The snowiest July of my life.

America's National Parks: Round 4

What is there to say about Glacier National Park? Though I only managed a three hour trek through a small portion of the park, it was other-worldly. It's the only place I've seen that has literally stopped me in my tracks. So many times, my jaw just hung open at the sheer magnitude and beauty of the surroundings. I took lots of pictures so you guys can enjoy it too.

The night before in Columbia Falls, I went to a two-hour meeting of the Flathead County Beekeepers Association. I now know an inordinate amount of information about bees so if you ever need anyone to requeen your hive, I'd be insulted if you didn't pick me. I ended up hiding out in the town community center and sleeping in one of the rooms there. After a quick breakfast in the morning, I quickly finished the 15 miles to the village of West Glacier, right outiside of the park.

I actually ended up getting into an argument with the woman at the west entrance ticket booth. It's absurd to me that a family of five can get admission into a national park for $5 per person ($25 per vehicle) while a hiker or biker has to pay $12 per person. I make no impact on the environment at Glacier beyond breathing, I only get to ride my bike during certain hours and in certain areas, and the roads in Glacier National Park are awful for bikes. She wasn't hearing me out though so I just paid the $12 and went in.

In Glacier, cyclists are forbidden from riding on the park's main thoroughfare, Going-to-the-Sun Road, from 11 AM to 4 PM due to traffic and absurd road conditions. It's a very shoddily built marvel of engineering constructed at some point in the 1930s. Becuase of the insane snowfall this year (250% normal!), the road actually opened completely for the first time the day I arrived. It was an awesome stroke of luck. However, I couldn't ride until 4 PM so I lollygagged at camp and took a nap for a couple of hours. At that point, I was really, truly disappointed by Glacier National Park. I regretted making a 200-mile detour to get there.

   
But, my God, did things change when I actually got on the road. It's 31 miles and a 3500-foot climb from West Glacier to Logan's Pass, which is about what I had time for since I was starting really late in the day. I road my bike unloaded since I paid for a campsite and could leave my bags there. It made the whole climb a lot of fun.

This year's gigantic snowfall intensified all of the park's many aquatic features. Flooded rivers sped along while white waterfalls cascaded down from the mountain peaks. This also managed to flood parts of the road so it wasn't all just smiles and rainbows the whole way.  

I'm really thankful to the people of Glacier National Park for restricting the hours in which bikes can be ridden. With my planetary ego, I would have gone out at noon no matter what the traffic was like and probably gotten hurt. National parks are filled with tourists who're unfamiliar with the terrain and first-time RV renters. Neither of those groups cooperate well with cyclists.

Anyway, the road itself would probably have been the hardest climb I've done had I been riding loaded. It was an unforgiving 31 miles of constant uphill. But riding unloaded made it easy and fun. I reached Logan's Pass, the summit of the road, at around 7: 15 PM. The temperature there? 38 degrees. A consistent theme in my adventurings in drastic underpreparedness and I didn't disappoint this time. I have no pants with me so it was REALLY cold. The Sun was starting to sink too and there would be no way I could make it back to camp in time. Thankfully, I met a lovely couple in the parking lot of the visitor's center up there and they offered to drive me back to camp. I love people.

Check out the rest of the pictures below. Let me know if you have any questions about the park. I'm going to work on another post now. Enjoy!

One of the many reasons that the road is closed to cyclists during certain hours

Tunnel

The smile of true happiness at one of my new favorite places on Earth

Looking down from the edge of the road

Birdwoman Falls

The Wailing Wall

Rams!! On the side of the road!!

Half a mile from the summit. Temperature: 40 degrees.

The ridge is the road. I road up that grade for 31 miles!

Crossing the continental divide: round 10

Shaky camera due to risk of death

The perfect end to an amazing day