Going-to-the-Sun

This year Alison and I celebrated a wonderful 4th of July weekend at Glacier National Park. National parks inspire us, uplift our spirits, and serve as powerful reminders of our national origins and destiny. Glacier National park was a fitting place to celebrate Independence day. 

We flew to Kalispell Friday night after work. Blake and Debbie were traveling with us this weekend and arrived earlier in the day. They were at the airport to pick us up. We were glad to see them. Our flight arrived quite late so we headed right to bed. 

On Saturday we drove right to Glacier National Park. This was Alison and my first time visiting Glacier. Blake and Debbie were excited to show us the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Glacier National Park requires reservations to drive on this scenic roadway. When we initially booked this trip they did not require advance reservations. However sometime between when we booked and May they implemented a timed entry system. Under this system, tickets are made available for reservation 60 days in advance and again 48 hours in advance. When we found out about this requirement all of the 60 day tickets were long gone. We knew we had to get some of the tickets that became available 48 hours in advance or we may have cancelled our trip. Fortunately, Debbie came through and snagged a reservation for us. 

The Going-to-the-Sun Road is quite remarkable. The scenery keeps getting more and more stunning as you drive along the road. There are plentiful pull offs. We used them to give ourselves more time to soak in the breathtaking views. The park really wasn’t too busy. This was a big perk of the reservation system. While it was somewhat stressful to get a reservation the park was much more enjoyable with the limited capacity. Alison was a little worried before we came because parks without capacity limits in place tend to get so packed on holiday weekends that they become much less enjoyable. That was not the case in Glacier. We were able to pull off at every area we wanted to visit. 

We took our time driving through the park. We stopped for a while at Lake McDonald. This lake is so crystal clear and was as smooth as glass. I enjoyed skipping rocks across the water. We also stopped by McDonald falls and many other beautiful falls along the way. 

We took every opportunity to stop and enjoy the park. Debbie and I walked through one of the tunnels to take pictures. As the road climbed we stopped often to look out over the vast landscapes, glacier topped mountains, and plentiful waterfalls. There are waterfalls everywhere you look. 

When we got up to Logan’s Pass, we stopped to explore. This area of the park was busier, but Blake was able to find a place to park. As we walked around meadows full of wildflowers we were on the lookout for wildlife. We did spot a herd of bighorn sheep. We also watched a couple of chipmunks run and play. As we were leaving Logan’s pass we also saw a bighorn sheep right in the road.

We continued along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Our next big stop was the Wild Goose Island overlook. This is an iconic Glacier National Park view with the island sitting on picturesque Saint Mary Lake and the towering mountains of Glacier in the background. 

We spent hours driving today. As we drove we talked about it Blake and Debbie about all kinds of things. It has been a while since we traveled with them. We very much enjoyed spending the weekend together. 

We followed the Going-to-the-Sun Road right to Saint Mary. By the time we arrived here it was nearly evening. We were famished. Given our limited dining options we ate at Johnson’s of Saint Mary. At their “world famous” restaurant everything was homemade. We shared a delicious family style turkey dinner. It was quite good. I also very much enjoyed a couple of refreshing huckleberry lemonades. Then for dessert Alison and I shared a giant slice of huckleberry ice cream pie - it was divine. On this trip I was way into anything huckleberry. 

Once we had eaten we were feeling refreshed. We decided to drive to the Canadian border. It was only about 10-15 miles away. We couldn’t cross (it is still closed due to Covid), but it was still interesting to see. 

After the border we drove to Many Glacier. This is a region that is north and east of the Going-to-the-Sun Road. It is only accessible by car from the east side of the park. Even to get there from the east side you have to drive quite a ways on a somewhat rough, gravel road. The Many Glacier area is quite beautiful and is the site of an Alpine inspired hotel. This hotel is located on the shores of the Swiftcurrent lake. We strolled around the hotel and the lake.

We drove back to Saint Mary and then headed back along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. By now the sun was beginning to set. We are far enough north that even at this time of year sunset is not until 9:40pm. We continued to stop along our way home to enjoy the setting sun. We did come to an abrupt stop near Logan’s pass because of a long line of stopped vehicles. We thought they might be stopped because of wildlife, but there was a rock slide on the road. Debbie tried to conscript Blake to help clear the road, but the people at the front of the line had it taken care of. Before too long we were moving again. 

We followed the Going-to-the-Sun Road until the sun went down and then we headed back to our hotel.