Logan Pass Back Country Ski and Hike Fun June 2012

Here are a few photos from our fun up at Logan Pass (Continental Divide)  Skiing. Pretty foggy when we got there but cleared real fast and forgot the sun screen. We were tomatoes at the end of the day. Lesson learned but so much fun up there! No mountain goats that day. 

Bird Woman Falls

The Weeping Wall on the Going to the Sun Road

Glacier National Park Packers Roost Trailhead

As you driving up the Going to the Sun Road you will see an unpaved road to the left that leads to Packers Roost Trailhead. The gravel road is very narrow and goes about 2/3 of a mile and ends in a small clearing with areas for parking. This road is used by trucks carrying horses that pack up supplies to the Granite Park Chalet. When you on the Packer's Roost Trailhead you will come to a fork to the right that will lead to "The Loop" of the "Granite Park Chalet." The trail to Flattop and Granite Park begins to the right of the patrol cabin. 

The area is still forested nicely until you get to the burn from the Trapper Creek Fire of 2005. 

 We always see a lot of caterpillars on the trails. I will try to ID them.

 Trapper Creek Fire of 2005

 Nice red berries along the way

 Looking up at Heaven's Peak in Glacier National Park is just beautiful!

 It's lunch time along the way. Great place along the creek to rest and eat lunch.

 Looking up at the Garden Wall

 Tree fungus 

Also I read somehwhere "back in the day" the McDonald Creek Trailhead was a popular way to reach Fifty Mountain and eventually Goat Haunt. That trail has been abandoned sine the late 60s and is no longer passable by ordinary humans. I heard there was also a trail up Mineral Creek past a creek called I believe Cattle Queen Creek to the Highline Trail. 

Glacier National Parks Weather Makes For A Short Season

The Going to the Sun Road will be gated September 19th at Avalanche Campground to allow construction crews to work on the highway reconstruction project.

The west side of the Going to the Sun Road didn't open this year until mid-July, leaving a short two-month period for use this year.

If you want to visit Logan Pass you will have to enter from the east side before Oct. 19th, weather permitting.

If you want to hike or bike on the west side of the Going to the Sun Road beyond Avalanche campground to Haystack Creek it will be open into October, but there will be restrictions in construction areas.

Check West Glacier Weather HERE

Glacier National Park Going to the Sun Road Bike Ride

In the spring and fall Montana's Glacier National Park closes the road at Avalanche and you can ride all the way to Logan Pass with no traffic but you will find road construction. You can also see where the avalanche happened on the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Park. A huge swipe through the forest! Amazing!! The avalanche was given a "Class 5" rating, the highest available. Park officials think it likely happened in January 2009. About 2 1/2 miles above "The Loop" is where park officials think  that a large accumulation of new snow and heavy rain  caused the avalanche to start below the Continental Divide along the Garden Wall.

West Glacier Glacier National Park Montana

Just a few photos I've collected arriving to West Glacier the entrance to Glacier National Park here in northwest Montana. I didn't get a photo of the Amtrak Station in West Glacier that was constructed in 1910. There is a United States Post Office right in the West Glacier Village. You will find several gift shops and a few diners, and Glacier Raft Company, our favorite activity! A few miles into Glacier National Park you will find Apgar Village with more lodging, gift shops, campgrounds, visitors center.

Ten miles into the west entrance you will find Lake McDonald along the Going to the Sun Road. Lake McDonald is about 10 miles long and about a mile wide.

                                          

Waiting in line at the west entrance to Glacier National Park. It's not always this busy. It's Labor Day weekend.

A popular photo opportunity!

Glacier National Park Going to the Sun Road

Glacier National Park "Going to the Sun Road"

About 52 miles long, winding around mountain sides and wait until you see the views!

The proposed route was first surveyed in 1918 and completed in 1932. Building this transmountain road, which was literally carved out of the precipitous mountainside for 12 of it's 50-mile length, was a challenging and dangerous task.

The winding road gains more than 1400 feet in 32 miles and crosses the Continental Divide. 

 West Glacier Gift Shop

 Glacier National Park Entrance

 Driving along McDonald Creek

 Heaven's Peak

 The Weeping Wall

 Logan Pass

Continental Divide

Elevation

6646 Ft

 Logan Pass Vistor's Center

 Early 1900's automobiles