Going to the Sun, Part 2

Friday morning I got up around the same time as the sun and ventured out for a run.  With us being on the north end of Kalispell I basically just followed some bike paths out of town and wandered on some back roads.  It felt a lot like running in Logan, only the Flathead Valley is much wider than the Cache Valley so I couldn’t run to the mountains.

Back at the hotel, Susan and I grabbed breakfast and packed the car for the day.  We went straight back to Glacier NP through the West Glacier gate and proceeded past the areas we saw yesterday.  The main agenda item was to take on the entire length of the Going to the Sun Road, which is the main artery of the entire park.  It is only open for full transit a few months of the year due to the extreme road conditions, which we would discover later.

A quick stop along the road

First stop for Friday though was only a few miles past Lake McDonald at the Trail of the Cedars.  This is about a mile loop hike on boardwalks through a cedar forest.  It would be a great stroll any time of the day since the large cedars provide ample shade, but the temps were especially pleasant this morning.  The lushness of the wildlife was surprising, especially after having been exposed to the dry Utah wilderness as long as we have.  The trees and undergrowth were almost jungle-like by comparison.  The trail also provided a small waterfall overlook at the back of the loop and had access to other more aggressive hikes splitting off from the trail.  We opted to not take on aggressive hikes on this trip since we had so much park to see in a little time and also because “little lady Kissel” is limiting our extended hiking capabilities.

 
Sights along the trail, including an uprooted tree

Leaving Trail of the Cedars we drove along the river valley for a few miles more and into the glacier-cut mountains (very sheer) we saw from the boat cruise yesterday.  Before long, we were climbing.  After a large switchback called the Loop, the road really narrows and starts heading up and up toward the Logan Pass.  Along the way up the road, there a number of small pull-outs with incredible views in all directions.  We stopped numerous times to take shots of the river winding through the valley, the snowmelts on the slopes above, the sheer mountains and bowls across the valley, and the few small glaciers we could see. 

Behind us is Jackson Glacier

The car gives some perspective along this route
  
Beautiful views

Triple Arches

There were sections as we got closer to the pass where melting snow created waterfalls that were pouring onto the narrow ledge that was the road.  It’s amazing to think the engineering technology and tools were available in the 1930’s to create this road in the first-place and we could understand why it normally is still closed at the higher elevations until June.  Eventually, we reached Logan Pass which is the peak of the road and has a (very crowded) visitor’s center.  Here I was able to finally view bighorn sheep in the wild (I’ve been searching for them for years).  A small group of 6 or 7 were grazing the hillsides across from the parking lot, so Susan and I got lots of pictures of these majestic animals.  Apparently the mountain goats also can be found at Logan Pass most of the time, but we were so enamored with the sheep we missed the goats completely and continued east toward the St. Mary’s Lake side of the park.

Jeff with the sheep

Tunnel along the road

The descent down the east portion of the road was still breathtaking, but not quite as dramatic as the west side.  Also, we were hungry and it was getting to be late lunch time so we made less stops along the way out to St. Mary’s.  After leaving the east gate, we hunted around a little before finding a roadside café in Babb, MT.  From the café, we were less than 10 miles drive from the Canadian border…but we didn’t bring our passports so this would not be an international vacation.

Refueled, Susan and I ventured back into the park via a dead end road to the Many Glacier area.  This section of the park has a historic hotel designed to look like a chalet that sits on a lake that is perfectly framed by the surrounding peaks.  From here there are hikes leading to many of the larger remaining glaciers, but we did not have the time or energy to take them on so instead opted for a stroll along the lake shore.

A picturesque view on our route

Many Glacier Lodge

Us down by the lake

After stretching our legs at Many Glacier, it was time to head southward.  Outside the park again we moved down to the Two Medicine campground area, which is another dead-end entrance.  About halfway to the end of the road we pulled off and hiked a nature trail that led to a fairly large waterfall.  It was a nice .75 mile walk to get our energy back up from the afternoon lull.  Two Medicine would be the last area of the park we would tour.  To make the loop back to Kalispell we took the southern highway that parallels the railroad that defines the southern border of the park.  This was obviously a much quicker route and got us back to the Flathead Valley around dinner time.

  

For dinner, we ate at Hops, which was well reviewed from our research.  It was a small gastro pub with a large local beer selection and a menu skewed toward gourmet burgers.  The food was good, particularly Susan’s duck wings with huckleberry barbeque sauce.  Beat after dinner, we called it a day and returned to the hotel.

Saturday morning, I was up early again for a bike ride where I headed west on the flat valley roads.  It was a short ride and I was nearly back to the hotel when I flatted and Susan had to rescue me (I used my spare the previous evening when getting the bike prepped.  After the rescue, we loaded up the car, picked up Derby, and got on the road.  We took the roads south along Flathead Lake, which is beautiful and enormous so provided ample distraction as we made our way toward Missoula.

I had heard that Missoula was an interesting city, so we decided to use a day visit there as a way to break up the drive home.  We got to town and dropped off Derby for daycare and headed downtown for lunch.  Lunch was at the Riverside Café, which was fresh and delicious.  Susan’s carrot burger was especially interesting.  From there we made a loop down to the famous Carousel for Missoula and through downtown but were bummed that we had just missed the Saturday Market which had just closed on our arrival. 

Carrot burger and chick pea salad

Carousel     &     Playing in the park

Back at the car, we realized we were a little burned out of being out in the heat so looked for some indoor entertainment options.  Unfortunately we didn’t come up with much, so took a quick visit to the Bayern Brewery tasting room, drove around the University of Montana campus, and visited the Good Food Store (that’s right, a grocery) before picking up the pup midafternoon and leaving town.

The original plan had been to leave Missoula in the evening and crash for the night a few hours further south, but as we got going we decided to just haul it all the way home and save ourselves from an extra Motel 6 stay.  We arrived back in Logan late Saturday night and were gassed, but earned a full day of relaxation before kicking off another work week.

Derby finding alternatives to sleeping (since his mommy no longer has a lap for him to sleep on)

Rainbow in Idaho

Overall the trip was great and Glacier NP is definitely one of the must-see national parks.  It has a ton of variety and can be enjoyed by both the active outdoorsman with its ample hiking (which we’ll have to try and get back to) and the auto-tourist with the stunning Going to the Sun Road and the historic lodges.  This is our last real road trip while in Utah…the move back to Cincinnati is less than a month away now…time flies!