View from Going to the Sun Highway
Going to the Sun Highway 2008
The drive over the Going to the Sun Highway is one of the highlights of any trip to Glacier National Park. The highway goes through the heart of the scenery at Glacier.
During our visit, large sections of the highway on the west side of the park (our side) were under construction to repair damage from past storms. This meant that there were numerous long delays around various construction zones. To make matters worse, the highway was closed to east bound traffic 2 days after we arrived. So we didn't have much chance to enjoy all the sights on the highway. And no time for the many hikes along the highway.
Many of the overlooks were closed due to construction and the bumper-to-bumper traffic that resulted from all the stops for construction, made it nearly impossible to stop and enjoy the view. Even with all this, the drive over the mountains was spectacular and something we would not have missed.
Logan Pass
We stopped at the Logan Pass to get out of the traffic and stretch our legs.
The peaks were all covered with clouds. And the clouds were starting to reach down
into the meadows. We could have spent the entire day hiking around Logan Pass except
for the fact we needed to get to Swiftcurrent Lake. By the time we left the parking
lot, the visibility had dropped to perhaps 100 feet. Fortunately, the fog disappeared less
than a mile after we left the parking lot.
We stopped at the Saint Mary's Lake overlook to admire the view. We were starting to run out of time if we wanted to make our boat trip, so we didn't spend as much time as we wanted.
When we came back though the Logan Pass area after our paddle on Swiftcurrent Lake, we had a bit more time and enjoyed the waterfall at Logan Pass.
We did see the red bus that is used to provide transportation to those who don't want to drive. Looks like a good way to go if you want to stop and hike and not worry about your car.
