I’d say I travel pretty frequently and most of the time my adventures take me somewhere with a theme park. But if the itinerary of my trip doesn’t include a theme park, then there’s a good chance I’ll be at a different kind of park . . . one of the National Parks. Last September my family took a two-week road trip from Minneapolis (where we took a pit-stop to check out some local roller coasters) to the Canadian Border and headed west to see four national parks. We started with the Isle Royale National Park, then our tour led us to Voyageurs National Park, the North Dakota badlands and parries of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and now the culmination of the journey in Montana’s Glacier National Park.
Don’t give up. There will be plenty of time to give up later.
(Jake Johannsen)
Glacier National Park
There seems to be no end to the variety of life found in America’s National Parks. As we drove our rental car towards our final destination, that was a thought that frequently passed our minds. The parts of Glacier National Park that weren’t on fire were receiving mid-September snow; a lightning strike in August sparked what became the Henderson fire.
The famed Going to the Sun Road, the Park Service’s premier scenic drive, was closed on the west side, with fewer than 200 daily spots available on a free shuttle. Travel can be like that sometimes. You’ve probably encountered a closed ride somewhere, but any seasoned traveler learns to roll with it and adapt. For us, our first day was a hike starting elsewhere, so we’ll roll onto that trail, and see how the rest plays out.
The mountains of Glacier don’t reach nearly as high as, say, those in Rocky Mountain National Park. But rarely has your humble narrator encountered mountains so…abrupt. The namesake rivers of ice did some serious rock carving, creating the sheer kinds of cliffs I’m accustomed to seeing in Yosemite Valley and replicating them in northern Montana.
The Ptarmigan Tunnel
The reason for the day’s destination was the Ptarmigan Tunnel, which allows hikers to easily go from one side of the Ptarmigan Wall to the other. The Ptarmigan moniker is also assigned to a lake and a small waterfall we passed along the way on a trail beginning in the Many Glacier region of the park. A little more than 5 miles in each direction, the route goes in and out of forested areas before ascending above the tree line as the Wall comes into view.
Oh yeah, those berries remind me that I should mention local wildlife.
I’ve seen enough Animal Planet shows and True Life Adventure films to respect the size and power of the moose from Isle Royale NP or bison from Theodore Roosevelt NP, any of which can cause significant damage to the human form. But when an apex predator enters the scene, it feels a bit more serious. Word on the trail is that a lot of bruins forage the Many Glacier hillsides, and it’s best not to get on their bad side. With the old bell-on-a-pack method of an ursine alert system seen as insufficient, we went with a pair of claves from Amazon’s percussion section. And in an emergency, this meant we were fully prepared to sing Grateful Dead songs, from the Bear’s Choice album, naturally.
Prior to leaving the shelter of trees, some downbound hikers provided a bit of excitement, and more than a touch of anxiety, when reporting that a grizzly had just crossed the path up ahead. Oh, and she had 2 cubs with her.
In the end, our excitement won over our trepidation as the trio was already on the opposite slope when we finally got a glimpse, the new binoculars continuing to earn their keep. You’ll have to take my word that the indistinct brown blob just below the trees in the middle of the following photo is Mama Bear.
From there, the way was steeper as we passed Ptarmigan Lake, and after a few switchbacks, the tunnel was reached. We were greeted by just enough snow and hail greeted remind us that Mother Nature can bring even more force than Mama Bear. Grateful that she wasn’t particularly ornery that day, we enjoyed the view for a while, then made our way back to the car without incident.
Reaching our lodging for the following night necessitated circumnavigating the park due to the Going to the Sun Road’s closure. And unfortunately, our quest for one of the coveted shuttle spots the next day was unsuccessful. After a consult at the Visitor’s Center, we opted to hike to the Apgar Lookout, a fire tower that seemed an apt objective under the circumstances. After a short drive down a primitive road and bridge, we were on the trail. The youthful flora told of fires past, and smoke in the valleys below told of fires present.
It was a good stretch with an 1800 foot climb. I couldn’t help but look wistfully at the peaks beyond Lake MacDonald. The coveted shuttle passes had been distributed at 7 that morning, and we missed it by getting too late of a start. just been too casual getting started. Live and learn.
Going to the Sun Road
As I sat on that tower, it occurred to me that there was a 7AM scheduled for the following morning. And our only plan for that day was to drive to another hotel for our flight home from Spokane the day after that, a few hours tops. Alert readers will have, by now, sussed out what was really happening. We were going to rope drop a National Park in order to try and secure an elusive FastPass! While it may or may not have qualified as a birthday miracle, this birthday boy sure was happy.
It was a direct trip on a virtually empty road sans the white shuttle vans and the vintage Red Buses that have been touring the park since the 1930s. So, not many photo ops along the way.
The east side of the Going to the Sun Road was open to traffic, so a full lot greeted us at the Logan Pass Visitor’s Center. The Maple Leaf flag flies beside the Stars and Stripes because Waterton Lakes National Park continues beyond the Canadian border, and is properly known as the Glacier Waterton International Peace Park.
The original intent was to have the wife meet me and Colin and at the end of a 13-mile one-way hike called the Highline Loop Trail. In this case, loop refers to the bend in the Going to the Sun Road where the hike terminates, but due to time constraints, that was off the table. Time at the Pass was limited as we were told clearly not to miss the designated return. However, there was enough time to explore the first, most infamous portion of the hike. All the while clinging precariously to the edge of the Garden Wall high above the “point of impact” if a slip occurs. Not that I was concerned, but someone took the effort to install a heavy cable along the way, and it would have simply been rude not to use it.
With our remaining time, we took in the vistas of Logan Pass dominated by Reynolds Mountain (please use the boardwalks when traversing fragile meadows, por favor).
A disabled return van added to the adventure, and things stayed just this side of anarchy until we were ultimately relocated back to the start, which for us was also the end. It was also a personal milestone. Though not a bucket list kind of guy, I do have a goal of visiting all 59 parks in the United States. Glacier was the final Park in the lower 48, and having been to Hawaii, the only ones remaining are American Samoa, US Virgin Islands and a big pile in the Last Frontier. I’m down to 10, so I’ll look forward to that while saying goodbye to Logan Pass on the Continental Divide in Glacier Waterton International Peace Park.
And while the above statement was true when written, things changed in February when Indiana Dunes was promoted to National Park status, (along with the St Louis Gateway Arch which I’ve previously visited). Not to worry, though, because as the new park is only an hour from Chicago, and that is a summer destination for yours truly; veracity will be reestablished shortly.
Hope everyone enjoyed coming along for this ride. And before too long, the days will lengthen and warm up, and the rides will have lift hills ready to roll rides in my local parks, so I’ll be back later in the Spring for the year’s first Day by The Bay.