Going to The Sun Road

Going to the Sun Road pull-out above The Loop.

After my first day on the shuttle, I wanted to reserve a spot on one of the famous Red Bus Tours, but all seats were sold out for the day. The only seat available was for the following day, a half day tour in the afternoon, which would take me only as far as Logan Pass, territory I'd already covered.

It seemed the only way to see the eastern side of the Continental Divide and the Many Glacier area was to drive myself there. So here I was on my third morning at Glacier, armed with camera and a bag lunch, driving up the Going to the Sun Road.

This road really is an amazing engineering feat: to think that they began building it in 1911 at a time when even if they'd had heavy machinery, it would have been impossible to move it up the mountains to the site. The crews that surveyed the route climbed about 3000 feet a day to accomplish their task and had to hang off the mountains on ropes and ladders to take measurements. The crews that built it camped on site during the short season and supplies moved on horse or mule back--no doubt about it, these people were truly tough. It took until 1933 to complete the road linking the two sides of the park, at a cost of about 2 million dollars. A restoration project completed recently cost over 180 million! Even today, plowing this road in the spring is not a job for the faint of heart.

I made it past "The Loop"--whew! All along the road there are pull-offs every so often where one can stop to gaze at the amazing views without endangering life and limb. There was such an immensity to look at!  The road was very narrow in places, and the oncoming traffic tended to veer off towards the middle to avoid the rock wall, while those going uphill tried to stay away from the low retaining wall at the edge of the precipice. Thank heaven most people took it slow, observing the 25 MPH speed limit.

Haystack Falls and Butte.

The Weeping Wall was to the left here, and immediately after, Haystack Falls-- I remembered that from the previous day. By mid-morning all the parking areas near the trailheads were full, and hikers were out everywhere in this gorgeous weather.

Going to the Sun Road looking down the valley.

Going to the Sun Road from Logan Pass.

The Parking lot at Logan Pass with the Red Buses.

At Logan Pass the parking lot was completely full, I had no choice but to drive on, and was lucky to find parking at Siyeh Bend, just below the pass on the east side of the Continental Divide. Here the roadsides were full of wildflowers: pentstemons (beard tongue) of two different colors, bear grass, paintbrush, a white-flowered crownvetch, too many varieties for me to identify at a glance. I took photos of the plants that caught my eye, hoping to be able to identify them later, once I'd had time to consult my books.

Siyeh Bend

Lyall's Pentstemon (Pentstemon lyallii).

Alberta Pentstemon (Pentstemon albertii)

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja rhexifolia)

White Sweetvetch (Hedysarum sulphurescens)

Bear Grass (Xerophyllum tenax)

Siyeh Bend was still in the alpine zone, and many of the plants here were the same as those on the western side of the continental divide, though not all. As the road continued to descend, Mt. Jackson and its glacier came into view. The vegetation began to look different here, with aspens and lower elevation deciduous trees on drier slopes.

Mt. Jackson and Jackson Glacier

Eventually, Lake Saint Mary came into view. There was evidence of the previous year's fire and the associated succession of colonizing plants growing along its shores, with fireweed predominant. It was getting on towards one o'clock, and one of the pull-offs seemed like a wonderful spot to stop and have lunch.

Along the shore of Lake Saint Mary

Lake Saint Mary with Saint Mary and Virginia Falls on the opposite shore.

The lake, looking east towards Rising Sun and St. Mary's Village.

I lingered over my sandwich while surrounded by nature's beauty, watching a tour boat plying over the lake. After I'd finished, I turned back to see a long line of cars stopped in the middle of the road, with people hanging out the windows clicking away with cameras and videos. I asked a gentleman near me what was going on. "They've spotted a bear over there on the other side of the road," he said. I looked but didn't see anything, then suddenly a golden-backed bear appeared over the crest of the hillock, not fifty feet away!

Golden-backed black bear by Lake St., Mary.

I thought the bear could smell my lunch bag--they can pick up the smell of food miles away--was that what had attracted him? I ran towards my car (forgot that running in the presence of bears was a no-no) to dispose of my lunch bag quickly and grab my camera--I didn't want to miss this photo op! I managed to get a few shots of the bear before he ran off. In less than two minutes a park ranger showed up to investigate and break up the traffic jam, reminding folks that stopping was not allowed except at the designated pull-offs. Everyone moved on and my heart rate dropped back to normal. The ranger asked if I'd seen the bear, and I said yes, I thought it was a juvenile, but didn't know if it was a grizzly or a black bear--I'd never seen black bears of this golden hue before. The ranger told me that black bears in Glacier came in all different colors, from blonde like this one to very dark.

Beyond the lake the valley broadened and grassland became dominant. The valley floor was profuse with prairie-type wildflowers: masses of lupines, blanket flower, fleabane, wild roses, phlox and bee balm grew among the grasses.

Fields of wildflowers in east Glacier.

The line of cars in front of me stopped in the middle of the road again. I pulled over and asked what was up--it was another bear sighting, this one was quite far away. I got my binoculars out and spotted a big black bear feeding in the bushes at the base of the line of mountains. Another park ranger came by and dispersed the cars with the same reminder. It seemed bears were more numerous on this side of the park.

Wild rose (Rosa acicularis)

Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata)

Lupines (Lupinus sericeus)

Fleabane (Erigeron speciousus)

Another few miles without incident and I was at the east entrance of the park. To get to the Many Glacier area one has to leave the park and drive north on State Route 89 for a few miles, then turn left and re-enter the park on a different road.