East Glacier to Kalispell

Today was the pinnacle of the trip.

We rode our GS's through Glacier National Park on Going-To-The-Sun Road.  It was everything I had hoped for.  Glacier is the most shockingly beautiful place I have ever been.  Ever.  Anywhere.  If riding the 50 mile Going-To-The-Sun Road through GNP isn't on your bucket list, it should be.

The ride started under mostly clear skies and temps in the low 40's.  As the morning wore on the cloud cover built and at times obstructed our views but there are so many fantastic vistas in Glacier that there was always something spectacular to see.  In fact, there was never a point on GTTS Road that did not have a spectacular view.  It was non-stop Ooh'ing and Ah'ing.  Often the clouds spilled around the peaks and the sun poking through the clouds often lit things up in dramatic ways.

From our motor court in East Glacier Park, MT we headed north on Hwy 49 along the eastern edge of the park.  Unlike yesterday, when the sun was in the wrong position much of the time, this time the sun rising in the east lit up the mountain peaks like a Hollywood set.  It was fantastic.

Before we entered the park, we stopped at the St. Mary Lodge for fuel and a bio break.  We ended up chatting with a very sweet New Zealand couple in a rented motor home who were enthused and curious about our bikes.  They ride BMW's back home and wanted to talk about bikes.  After this exchange, I walked past a couple of young girls with backpacks.  I asked where they were headed and they told me they been hiking the Continental Divide Trail...Mexico to Canada.  Couple thousand miles...wow.  They'd been on the trail since April and planned to finish on Sunday. Prior to this, they'd done the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Rim Trail. 

Following a quick exchange at the gate (our Lifetime Senior Passes work great) we began our ascent in very gusty conditions.   We entered the park at St. Mary and began riding along the signature road through Glacier...Going-To-the-Sun Road. 

Winds were blowing at least 25MPH and when we reached Lake St Mary the white caps were very pronounced.

The mountains in Glacier are massive, jutting up at crazy angles. And the road is smack in the middle of these incredible peaks.  Some support vegetation halfway to the top, but above 9500' or so most are raw, jagged rock.  There are in fact glaciers to be seen, though they are fewer and smaller than they were in the past.  Whether or not you subscribe to the "global warming" theories, there's no denying that the glaciers are in decline.

Having said that, the lack of glaciers does very little to take away from the impact these mountains make on you.  Traffic was moderate and slow, but this is not a ride you do to go fast.  There are dozens of pull offs and KC and I took advantage of most of them.  The park operates a fleet of red "coaches" that haul tourists by the score up and over Logan Pass.  KC tells me that they have all been renovated with modern drive trains and amenities.

They are very cool.

When we reached Logan Pass (Elev. 6,647') KC and I stopped.  For some unknowable reason, the parking lot at Logan Pass has special, motorcycle only parking that is closer to the Visitor Center and Restrooms than the Handicapped parking was.  The lot was packed with vehicles but the MC parking was empty.  "Well thank you very much, don't mind if I do."  When did the Man start giving motorcyclists a break?

I climbed the formidable steps leading up to the Visitor Center to shop for stickers.  Once inside the Center I encountered a big group of cyclists who were thawing out from riding to the pass.  I was in awe and talked to them for several minutes about their ride.  There were cyclists all over Glacier...very cool!!!

Near the end of Going-To-The-Sun road we rode along side Lake McDonald, which is a pristine glacier cut lake about 10 miles long and nearly 500' deep.  Near the Lodge, we turned off into some secluded private property where folks had built small cabins along the shoreline of Lake McDonald around the turn of the 20th century (circa 1910 or so...which is about when Glacier was named as a national park).   A good friend of KC's named "Big Ernie" has previously restored a number of these historic cabins and was working on an old cabin when we arrived.  The cabin had originally been built by a single individual with nothing but an ax.

Big Ernie showed us around and we made our way out the back of the cabin where we enjoyed the fantastic view of the lake.  As Ernie described the work that he'd done on several of these historic old structures, I began to appreciate the scope of things he could do.   This is another guy you want close by when things go south.  We arranged to have dinner with Big Ernie that night and then said goodbye.

A short ways down the road we stopped at a diner for lunch.  My iPhone alerted me to the news that my son Jon, who just graduated from UNG, had received a great job offer from AT&T.  It's exactly what he'd hoped for and I was thrilled.  Yeah Jon!!!

Following a quick lunch, we exited the park's gate and made our way to our hotel.  In a heavy traffic retail area of Kalispell, we came across a horrific motorcycle accident that had just happened.  The rider was lying face down and motionless.  It shook me up.  KC's advice was to shut it out of my mind...guess he's right.  As we continued to our hotel, the emergency vehicles streamed past us.

That night Big Ernie came by our hotel and took us out to a great restaurant where he told stories of being a park ranger in the area.  I really enjoyed meeting him.  I'll fill in some details tomorrow.  Big Ernie is the exact opposite of the yuppy trash we encountered in Aspen.  One real, one not so much.  You can take your pick...I'll take Big Ernie every time.

So, after months of planning and dreaming about this trip, today was our crowning achievement...the ride over Going-To-The-Sun Road was a dream come true and I am grateful to KC for helping me make it happen.   It was gorgeous and like nothing I've ever seen before.  Glacier NP is a special place and I feel fortunate to have had this opportunity to see some of it.  I'd love to return some day, but if I can't, at least I've had this experience.