Crossing Glacier Natl Park via Going to the Sun road

Glacier Park East entrance

 

Off to Glacier Park at 7am MDT in the rain, on the Going to the Sun scenic road. Since we’re not towing, we can just go right through to the other side and carry on West, rather than having to loop back. Entrance should have cost us $5, but the girl on the gate said she wasn’t open yet, and to go on through. 

Note that trailers are not allowed on the pass, after a certain elevation. In fact, through vehicles are limited to 21 ft overall. 

5 minutes in we saw a large herd of elk. Later saw a black bear, but very briefly. Saw a ptarmigan. We decided we’d rather have rainy weather and few other vehicles, than sunny and lots of traffic on this narrow scenic twisty road. Logan’s pass at the top was over a mile high (6500 feet?), with snow markers 10 feet or more in the air. Still lots of snow around, but the road is clear. Spectacular drive, well worth doing! 

 

Still lots of snow around

Logan Pass, the highest point

Lots of waterfalls

A nice overlook from inside a tunnel

As we descended on the west end of the road, we found some deer out for a wade:

 

Once on the west side we stopped at a souvenir shop, and saw in a newspaper that the road had just been opened on Thursday (ie 2 days ago). Great planning on our part! (yeah right).

 

 

We stopped at a mall in Kalispell MT and steamed some hot dogs for lunch. We hadn’t been able to find any picnic spots at all.

We’ve seen lots of dogs riding in the back of pickup trucks. Just saw 2 Rotties in a truck with no tailgate. One dog’s butt was half hanging out the back of the truck, and he was snapping at passing vehicles - mean-looking beggar. 

Crossed in to Washington State at 4:45 on I90, 70F and sunny. Dinner at a Perkins in Spokane. Camped at 7:50 pm at Heritage Inn RV cg - the most expensive yet, but good facilities and a good night’s sleep. Really just an overnight parking spot with some trees, but not much else around that area.

Short video of St Mart and the Going to the Sun road:

 

Did you happen to notice the 2 brown dishpans on the picnic table at the beginning of the video? We're still using one of them in our current van trips!