Montana, Day 3 -Glacier NP! Going Up

Daily timed-entry passes for Glacier NP are required and hard to come by. 

You need to request them months in advance and, since we didn’t know we were coming here months ago, guess who missed out?

But there’s a workaround! 

If you have a ticket for a tour you don’t need a timed pass. (Or if you drive in before 7 am or after 3 pm.)

The tour guide asked for help rolling up the canvas top, so it was Pop to the rescue. Teena balanced him because I was taking pictures of him instead… 😜

So rather than doing our tours on the same, or adjacent, days we spread them out over the week so we’d have more time in the park.  

No canvas top = great picture taking opportunities 

Tuesday was our Red Bus tour (link here) of the Going To The Sun Road. 

We thought the cars were reproductions but the 32 in current use are all part of the 35 original cars ordered for the park. (New engines and upgrades, obviously.) Our car - #110 - was built in 1938.

Leaving Lake McDonald

The tour went from Apgar Village, elevation 3173’, to atop the Continental Divide at Logan Pass, elevation 6646’. 

At Avalanche Creek, looking up at the road we’ll be on shortly. Despite the twists and turns, there’s only 1 switchback on the entire road

Letting the pros do the driving on the Going To The Sun Road was a very good decision. 

Sheer soapstone rock walls at the edge of the road

That is one twisty, narrow, scary - and beautiful - road.

The only fossils in Glacier NP are stromatolites, a tiny bacteria (the wavy area on the left). Avalanche Creek area

I took over 300 pictures, culled down to around 90, so this is going to be word light, picture heavy.

Overlooking McDonald Creek, with Mt Cannon to the left

There were 126 glaciers when the park was dedicated in 1910 - only 20 remain today.

Mt Cannon, 8952’

Mt Oberlin, 8180’

Taking pictures into the sun is all click-and-hope

Following the crowd 

Triple Arches, constructed by stone masons from Europe. The arches are not structural, they did it just for the beauty. One of my favorite things on the road.

Recent avalanche just before Logan Pass. A favorite area for the big horned sheep

Logan Pass visitors center

Behind the visitor’s center

View from the front - red buses, big horned sheep, very big rock. (Sheep are some of the ‘white stones’ just above the tree line)

Teena and Lacey loading up

Part 2 - going back down the mountain - is tomorrow