Glacier National Park – Going to the Sun Road ft. Pics by Ms. Magicwolfcub

When I was still on the west side of the park, before being recalled to Rising Sun, I had visitors! My parental units, my grand-parental unit and my youngest (Magicwolfcub) all came to visit me. This was nice. We all piled into the accommodating and comfortable Ms. Vandura to do some sightseeing and take a ride up the famed Going to the Sun Road, which none of us had been on for at least 35 years. Yeah, that’s a long time!

So what’s it like?

Well, unless you come during the shoulder season be warned that it’s terribly busy. Like really, really busy. Like people-will-park-their-vehicles-along-this-narrow-road-and-leave-their-doors-open-and-you-have-to-try-to-not-hit-them busy. The road is narrow enough that in places 2 Red Buses wouldn’t be able to pass each other. (I personally think it would be wise to consider turning the Going to the Sun Road into a one-way, maybe two-way for shuttle or Red Bus traffic only.)

Being a professional driver and being used to all kinds of questionable roads, the road itself didn’t bother me.

The traffic and crowds did. The Going to the Sun Road is a 2-way road and you really need to watch for vehicles wandering over into your oncoming lane, and pedestrians or bicycles (even when not allowed) wandering around obliviously also in the middle of your lane, being suddenly right there around a corner, and people having parts of their stopped vehicles hanging out into your already narrow lane. Do not drive this road if you’re tired,  under the weather, not with it, etc. Expect anything from the other vehicles/people.

Basically, if you’re envisioning a quiet winding mountain drive, with the birds twittering, a gentle breeze and solitude, this road is not the one you want!

Be aware that there are usually construction slowdowns and backups around Logan Pass. Bear/wildlife jams are a frequent occurrence also. The Going to the Sun Road, from one end to the other, though it’s only around 50-some miles,  will take at least several hours to navigate, and that’s without factoring stops anywhere. It was pretty crowded, so we didn’t really stop anywhere except for a quick trip in to Rising Sun so I could say hello to my crew there. Plan accordingly!

Coming over from west-to-east, the downhill grades are pretty steady on the backside of Logan Pass. You’ll have to be on the brakes constantly to keep within the posted speed limit, especially with a heavier vehicle. I actually had smoke coming from Ms. Vandura’s brakes, even using my air-brake braking technique to try to keep them cooler, though she has hydraulics. That said, it was an extremely hot day when we went and we also went through the still-smoking remains of the Reynolds Creek fire.

I would recommend taking a shuttle bus. If you drive yourself, be cautioned that the driver won’t be able to do much sight-seeing because you’ll be too busy dodging others and concentrating pretty heavily on not driving off the edge or scraping on the wall. On our trip through, the Weeping Wall was barely a trickle due to the heat and drought so we didn’t really get any shots of that.

Fortunately, I had my excellent resident photographer, Magicwolfcub with me! She did a fabulous job just having a camera-phone and needing to shoot through Ms. Vandura’s back side windows, which couldn’t be opened, thus fighting reflections…all while moving…not an easy feat. All pictures in this post are courtesy of her. I’m so glad she took these because being the driver required my full attention and so I couldn’t pay much attention to the scenery!

Many of these photos show the haze from the fires, one is a shot of the freshly burned-out-forest, and other shows a live patch still smouldering off in the distance.

Magictunes Corner:

Just how deep do you believe
Will you bite the hand that feeds
Will you chew until it bleeds
Can you get up off your knees
Are you brave enough to see
Do you want to change it

Factoid: Trent Reznor, frontman for NIN appeared with Lindsey Buckingham (of Fleetwood Mac) along with Dave Grohl (of Foo Fighters) and Queens of the Stone Age in a 2014 Grammy performance of “Copy of A”: