Going to the Sun!

On Wednesday morning, we traveled to Glacier National Park, which is about 45 minutes from our campground. The drive that goes through the park is called the "Going to the Sun" highway. The mountains in Glacier National Park are the northern part of the Rockies. We saw some of the most spectacular mountain scenery we've ever seen. In fact, Joe and I discussed whether it was the best mountain scenery in the U.S. He took the affirmative. I think it is one of the best, but we've seen many beautiful mountains so I hesitate to say the very best.

Passes are required to enter the park (due to the large crowds), and we were fortunate enough to be able to obtain a pass Tuesday evening, when they made a few more available. We entered through the west gate, and shortly after entering the main gate, there is a station where they check your pass and also decide if they will allow your vehicle to go through. There is a vehicle length limit of 21 feet; our truck is almost 23 feet. We were hoping they wouldn't notice the 2 extra feet, or they wouldn't be super strict about it. When we stopped to show our pass, and the guy then started looking at the truck, I thought he was going to make a comment on the length, and whether he would let us through. Instead he started telling Joe how much he loves the truck and wants to get one just like it. The two men had a brief conversation about trucks, and he waved us through.

The drive through the park was mostly on good roads, but there were a few places where the roads were very narrow, with a very short wall for a guard rail. The weather wasn't great. It was cloudy, a little hazy, and some light rain from time to time. When we started out, we drove along Lake McDonald. It was a beautiful setting with the mountains in the background. Near the end, there was another lake, St. Mary Lake, making for another beautiful setting. Along the drive there were streams and a few waterfalls. There was one place where the rock was very porous and water was just seeping through the entire rock wall alongside the highway. This place was known as the Weeping Mountain. We did see a bear at one point. Also a couple of cows just sauntering alongside the road.

When we reached the top at Logan's Pass, we must have climbed above the clouds, and the sun came out. (We did go to the sun!) After climbing to Logan's Pass, we descended the east side and arrived at the town of St. Mary, known as the town where the prairie meets the mountains.

After we exited the park at St. Mary, we drove southwest along the eastern edge of the park, and then northwest along the western edge to return to our campground. Unexpectedly there was additional beautiful sights even from outside the park.

Well, words won't do it justice, and really, neither will the pictures, but I'll post some of the ones I took today. Sorry if there are so many. It's so hard to decide which ones to include. So here goes ...

These two pictures are from the drive from the campground to the park.

These are from inside the park.

Lake McDonald

Lake McDonald

Narrow road with low guard rail

St. Mary Lake

St. Mary Lake

St. Mary Lake

Bear sighting

These pictures were taken on the drive back to the campground.