Among our favorite family camping adventures was a most splendid trip to Glacier National Park. On the first day there, we traversed the full length of the spectacular Going-to-the-Sun Road. Driving into the park through the West entrance, we pass by Apgar Campground and the Lake McDonald Lodge, lush green forests embracing us as we follow McDonald Creek, slowly gaining elevation, heading for the high alpine meadows rising up dramatically before us in the distance.
We knew the truly breathtaking portion of this drive would be along the fabled “Garden Wall” a twisting 10 miles or so of road with the most outstanding views imaginable. Lined with incredible, sweeping vistas, lofty snow capped mountains rising magnificently up from the forests and rivers below, with sights that drop thousands of feet into valleys lost in the misty distance.
Passing Avalanche Campground, lying more or less in the middle of the park, Heather pointed up to a shear mountain face rising before us saying “I think I can see cars up there…” Grunting my disbelief, I thought there was simply no way a road could possibly be built all the way up there. Oh, how wrong I was…
Driving merrily along in the old family Windstar, we continue up the banks of McDonald Creek, Heather leaning out the passenger window snapping pictures almost as fast as the camera can squeeze them off. Rather abruptly the geology surrounding the road changes, and I realize that I’ve begun an amazing white-knuckle drive up what is little more than a twisting path hanging from a steep mountainside. What was previously a friendly tree-lined drive had become a treacherous curving path, blasted and scraped into unforgiving hard rock.
We stopped to get out and stretch our legs at a bend in the road simply known as “The Loop” essentially serving as the only switchback section on this long climb up to Logan Pass. From there we follow a slow line to cars continuing up this narrow road, thousand foot drop-offs just a few crumbling feet away, where every so often one of those wide-ass red Glacier Tour Bus passes by coming the other direction, taking up a bit too much of the available narrow road, in my humble opinion.
Onward and upward we go, around every bend a new picturesque scene, at one point suddenly curving along into the “Weeping Wall” with cascading waterfalls showering upon the road, refreshingly splashing in thru the open van windows. We look down to see the road we drove up on beside meandering banks of McDonald Creek, as we travel still higher up on the rocky alpine escarpment. One short section rolls over rather delicate looking 80year old stonework known as the Triple Arches, allowing Heather and Andy some rather fabulous, unrestricted views of the mountains and valleys stretching beyond into the distance. As for me, I contemplated the precariousness of our situation, with precious little supporting the van as we drive high above the rocky valley floor.
Nearing the top we begin to encounter random patches of snow, the alpine meadows tapering off, and the mountain is now often cracked and broken by small waterfalls seeping through the rocks. Around one final sweeping turn we have a final glimpse of the valley finally dropping away before us, ultimately reaching Logan Pass (6680 feet) the local sentinel of the continental divide. Remarkable to think that from here all water flowing east enters the Atlantic, while all that flows west from this point on will continue to the Pacific Ocean.
We stopped in to inspect the Logan Pass Visitor Center, and make use of their facilities. (Park maintenance receives a big thumbs up!)While here we took in the view of Reynolds Mountain rising even higher before us, staying carefully on the paved paths, and off delicate alpine meadows, but somehow always within sight of ever present ground squirrels. Heather looked wistfully at the trailhead sign, we scanned the deep snow bank separating us from Hidden Lake, quickly realizing how ill equipped we were to take on that particular hiking challenge. So after snapping a few more pictures, we returned to the Windstar, passed over the top of the divide, and began coasting down again, heading for St. Mary.
It’s amazing when you’re right there experiencing it in the moment, when you see how quickly the environment changes from one side of a mountain pass to the next. Sure, you’re still driving through basically the same mountains, carved by more or less the same glaciers, and yet due to peculiarities of climate and geography, there are subtle but real differences existing between the east and west sides.
Maybe it’s because after leaving the Garden Wall and Logan Pass behind, the mountain somehow quickly becomes rather gentler, the hills slightly less steep and ominous, more rivers than waterfalls, the trees moving in again to guide us along our way down the winding road. We curve around Siyeh Bend, then further down to the Jackson Glacier Overlook, passing by Sunrift Gorge, until after one long turn we catch our first glimpse of St. Mary Lake, with little Wild Goose Island sedately placed in those deep aquamarine waters.
From there we continue on, passing by the Rising Sun Campground, pleasantly rolling along among undulating prairie hills. Finally reaching the eastern park gate, from there we backtracked slightly a mile or so, checking in at the St. Mary Campground were we could set up our tent and gear. Before sunset we took a short hike together down along the cool shores of St. Mary Lake, and while there we looked back at the majestic valley from which we had just driven, thankful our first day of vacation was so spectacular, eagerly looking forward to all that Glacier National Park had yet to offer us.
And we were not to be disappointed…
“Give a month at least to this precious reserve. The time will not be taken from the sum of your life. Instead of shortening it, it will indefinitely lengthen it and make you truly immortal.”
– John Muir
