Going to the Sun

Unusually warm temperatures upon our arrival for this glacial valley combined with more mosquito bites and the wall of exhaustion I had seem to hit the day before resulted in the decision to plan for more of a relaxed day to lead off our adventures in Glacier.  As we looked over the list of possible hikes we had obtained from the visitor’s center, we wanted to be excited about getting out there, but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to choose one.  The thought of much physical exertion after a restless night’s sleep led to nothing but a glazed over look…  So, we decided to don our tourist hats and head for the Going to the Sun Road.

Our more relaxed start to the day found us wandering around Apgar Village in and out of the shops and lunching from a great bench overlooking the lake.  I just couldn’t seem to pull myself away from that tranquil blue water – mesmerizing, it called me to sit and relax.  The air temperature was cooler than the previous evening and I was enjoying every minute of the slight breeze cooling the air immediately surrounding the lake.  But rain was forecast for the afternoon and the skies were already growing cloudy.  We knew we should head up to the high country if we were going to make it back down before any potential storms.

So we began our pilgrimage on the famous road traveled by so many before us.  I had seen it as a child on an extended family camping trip from Houston to Montana, and Matt and I have been here before – but this was the first time for the kids.  After the miles and miles of trail they have explored and many mountainous wilderness areas they have seen, they enjoyed the views… but were less impressed than I thought they might be at the scenes before them.  We pulled off a few times to take a closer look and a few photographs before reaching Logan Pass.  The parking lot was full, the visitor’s center was overrun with people, and we all took a deep breath.  There were more crowds than we had seen at any national park yet this summer.

The kids were able to interview a ranger to complete two program books they have been working on since Capitol Reef – Wilderness and Paleontology.  Interestingly enough, however, the rangers knew nothing about these programs (even though Glacier is listed as a participating park in both programs).  If I recall correctly, the ranger at Capitol Reef where we picked up the programs said, “If Glacier isn’t participating in these, the climate change has gone to their heads.”  We shared this thought with the ranger at Glacier and had a bit of banter about competition amongst various national parks, but the kids still came away without earning their patches.  I guess we have a bit more research to do on how we get them completed.

Down we came, back to the campground after exploring the snow-covered high country and people-covered visitor’s center and pull-outs.  It began to sprinkle on us as we came into the campground and really began to rain just as we were shutting the camper door – perfect timing.  As Matt and the kids worked on getting our foil packets ready for dinner, a nap was calling my name.