At the northern end of the Rocky Mountains in the United States, near where the state of Montana borders the Canadian province of Alberta, lies Glacier National Park.  In Glacier is reportedly one of the most beautiful mountain roads anywhere in the world, Going-to-the-Sun Road, or simply the Sun Road, as the locals seem to call it.  Since I’ve become a seeker after natural beauty on this trip, this is someplace I wanted to see.

It’s not a short drive to get there — over five hours from Bozeman — but as you watch the Rocky Mountains gradually rise up from the horizon, it becomes obvious why Montana is known as Big Sky country.  It’s almost as if you’re looking up at the ocean floating above you.

I spent the night in St Mary, in order to get an early start in the morning.  It got down to about 43 degrees F (6 C) that night, so I was glad to have my warm blanket in the car, and a fleece to put on in the morning.  The Sun Road begins by following St Mary Lake, the rising sun making the waters of the lake glow, created deep contrasts in the folds of the mountains.

The tiny Wild Goose Island welcomed the morning as it said goodbye to the moon.  In the distance, glaciers were visible on the peaks.

Although descriptions of the road vary, my research had led me to believe that Going-to-the-Sun was a narrow mountain road with few guard rails, and numerous hairpin turns, as it scaled the sides of steep mountains.  Perhaps, having experienced the almighty terror that is the drive up Mount Washington in New Hampshire, I was expecting the worst, although game for anything.  But the reality turned out to be fairly mild, and only the most timid of drivers would ever have a moment of worry on this well designed and maintained road.  Although there were a couple of moderately sqeezey spots, in general two cars could pass easily, and there were low stone walls in place of guard rails at the steepest drop offs.  There were even a couple of very pretty tunnels.

But the real reason to drive Going-to-the-Sun Road isn’t the thrill of the road, or even the fun of it’s interesting name, but for the views.  The Rockies never disappoint!

Just after traversing Logan Pass, at 6,646 feet (2,026 meters) the highest point on the road, I stopped at a mountain goat observation area, and took it all in.  Although I didn’t see any mountain goats, I probably was a bit distracted by the view down the valley.  The line you see across the face of the mountains is the road.

The Sun Road is closed to all traffic in the winter months, and I was surprised to hear that snow had already fallen this year, and they expected the road to close in just four weeks.  At that time the guard rails and signs are removed.  In the spring it takes about 10 weeks to clear the road and prepare it for traffic again, since the snow at Logan Pass is often 80 feet deep, and can drift deeper elsewhere.  In the picture below, the road hugs the cliff face on the right.  Just image how this would look under all that gleaming snow!

I was impressed with all the lovely wildflowers growing along the sides of the road and in highland meadows, and wondered what it would look like here in the spring.

Although there was more traffic on the road as the morning progressed, there were plenty of turn outs so that there was never traffic congestion.  Looking down these long valleys, with towering mountains above, and winding rivers glistening in the sun far below, I imagined a time before the road existed, before this land was explored, when it belonged only to itself.  There were many hiking paths in the park, and I explored several of them just to experience the land away from the main road.  I’d love to come back again to do more, including overnight trips.

As the road descended into the pine forests on the western slopes, the temperatures warmed again slightly, and the road followed Avalanche River and Lake McDonald, the mountains still gazing down from above.

How does water get this blue and peaceful?

There were several cascades along the Avalanche River.

With pools of jewel green that reflect the gold from the sun.

At this end of the road I came across a number of tour operators, including this group that used these interesting old Ford busses, with folded back canvas roofs and a door for each row of seats.

This sign that I found as I started back out of the park also amused me, as it seems to encourage visitors to compete with the bears to sample the local berries!  (Yes, I looked, but didn’t find any.  Bears or berries.)

I wasn’t ready to leave the peace and natural beauty of the park for a while, so parked for a couple of hours beside the river, napping in the back and listening to the sound of the breeze in the pines, and the water rushing over the stony riverbed.

The way I took out of the park was along a gravel road to the town of Hungry Horse, mainly because I liked the name, I think.  But unfortunately, an oncoming truck kicked up a stone that cracked my windscreen rather badly.  But, these things happen, and I already had one chip that I knew about, so ah, well.

Wondering how fragine the windscreen had now become, however, I marked the ends of each of the cracks.  After an additional 20 miles on the gravel road, and more into the town of Kalispell, I could see that the cracks were spreading already.  I’d have to look into getting it replaced with some urgency then.

But that’s part of life on the road.  Expecting everything to go perfectly, for there to be no chips or cracks in the experience, would be a mistake.  In the end, it’s about making repairs on the fly, and carrying on with the adventure, making those cracks and repairs part of the adventure.  I loved Going-to-the-Sun, it was a beautiful, happy, peaceful day.  Now if I can only find the road to the moon….