TUESDAY - We have a little over 100-miles to travel today and we've scheduled a couple of sightseeing stops plus a pair of National Forest Service campgrounds to check out.
As you can tell from the blogpost title, we did not stop in Glacier National Park for just three days and call that a visit. No, we've got seven more days here at St. Mary campground on the far eastern side where all the glaciers are.
US Highway 2 skirts around the southern edge of the park boundary. This road, in addition to the Going-To-The-Sun Road, which is the only road that bisects the interior of the park, constitutes most of what's known as the Montana Scenic Loop.
The backside of the mountain range along US-2 that faces the interior of Glacier National Park.
Our first sightseeing stop was at the Goat Lick Overlook that was built by the NPS. This stop is exactly what it says it is, a place where certain times of the year you can see goats licking the mountainside to obtain salt and other minerals they crave and need to supplement their diets.
Today was not the right time of the year apparently because we didn't see a single goat. We did however take a nice little stroll along the short trail to the overlook and used the clean restrooms provided in the parking lot.
No goats today, but we did see a double-engined freight train pass over a high trestle bridge.
The next item on our list was to drive through the 13-site Devil Creek Campground in the Flathead National Forest. The campground is only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but quite frankly, that's the only time we would be in this region of the country. Half the sites are reservable and the other half are First-Come-First-Serve.
We made notes of our favorite 4-sites and wouldn't you know it, 2 are reservable and the other 2 are First-Come-First-Serve sites.
More of the mountain range that separates us from the interior of Glacier National Park.
This obelisk commemorates Theodore Roosevelt's efforts in forest conservation. It also sits directly on top of the Continental Divide of the Americas (aka the Great Divide, the Western Divide or simply the Continental Divide).
The Continental Divide is a hydrological divide, whereas all of the ground water west of the divide will eventually find it's way into the Pacific Ocean and the ground water east of the divide will eventually end up in either the Arctic Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean.
Also in the same parking lot as the monument is the entrance to the Summit Campground of the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. The Continental Divide also serves as the dividing line between the Flathead National Forest to the west and the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest to the east.
All the sites in the Summit Campground are FCFS and two of them even offer views of the monument next door.
Now that we've made around to the east side of the park, through the town of Browning, MT and changed over from US-2 and onto US-89, we are finally starting to see something that may be a considered a glacier.
Typically to be considered a glacier the ice must be larger than 25-acres, over 100' thick and it must be moving under it's own weight, whether that is advancing or retreating, as most are doing today.
In 1850 there were 80 glaciers in the area that would eventually become America's 10th National Park in 1910. By 1966 the glacier count was down to 35 and in 2015 it was 26. I can't find any definitive answer as to how many there are today, but I did find a map that only listed 13 named glaciers in the park.
Now we're getting close! While dropping down into the town of St. Mary we get our first look at St. Mary Lake inside of Glacier National Park. There might even be a glacier or two hiding underneath those snow fields up in the mountains.
Once you turn off of US-89 in town you'll be 1/2-mile from the East Entrance Gate of Glacier National Park. Less than 100-yards on the other side of the entrance gate is the turn off for the St. Mary Visitor Center. If you don't check out the visitor center you've got less than 1-mile before you'll arrive at the St. Mary Campground.
The check-in process was simple and we needed to fill with fresh water at the dump station right across the entrance drive. Unfortunately we had to exit the campground after filling our tank and then drive back through the check-in station again. Not a big deal, but they could have set it up a little bit better. I'm sure we're not the first campers with the need for fresh water on the way in.
It wasn't too much later that we had THE POD centered and leveled in our campsite.
No room for ROVER in the front because we share the gravel driveway with the site next door. Our exit drive is also part of their entrance drive, so nobody can occupy that space.
We barely fit ROVER behind THE POD without blocking the road or the neighbors exit drive.
St. Mary Campground in Glacier National Park will definitely be the northernmost campsite for our entire 2025 travels. If we missed the turn into the park entrance and traveled an additional 20-miles north, we would be pulling out our passports at the Canadian Border Services Agency.
WEDNESDAY - Tricia was up and walking this morning at 5:45AM just to photograph the eastern entrance area of the park. Well that's not 100% accurate!
She was also conversing on the phone with her girlfriend back in Jacksonville, FL who was also out walking, but there it was 7:45AM.
The 90-year old St. Mary Bridge, with no posted weight restrictions, transports thousands of vehicles and RVs over the marshy area between St. Mary and Lower St. Mary Lakes every day.
More of that marshy area between the lakes.
It must have excellent fishing because there is always someone there with a pole in the water.
The background scenery is not that bad to look at either while you're waiting for the fish to bite.
Well it's nearly 8:15AM and we've already finished breakfast, so it's time to finally get out and start doing some sightseeing.
While still in the campground we could see the clouds hugging the nearby mountain tops.
We're going to start it off the same way we did at the last stop and that is with a bour tour. This time it's going to be on St. Mary Lake, onboard the 99-year old Little Chief (built in 1926). You may recall our last boat tour was onboard the 95-year old DeSmet, built in 1930.
The Glacier Park Boat Company is a family owned business and has been giving boat tours and renting motor boats, canoes and kayaks in the park since 1938. They have all the boat tour concessions in the park and offer tours on four of the park's lakes.
CRUISING ON ST. MARY LAKE GLACIER NATIONAL PARK
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Once again there are two boats offering tours on St. Mary Lake today.
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We were early enough to switch from the 10AM tour to the 9AM onboard Little Chief.
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Just like Lake McDonald the waters are crystal clear here on St. Mary Lake.
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St. Mary Lake is a narrow 21-mile long lake and today's tour starts near the middle.
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Looking westward from the middle of St. Mary Lake.
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I believe we were told this is the Sexton Glacier.
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We know the water is flat, and trees tend to grow straight upward, so it must be the land that has been uplifted at a 45° angle.
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I believe the Piegan Glacier is among those snow fields up on the mountain.
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Here we could see hikers on the Sun Point Trail.
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On our way back to the dock Tricia spotted this Bald Eagle in flight and followed him until he landed. She then brought out her "Big Camera" to snap a few photos.
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Rainbow Rock has been above the waterline long enough to grow trees and vegetation.
Before we go any further with this blogpost I think it's important that you get a visual aid to help understand the logistics of traveling though Glacier National Park on the Going-To-The-Sun Road. This Shuttle Stop map below will suit those needs perfectly.
Just so we are on the same page I'm going to define the Going-To-The-Sun Road as the roadway between the Apgar Visitor Center in the west and the St. Mary Visitor Center in the east, a total distance of 47.8-miles.
All of the park literature separates the park into East and West regions, with that division coming at the Logan Pass Visitor Center located at the highest point of the roadway at the Continental Divide.
Logan Pass is not the half way point of the road, far from it actually. It's only 17.6-miles from the Saint Mary Visitor Center in the east, but it's 30.2-miles from the Apgar Visitor Center in the west. With those numbers it's easy to see that Logan Pass is closer to 2/3rds of the way down the road from the western side.
There is only one true switchback in the entire roadway and that is at a trailhead called The Loop, it's located 22.5-miles from the west starting point and 25.3-miles from the east starting point. For that reason we are going to use The Loop Trailhead as our turning around point for our self-guided explorations in the park.
The three most common ways to explore inside of Glacier National Park are #1-Drive it youself, #2-Take the FREE shuttle and #3-Purchase a ticket for one of the Historic Red Bus Tours. We intend to use all three methods to explore both sides of the park.
We like the drive it yourself option best, because you have the freedom to stop as often as you like and stay as long as you like. The problem is everyone else likes this option also and the parking lots at the more popular stops get filled early in the morning, so it's difficult to find an open parking space throughout the day.
The FREE Shuttle option is our second choice. It removes the parking problem and as you can see in the map above they have dropoff and pickup locations all along the road at most of the popular trailheads. Busses run every 30-45 minutes so you never have a long wait for the next ride. There is no informative narration during the ride, not even which stop is next, so you'll have to know where you want to get off and be ready when the bus stops.
The Historic Red Bus Tour is just a fun and educational way to experience the park, just like tourists did back in the 1930s after the Going-To-The-Sun Road was completed. It's not cheap to ride the Red Bus, but we felt it's necessary to do if you want to get the full experience of a proper visit to Glacier National Park.
After lunch today we felt it was finally time to drive ROVER over the eastern half of the Going-To-The-Sun Road. By the end of the drive Tricia had snapped 332 photos and a dozen videos, it took me most of an entire day to trim that down to 60 photos and 4 short videos to share with you all, so ENJOY the slideshow!
EASTERN HALF OF THE GOING-TO-THE-SUN ROAD GLACIER NATIONAL PARK
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As you can see from all the dead trees, the eastern region of the park is still recovering from a man-made wildfire back in 2015.
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I'm not going to caption a lot of the photos in this slideshow, but when I do know what you're looking at, I'll share the names.
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That lone peak up ahead in Clements Mountain.
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This is the only road tunnel on the east side of the park.
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As you can see it's plenty wide and tall to accomodate just about any size vehicle.
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Again, Clements Mountain with the Logan Pass Visitor Center in the foreground.
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Logan Pass is the highest point on the Going-To-The-Sun Road at 6646'. So far the drive has been all uphill, now we switch to downhill for the remainder of the drive.
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Get comfortable with the rock walls on the right, because they'll be there most of the way.
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Get comfortable with the low guardrails and long dropoffs on the left, because they too will be present for most of the trip.
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And I'm not even going to mention the numerous blind curves along the route.
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But it's all worth it when you have views like this!
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It's clever the way they divert all the snow melt under the roadway.
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Up ahead there's one of those iconic Red Busses everyone always talks about.
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To think someday all this water will eventually end up in the Pacific Ocean.
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Here we get to see an example of the craftsmanship that went into building the road.
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And to think this was all built nearly 95-years ago.
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We are just about back to the Continental Divide here at Logan Pass.
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I just noticed, from this angle the roofline and the mountain silhouette appear to be the same. Do you think that was intentional? I certainly do!
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This is the perfect example of a rounded bottom glacially carved canyon.
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Time to pass through the tunnel again.
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Check out the two women and child running to get into the waterfall. Only the two women got wet, the child refused to go anywhere near the water.
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There were plenty of places along the road to get wet if you wanted to.
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It's not all about just the glaciers here, there's flora and fauna to consider as well.
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Here we are approaching the Siyeh Bend where we had a chance to stop and take photos.
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On the other side of the bend we found a vacant parking space.
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That water traveled a long way to get down here.
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There goes another Red Bus.
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Someone got creative when building this culvert for the water to pass over.
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Way out there is Jackson Glacier. I know that because it says so on the sign it front of me.
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Most of the glaciers in the park can't be seen from the Going-To-The-Sun Road. You either have to fly over them or prepare yourself for a multi-day hike.
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From this overlook you can definitely see the blue ice at the toe of the glacier.
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This is the westernmost edge of St. Mary Lake.
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We are nearing the most widely photographed location in the park.
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It's probably not what you think it is.
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It's this tiny parcel of land named Wild Goose Island in the middle of St. Mary Lake.
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Here's some more of that flora I was talking about.
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Here's one of those ever present fisherman I told you about at the St. Mary Bridge.
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The other side of the bridge is being fished too.
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There is a pedestrian bridge that connects the campground and the Visitor Center.
THURSDAY - One of the main objectives of yesterday's drive, other than just sightseeing, was to make a stop at the Logan Pass Visitor Center.
On the way up and the way back we cruised through the Visitor Center parking lot and both times we failed to find a vacant parking space.
Today we're going to fix that by taking the FREE Park Shuttle up to the Visitor Center.
At the Logan Pass Visitor Center both the American and Canadian flags are flown? Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada (1895) and Glacier National Park in the U.S. (1910) joined together in 1932 to become the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.
Behind the Visitor Center is where you'll find the 8,765' tall Clements Mountain.
Also behind the Visitor Center is where you'll find the 2.6-mile Hidden Lake Overlook Trail.
At the bottom left of Clements Mountain, hidden 1000' below the ridge, is Hidden Lake.
FRIDAY - Tricia changed up her walking route this morning and instead of using the roadway to make it over to the Visitor Center she took a shortcut using the pededtrain bridge and pathway that connects directly to the campground. That effectively cuts the distance in half and makes for a more peaceful and safer walk.
From the campground side of the bridge it appears almost totally flat.
A pause on the bridge with afford you this view of the marshy area between the lakes.
From the Visitor Center side of the bridge you can see there is definitely a hump in the bridge.
This looks like the beginnings of a large beaver dam project in progress.
It's forecast to rain later today and most of tomorrow so we'll be staying dry inside THE POD and keeping ourselves busy.
SUNDAY - In my humble opinion, no trip to Glacier National Park is complete until you've experienced one of the iconic Red Bus Tours.
With that said, guess what we're doing today?
A fleet of 19 Red Buses started operating in Glacier National Park in 1936. By 1939 the fleet size was up to 35 buses, 33 of those buses are still in operation today. The buses are numbered by the order they were brought into service in the park.
If you're wondering what happened to the two buses not in service today, well they each have a very different fate.
Bus #78 is stored in it's original condition at park headquarters in West Glacier, while Bus #100 was wrecked beyond repair during a fatal accident that occurred in 1977.
In 1989 the fleet was retrofitted with automatic transmissions, power steering, power brakes, new fuel-injected engines, and new axles. These well-intentioned modifications added stresses to the oak wood frame and during the summer of 1999 one of the buses lost a front axle after the increased stresses had cracked the front frame members.
The entire fleet was immediately inspected and most buses were found to have similiar issues, forcing the park's concessionaire to retire the fleet immediately. It was estimated at this point that each Red Bus had roughly 600,000 miles on it.
The initial reaction was to make the retirement permanent, but a letter writing and phone campaign convinced the National Park Service to inspect the buses more thoroughly after the 1999 season.
In February of 2000, Red Bus #98 (coincidentally that's the bus we rode on today) was driven 2,000 miles to Michigan for inspection by Ford Motor Company to be used as a renovation prototype. The complete cost of the renovation and restoration was $202,000 of which Ford Motor Company paid $177,000. Compare that to the original $5000 price tag for each bus. Amazingly, Bus #98 was back in service in time for the June opening of the 2001 season.
Between 2000 and 2002 the entire fleet underwent the update at an average cost of $140,000 per bus. In the end, Ford had donated $6.5 million dollars worth of parts and labor, that's why the Blue Oval Ford logo is on the front, back, both sides and steering wheel of every Red Bus in Glacier National Park.
For a more detailed history of the Red Buses check out this LINK.
All of this is to say that our ride today was on one of the best built and safest Red Bus Tours since it's debut. I only wish that our driver wasn't in her first season of driving the Red Bus.
THE RED BUS "EASTERN" ALPINE TOUR
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At 5:30AM it didn't appear to be a good day to be outside.
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By the time we boarded our 9:15AM tour the skies were clearing up a little.
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Now I see why Wild Goose Island is one of the most photographed locations in the park. It's not necessarily the island that eveyone is focused on is it?
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A lot of the peaks will be in cloud cover today, but we've already seen them.
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With the heavy cloud cover it was easy to spot the bluish ice of Jackson Glacier.
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As expected Clements Mountain at the Logas Pass Visitor Center was covered in clouds.
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The flower garden behind the visitor center sure was enjoying all the extra moisture.
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I'm sure glad the Red Buses have reserved parking at the Logan Pass Visitor Center.
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Here's is our semi-famous Red Bus #98. It's slightly different than all the others.
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The original steel fenders have been replaced with fiberglass ones, but the rest of the body has been restored using the original parts.
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The badging on the front grill shows the original manufacturer, the White Motor Company and the Ford Motor Company who renovated them in 2000.
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I think it's time we get back on the road soon, we're double parked now.
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These are the front seats of our Red Bus #98.
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This is our second row seat with room for four.
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There were three more rows behind us for a total of 16 passengers.
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I wouldn't want to pay to replace these huge tires, but look how shiny the hubcap is!
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Ron was more than happy to show us under the hood.
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The buses are powered by a modern Ford 5.4L V8 engine, plenty of horsepower to push the 7,000 lb. bus, plus the passengers, up the Going-To-The-Sun Road.
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Ron was not our driver, but is in the middle of his 3rd season at Glacier National Park.
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It's time to leave Logas Pass and it's all downhill from here.
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We got a "bonus ride" on a short section of the west side of Logan Pass.
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With all the rain we've had the last two days the waterfalls were in full flow.
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It was kind of spooky driving in the clouds, glad I'm not behind the wheel.
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Our turnaround spot was at a section of the road called "Big Bend".
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Tricia zoomed in and caught me talking with our driver, Ursula, she and I were born in the same town, but more than a decade apart.
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The previous two photos were taken from a short trail going up towards the waterfall.
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We must be getting close to home now, there's St. Mary Lake again.
Looking for our Visited States Map and Data? How about our State by State Bucket Lists or Visited Campgrounds List? If so, click on the sign below to be taken to our other website.
Once again there are two boats offering tours on St. Mary Lake today.
We were early enough to switch from the 10AM tour to the 9AM onboard Little Chief.
Just like Lake McDonald the waters are crystal clear here on St. Mary Lake.
St. Mary Lake is a narrow 21-mile long lake and today's tour starts near the middle.
Looking westward from the middle of St. Mary Lake.
I believe we were told this is the Sexton Glacier.
We know the water is flat, and trees tend to grow straight upward,
I believe the Piegan Glacier is among those snow fields up on the mountain.
Here we could see hikers on the Sun Point Trail.
On our way back to the dock Tricia spotted this Bald Eagle in flight and
Rainbow Rock has been above the waterline long enough to grow trees and vegetation.
As you can see from all the dead trees, the eastern region of the park
I'm not going to caption a lot of the photos in this slideshow,
That lone peak up ahead in Clements Mountain.
This is the only road tunnel on the east side of the park.
As you can see it's plenty wide and tall to accomodate just about any size vehicle.
Again, Clements Mountain with the Logan Pass Visitor Center in the foreground.
Logan Pass is the highest point on the Going-To-The-Sun Road at 6646'.
Get comfortable with the rock walls on the right, because they'll be there most of the way.
Get comfortable with the low guardrails and long dropoffs on the left,
And I'm not even going to mention the numerous blind curves along the route.
But it's all worth it when you have views like this!
It's clever the way they divert all the snow melt under the roadway.
Up ahead there's one of those iconic Red Busses everyone always talks about.
Here we get to see an example of the craftsmanship that went into building the road.
And to think this was all built nearly 95-years ago.
We are just about back to the Continental Divide here at Logan Pass.
I just noticed, from this angle the roofline and the mountain silhouette appear to be the same.
This is the perfect example of a rounded bottom glacially carved canyon.
Time to pass through the tunnel again.
There were plenty of places along the road to get wet if you wanted to.
It's not all about just the glaciers here, there's flora and fauna to consider as well.
Here we are approaching the Siyeh Bend where we had a chance to stop and take photos.
On the other side of the bend we found a vacant parking space.
That water traveled a long way to get down here.
There goes another Red Bus.
Someone got creative when building this culvert for the water to pass over.
Way out there is Jackson Glacier. I know that because it says so on the sign it front of me.
Most of the glaciers in the park can't be seen from the Going-To-The-Sun Road.
From this overlook you can definitely see the blue ice at the toe of the glacier.
This is the westernmost edge of St. Mary Lake.
We are nearing the most widely photographed location in the park.
It's probably not what you think it is.
It's this tiny parcel of land named Wild Goose Island in the middle of St. Mary Lake.
Here's some more of that flora I was talking about.
Here's one of those ever present fisherman I told you about at the St. Mary Bridge.
The other side of the bridge is being fished too.
There is a pedestrian bridge that connects the campground and the Visitor Center.
At 5:30AM it didn't appear to be a good day to be outside.
By the time we boarded our 9:15AM tour the skies were clearing up a little.
Now I see why Wild Goose Island is one of the most photographed locations in the park.
A lot of the peaks will be in cloud cover today, but we've already seen them.
With the heavy cloud cover it was easy to spot the bluish ice of Jackson Glacier.
As expected Clements Mountain at the Logas Pass Visitor Center was covered in clouds.
The flower garden behind the visitor center sure was enjoying all the extra moisture.
I'm sure glad the Red Buses have reserved parking at the Logan Pass Visitor Center.
Here's is our semi-famous Red Bus #98. It's slightly different than all the others.
The original steel fenders have been replaced with fiberglass ones,
The badging on the front grill shows the original manufacturer, the White Motor Company
I think it's time we get back on the road soon, we're double parked now.
These are the front seats of our Red Bus #98.
This is our second row seat with room for four.
There were three more rows behind us for a total of 16 passengers.
I wouldn't want to pay to replace these huge tires, but look how shiny the hubcap is!
Ron was more than happy to show us under the hood.
The buses are powered by a modern Ford 5.4L V8 engine, plenty of horsepower
Ron was not our driver, but is in the middle of his 3rd season at Glacier National Park.
It's time to leave Logas Pass and it's all downhill from here.
We got a "bonus ride" on a short section of the west side of Logan Pass.
With all the rain we've had the last two days the waterfalls were in full flow.
It was kind of spooky driving in the clouds, glad I'm not behind the wheel.
Our turnaround spot was at a section of the road called "Big Bend".
Tricia zoomed in and caught me talking with our driver, Ursula,
The previous two photos were taken from a short trail going up towards the waterfall.
We must be getting close to home now, there's St. Mary Lake again.
