Today, we went into the national park and drove the Going-to-the-Sun Road. I had foolishly thought that since most of the July 4th crowd had gone home that it wouldn't be very crowded. It was still kind of crowded and many of the parking lots were packed. But we still found places to stop along the road. Logan Pass visitor's center was packed with people circling the small parking lot trying to snag a space so we skipped that.
But the views along the road were still phenomenal. At the St. Mary visitor's center, the video mentioned that all of the glaciers in the park would be gone by 2030 and that will probably have a large impact on the ecosystem of the park. I was surprised to hear that all of the glaciers in the park were disappearing. I have a picture taken from the same viewpoint in the early 1980s with a glacier. I'll need to try and find that slide...
Looking at these mountains will never seems to get old. Someone mentioned last night that the road had just opened up in the last couple of weeks and there was still some equipment cleaning up some residual snow along the road.
These 17 passenger, open topped cars were doing tours and it looked like a good way to see the park. I must admit that as driver, I didn't see a lot of the scenery along the really narrow sections. Plus, there were a lot of drivers crossing the line. A significant number of motorcycles (a lot of heavy cruisers) seemed to have difficulty keeping their bike within their lane. Maybe people don't like going next to the cliff face or the cliff edge.
This is at the St. Mary visitor's center at the eastern end of the road. There was a emphasis that this park was just a part of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park as it straddles the border. One of these days I want to see the Canadian portion of the park. It always seems like there isn't enough time.
Sounds like it was a good day, despite the traffic...
ReplyDeleteThis really was a beautiful park though the disappearance of the glaciers kind of caught me by surprise.
DeleteCagers who can't seem to stay in their lane on narrow roads are very annoying and dangerous. If you're afraid of the edge, don't go on mountain roads! Sigh. Perhaps you and Bridget can do that tour bus thing and not worry about the driving.
ReplyDeleteNext time we will probably try the red, open topped touring cars. They look pretty interesting.
DeleteThe pictures of the park look beautiful. I've always wanted to visit the National Parks, but the crowds are off-putting to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm told that the key is to visit only when schools are in session. But I don't know that for a fact. My favorite visit to Yellowstone was in the middle of winter. And I've been to Yosemite during the winter and it was still pretty empty.
DeleteFor some reason we never made it to Glacier NP, it looks stunning, and I hope to get an opportunity to visit at some point... meanwhile thanks for the views ;-)
ReplyDeleteGlacier is fabulous, and we noticed a huge difference in the glaciers from our previous visit in 1999 vs summer of 2015. Sadly, when we were there, St Mary's was on fire and we could not go past Logan Pass from the west. We did go all the way around to Waterton and it is equally wonderful! I would like to visit again in the fall, when it is less crowded.
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