morning, I arose early and headed out in search of coffee and breakfast. The line for coffee was incredibly long at one spot- only one spot. No place had breakfast. I gave Julie the news and we headed out. In West Glacier, just outside the park, we grabbed a couple of breakfast burritos that were amazing. Potatoes, green peppers and onions, cheese… and of course scrambled eggs. Great coffee to boot!
Munching on the breakfast burritos, we drove back into the park and onto Going-to-the-Sun Road. The weather was overcast and about 50 as we started. We made a few stops along the lake as we headed north. Every time we got out of the car we were greeted with the fresh smell of pine.
Lake McDonald
Initially, our intent was to reach the continental divide at Logan Pass – 32 miles at an elevation of 6646′. Going-to-the-Sun Road starts at the south end of Lake McDonald, slowly gaining elevation along the east side of Lake McDonald.
Along the lake McDonald Falls on Avalanche Creek was a nice first stop for us. Quiet and scenic, we relaxed and shot a couple of photos. From that point, the road pretty much follows McDonald Creek, getting steeper after the Avalanche Creek picnic area.
Julie at McDonald Falls
After we passed over Avalanche. Creek, we started to get some rain, and wisps of clouds started drifting lower. This was not great for sightseeing, but we were in explorer mode. Before approaching Logan Pass, we had to navigate ‘the loop,’ a hairpin switch-back with a perilously sharp drop to the left as you approach.
Weather closing in By this time, we couldn’t see the tops of the mountains as they were shrouded in a heavy layer of clouds. Below that, the winds and rain had picked up and those wisps of cloud were now denser, and rapid-moving clouds as they pushed up the west side of the peaks.
From ‘the loop’, and until we passed the ‘weeping wall’, Julie often chose to ignore the view because of the steep drop outside her window, down to the valley floor far below. I stopped several times and tried to capture the clouds and the terrain, but this wasn’t great photography weather.
Dark clouds blowing past
After the clouds closed in, the temperature dropped, and the rain really picked up. Suddenly we found ourselves at Logan Pass. The temperature was near 40, and the wind was driving a steady rain. Because of COVID, the indoor section of the visitor center at Logan Pass was closed. Also, because of the weather, no one was hanging around outside to ask any questions. 90% of the ‘visitors’ were simply making a mad dash to the restrooms and then back to their vehicles.
Heading East Surprisingly, as we headed further east from Logan Pass, the clouds and rain diminished. It was still sprinkling, and cloudy when we reached the Jackson Glacier Overlook. The receded Jackson and Blackfoot glaciers, visible from that point, were a disappointment. (Global warming is causing glaciers to retreat)
Our next stop was at Sun Point Nature Trail. After a short walk down towards Saint Mary Lake, we came out on a promontory with an incredible view south, across the lake. We could clearly see a large hanging valley across from us and peaks to the east and west. It was beautiful. (It was also cold with a cutting wind)
Saint Mary Lake
We continued east on the highway, the views were magnificent. We exited the park at the Saint Mary Visitor Center, an considerably less busy location compared to West Glacier. The Saint Mary entrance is located roughly halfway between the southeast corner of the park and the northeast corner at the Canadian border. The 29 miles between the Saint Mary entrance, and East Glacier Park, at the southeast corner of the park, was an interesting drive.
Outside the Park Warnings to ‘consider alternative routes’ and ‘intermittent pavement’ are appropriate. The 8′ reflector-tipped markers off the sides of the road are stark reminders that this area gets a healthy allocation of snow in the winter. (Really? Do you need markers 8′ off the ground?!?) I should also mention that for 86 miles between Saint Mary and West Glacier we saw only a single gas station in East Glacier Park.
All in all, this trip took us five hours, less one 30 minute nap somewhere in the Flathead National Forest where we pulled off Hwy 2. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be better, except for the snow. Hopefully, we can provide a better narrative of Glacier National Park.
This morning found us renting e-Bikes for a back-country road trip. At home, Julie rides her bike every day. Me, I get saddle sores just thinking about riding a bike. Regardless (or irregardless for some of my friends), we rented a pair of e-Bikes and headed out, map in hand.
These bikes we very nice, Trek Rail-5 e-Bikes. They handle paved roads and paths fine and are very stable on ‘gravel‘ roads. That was good, because our route was 28 miles across paved and gravel roads. However, I was more interested in the power assist from the bikes because we were climbing over a series of ridges with elevation changes of over 2300’.
The bike has four power-assist settings. ECO, Tour, EMTB, and Turbo. ECO gives a little boost, but Tour is the setting for flat to moderate hills. EMTB stands for (a guess) E-Mountain Bike. Those pesky little hills won’t stand a chance at this setting! Then there is Turbo. The guy at the bike rental shop told us, “You won’t need Turbo mode, but you can try it out if you like.”
Heading Out
The Trek is a big heavy bike compared to what we’ve ridden in the past. We walked the bikes across the street and then started off riding the bike. Within a ¼ mile we were both comfortable on the bikes and turned onto Twentymile Rd. There were some inclines, but the bike handled them with no issue. Until mile 6.
The road slowly became steeper, and then precipitous. We switched from Tour to EMTB and benefitted from the power assist. Even with the bike helping us, it was a long three-mile climb. This is about the point where I started asking Julie, “Tell me again, why did you want to do this?” Well, we took a well-deserved rest at the top of this hill after climbing ~600ft.
The First Real Hill
Leaving our first rest stop, we began a fantastic 1-mile descent. Whoa! We were flying down the slope at over 35 mph. On a bike, that’s a rush! But then it was back to climbing another hill. This next climb was four miles long. Argh! It was here that we discovered the power of TURBO!
By now we were on a dirt road; the map claimed it was a ‘gravel road’. Between the road surface and the grade becoming pretty sharp, Julie and I were both struggling. Even with the power assist set at EMTB, it was rough going. With my longer legs, I was able to make pretty good progress, but Julie started falling back. “You go on ahead”, Julie breathlessly told me with just a little self-pity in her voice. So I knuckled down and pushed ahead.
The climb continued to torture me. I looked back several times and Julie was still there, but falling further behind. I focused and pushed on. Unexpectedly, I heard bike tires behind me. Suddenly, Julie was beside me…, passing me! (What the heck?!?) With a big smile on her face, she yelled ‘Turbooooo‘ as she passed, and continued streaking up the hill. She had discovered the power of TURBO.
From that point on, whenever we hit a hill of any measure, we selected TURBO and attacked the hill. When we passed riders on ‘regular’ bikes struggling up the hill; we just apologized and kept going. After the last hill, we’d passed above 7200ft and it was mostly downhill from there.
We had multiple rest stops, we drank a lot of water. There were also a few map stops to make sure we were on the right route. Our time for the 28-mile trek was somewhere around 2½ hours. We really enjoyed the trip and enjoyed the eBikes even more. We’d never had made it without them.
This morning we woke up in Colby, KS, about 1600 miles into our summer swing across the western United States. With Colorado being our first ‘real destination’, we’ve just been pounding out the miles so far.Ledgeview Elementary
From the highway, we only get a glimpse of the country we pass through, but I find it curious that a great deal I remember about the states came from 5th grade. Back in the day, we had to learn the names of the states and their capital cities. We also learned the various states’ history, economics, and development. Absent what I learned in Ledgeview Elementary School, these are a few of the interesting observations from the front seat of our SUV.
Georgia
Forsyth, Georgia. We spent our first night in this small town just north of Macon, Georgia. Forsyth has our vote for Smalltown, USA. The center of the town is what you’d expect with shops and cafes. Outside of Main Street, the roads are lined with beautiful trees. They claim the oldest Magnolia tree in the state of Georgia.
South of Atlanta, we passed a very large solar farm that looked to be nearing construction completion. It ran along I-75 for close to a mile and stretched east into the hills. We never thought of Georgia as a location for solar energy, but it IS just north of Florida, the Sunshine State. We’re happy to see solar expanding.
It was late in the afternoon, and we were getting tired as we left western Tennessee and entered the tip of Kentucky. Here we passed through Paducah, Kentucky – a place I know of, but likely only from 5th grade. Pasucah is a city I’ve never really thought of traveling past. Sitting at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers, I can see that Paducah would have been an important city in the 1800s. And suddenly it was in our rearview mirror.
Here Comes the Rain
Just east of St Louis, Missouri the skies darkened, the temperature dropped and we were entertained by distant, long strokes of lightning from high clouds. The strobe lightning led the front of a rainstorm as we headed west along I-64. Then, suddenly the rains came. Heavy, dense, dark, pounding rain. We slowed to 40 MPH with flashers on, our wipers could barely keep up.
After about 15 minutes of white knuckle driving, we finally drove out of the rain. It was gone nearly as fast as it had initially attacked us. From well outside St Louis, we caught a distant view of the 630 ft St Louis arch. If it hadn’t been raining so hard, we might have detoured to get closer. After all, it is “Missouri’s tallest accessible building, the world’s tallest arch and the tallest manmade monument in the Western Hemisphere“, at least that’s according to Wikipedia.
Kansas
Yesterday we experienced what I call the two faces of Kansas. Eastern Kansas has rolling hills and trees. It isn’t lush, but it’s not dry either. Then, about halfway across the state, most of the trees are gone and the hills are not as high. Heat, corn, wheat, and wind – that’s what we saw and felt. Fields that seem to stretch for miles were waiting to be harvested.
Thank goodness for air conditioning! The outside temperature was over 100 for most of the way across western Kansas on I-70. In addition to corn and wheat, we passed vast farms of wind turbines generating sustainable electricity from the ever-present wind. Sitting here at a desk in our motel I’m looking at a picture of an old prairie windmill. The link to the modern behemoths stretching across the windswept prairie is not lost on me.
Well, it’s time to hit the road again. Next stop, Colorado,
These bikes we very nice, Trek Rail-5 e-Bikes. They handle paved roads and paths fine and are very stable on ‘gravel‘ roads. That was good, because our route was 28 miles across paved and gravel roads. However, I was more interested in the power assist from the bikes because we were climbing over a series of ridges with elevation changes of over 2300’.
The outside temperature was over 100 for most of the way across western Kansas on I-70. In addition to corn and wheat, we passed vast farms of wind turbines generating sustainable electricity from the ever-present wind. Sitting here at a desk in our motel I’m looking at a picture of an old prairie windmill. The link to the modern behemoths stretching across the windswept prairie is not lost on me.