RN: Today we finally make it to Glacier National Park, but, because the NPS requires tickets to enter between 6 am and 3 pm at three of the entrances to the park (and we were unable to get them), we had to drive to Saint Mary, an entrance on the east side, where there was no such restriction.  From our Airbnb in Kalispell, that meant a 123-mile drive just to get to the entrance.  This means that we crossed the Continental Divide heading east on US-2 and we very quickly saw how the character of the Rocky Mountains changes from west to east.  Shortly after we entered the park, we arrived at St Mary Lake for our boat tour. After that, our plan is to drive on Going to the Sun Road, which is a 50-mile-long wonder of construction that crosses the park east-to-west, all the way back to West Glacier.

Looking towards the National Park, Two-Medicine Lake to the left

At the boat dock on St Mary Lake, we have time to kill before the tour starts, so Felix decides to cool his feet off…

Just standing near the docked boat, we are awed by the surrounding mountains.

At the far end of the lake, the boat docks so we can get out and take a short hike to Baring Falls. The wildflowers are in full bloom!

and water gushes down Baring Falls towards the lake

After we get onboard again, we are treated to 360 degree views of the mountains that you can’t get by car or by foot…

The brilliant turquoise color is from glacier silt and the water is super clear because the silt discourages the growth of plankton and other microorganisms.

After this spectacular boat tour, we drive on Going-to-the-Sun-Road and stop whenever we are inspired and where there are parking spaces available. As you might imagine, this road is super-popular, but it’s still not the stop-and-go you run into in Yellowstone or Yosemite.

Below is Jackson Glacier… yes, there still are glaciers in Glacier, but as you can see, they are shrinking rapidly. Virtually the entire park was carved out by glaciers formed during the last ice age. Sadly, it’s likely that the last glacier will be gone by 2030.

Waterfalls everywhere we look!!

Even right off the road!

We cross the continental divide again, this time from east-to-west, at Logan Pass. This is taken from a view point on the other side of the pass. There is a visitor center at Logan Pass but the parking lot was full…

After the pass, we drop down into the valley and marvel at more waterfalls.

On the valley floor, we take a short walk through Cedar Woods

and find this cute waterfall.

These cedar trees are huge and here is a dead one that I couldn’t wrap my arms around, so I jumped in.

FE. All that Rae described, and then some. The drive to St. Mary on US-2 starts mild enough, beautiful along one or the other fork of the Flathead River, with the occasional picturesque old railroad bridge on the side. The fun really starts once we are past the East Glacier entrance and turn north on M-49. Almost no traffic on the steep, windy and rough road towards St. Mary. I need to focus on the road, despite all the amazing views of Two-Medicne lake and the mountains. The boat tour was spectacular, St. Mary Lake is at a much higher elevation than West Glacier Valley, and I felt I was in the Swiss Alps before they were dotted with chalets and hotels. The photo under “Waterfalls everywhere we look” gave me a flashback to a view I grew up with, in Adelboden…similar formations, similar waterfalls! The Going-to-the-Sun road also brought back a favorite memory of driving mountain pass roads with my parents. My dad loved to make our old Fiat’s engine roar by compression braking, and my mom hated it. That came to an end when dad blew out the muffler of the car…oh well. Coming down from Logan Pass, things become more subdued, not the stark mountain experience, but more calm forests along rivers and along McDonald Lake….what a great day.