THURSDAY, JULY 3

THURSDAY, JULY 3:

     Another WONDERFUL day!  Lightly clouded over when we got up, but fairly warm.  Set out for St. Mary’s Visitor Center, wondering whether the rumor Bill heard last night at the program re the Sun  Road opening up today were true.  It was!!  We couldn’t believe our good fortune!  It’s an all-too-obvious metaphor for how God is never late, but rarely early!  We thought that it would be too late to book a Red Bus tour for that morning, so we opted for the Park Service shuttle.  It’s essentially a transportation service for hikers, dropping them off at various points.  And while it doesn’t have the narration and historical cachet that the Red  Busses have, it of course runs the same route, and it’s FREE.

     So we hopped aboard the 9:00 bus at the Visitors Center.  Almost immediately, the clouds became thicker.  Not so thick that you couldn’t see across to the mountain vistas, but certainly not the clear beautiful day weather we’ve had for the last couple of days.  And by the time we reached Logan Pass at 6,700 feet (highest point on the road; on the Continental Divide), it was drizzling, windy, and cold!  I’d only worn a short sleeve T-shirt with my zip-up light fleece jacket.  We saw lot of people with only shorts on shivering!  So at that point we knew that we wouldn’t be doing any hiking, and settled on seeing what scenery we could.  We were glad when the transfer bus drove up a few minutes later, to get out of the cold!

      Well, another gift right on time!  The clouds soon started breaking up, and more and more blue sky appeared.  By the time we were a little further on down the road, the views & vistas were magnificent.  Rushing waterfalls from snow & glacier melt around nearly every turn.  I think the grandest I’ve ever seen.  There was one place named the Weeping Wall, where the torrent of water came right over the rocks next to the road.  You’d better have your window closed if you don’t want to get wet!  The only disadvantage to this free shuttle vs. the Red Bus is that they don’t stop for sight-seeing & photo ops, only at about half-a-dozen popular hiking spots.  So for the most part, Bill didn’t even try to capture the gorgeous scenes out of the windows as we were moving.

     Another delight on this leg of the trip was the family we were sitting close to.  Parents and 4 kids – looked in age from pre-teen to early 20’s.  They left from Vermont the same day we did – June 20, and arrived at the west side of Glacier yesterday.  From here, they’re  making a grand circle, going over to the West Coast, to Arizona, Colorado, eventually going to North Carolina and then home.  All by the first part of August.  Whew!  They’re travelling in a Class C RV.  I can’t imagine 6 grown people in one of those for 6 or 7 weeks!  At least 2 of the kids were special needs (we only saw the back of the head of the youngest) – evidenced by their speech & behavior.  Of course, our immediate instinct is to feel compassion & pity for them.  But maybe we’re the ones in need of pity!  The girl (looked in her early 20’s) was full of joy & exuberance, literally bouncing out of her seat with glee at each waterfall she saw.  Was particularly timely in light of the S.S. class I was in for 3 weeks before we left, on how we can/should minister to people in our faith community with disabilities.  The teacher posed the question, “Are we to look at people w/ disabilities as more affected by the Fall than the rest of us?”  One thoughtful response was that we’re all broken – for most of us, it’s just less visible.  

     Anyway, our next short stop was at The Loop, where the road makes a big hairpin turn.  Heavens Peak was gloriously bathed in sunlight across the valley.  
                                                                                     

  
       Then on to Avalanche Creek.  We decided to get out there and hike a little.  Hiked the better part of a mile up to the “creek” gorge, which was incredibly beautiful, with the powerful stream rushing at full force right now.  Temperature was absolutely perfect now – in fact, a little too warm with my jacket. A wonderful hour or two spent here – don’t really know cuz we hadn’t been looking at any clock!
                                                                     

                                                                             

    

     By now, we were getting pretty hungry, only having had a granola bar for breakfast.  So we decided to get off at the Lake MacDonald stop (just a few miles down the road) and have lunch in the lodge.  I do know that it was 1:00 when we stepped into the restaurant.  Got a table looking out on the lake.  This is another grand, historic hotel which is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year.  Bill got a Bison meatloaf sandwich, and I went for the Black Bean burger.  What tempted me was the garnishes the menu described – goat cheese, Montana zucchini relish, Heirloom tomato.   I sure made the right choice – it was delicious!  And healthy!  I couldn’t resist their cucumber margarita – sounded so refreshing.  But I wisely didn’t order it until after I’d eaten some this time. J  Bill got another Moose Drool.  We shared a very rich, very delicious flourless chocolate cake with fresh berries & wonderful vanilla ice cream for dessert.  We justified this rather extravagant lunch (by our standards)  by saying it was our Glacier Park farewell meal, and of course the $$ we saved on the bus tour. 

                                                                                 

                                                Iconic Red Bus (aka "Jammer") waiting at MacDonald Lake Lodge

      So then we strolled up to the shuttle stop and actually chose to wait in the shade, rather than in the sun.  We decided to not go on the last few miles west to Apgar Village, the western terminus of the Sun Road.  We understood that it was mostly forest, skirting a lake.  We wanted to take advantage of the glorious weather to view the more spectacular parts of the road, especially at Logan Pass.  So in a few minutes we boarded an east-bound bus.  Extravagant views as we climbed towards Logan Pass.

                                                                            

     What a different scene at Logan Visitor Center from a few hours ago!   Everyone was having a wonderful time in their shirtsleeves in the snow!  It felt and looked like a holiday!  You could easily see how deep the snow had been.  Both of the trails which originate here were covered with snow, so all you could really do was stroll around on the concrete pathways the snowplows had cleared. 

                                                                                                

                       Notice the state this car is from.  Guess they were determined to see snow at least once!
                                                    

                                                                          
                                            

                                 Explains why you see so many crooked trees up here!

                                               Saw a lot of these little guys running around
 

     After about an hour, we boarded the 5:30 bus to take back to St. Mary’s.  Lovely views of St. Mary’s Lake as we drove by. 
                                                              

Stopped at the Visitors Center for a few minutes and chatted with a Ranger about what would be different if we stopped back here in early Sept:  most of the snowpack in the mountains would be gone – only the glacier ice remaining; the waterfalls wouldn’t be as numerous or torrential; the trails at Logan Pass wouldn’t be snow-covered; the wildflowers would be different.  Hmmmm . . .  .

     This day was just about perfect, and so serendipitous.  There seemed to be an atmosphere of festivity & celebration nearly everywhere.  So many people were like us – waiting and hoping that the legendary Going to the Sun Road would open up before they had to leave.  Every stop was pleasantly crowded, but not overwhelmingly so.  Like I said, just a convivial, light-hearted  atmosphere.  Lots of private vehicles making the drive. Pent-up demand.   

     It worked out perfectly for us to take the shuttle instead of the Red Bus – had the flexibility to hike, eat a leisurely lunch, do things on our own schedule.  And am sooo glad we didn’t try to drive it ourselves!  We both would have been nervous wrecks.  A ride on Going to the Sun Road is something everyone should experience at least once – but the narrowness & twisty curves make for a white knuckled drive, and far better to leave the driving to professionals if you want a relaxing, supremely pleasurable experience!

     When we got back to the RV, Bill worked a while getting things ready to leave tomorrow morning. He was sweating when he came inside!  But, even though the temperature probably reached into the 80’s again today, tonite it will probably get cool enough for the furnace to kick on!  Quintessential Western mountain climate.  We love it.

     Our last image here:  a sublime sunset.  How blessed are we with all these unexpected and unasked for gifts!