Tuesday, July22 Going to the Sun Road and more Montana

 Tuesday, July 22

51 degrees this morning at 7:00....and RAINING 😞, but the air smells amazingly fresh and clean with a hint of pine.    We set off for the Going to the Sun Road anyway, knowing it will take a half hour or so to get to the start.  We stop for gas and yummy fresh, still-warm sticky buns at a cafe - and coffee of course.  I asked for two buns, but they are humongous, so we share one this morning.

Just before we re-enter the park, we see a car pulled over and slow down to see the black bear they are watching.  Not very close, but we watch him munching grasses and then turn suddenly and run off - no idea why....  

No timed entry required when entering from the east and very little traffic. Lots of low clouds/fog as we begin to climb into the mountains.  We pass several individual bicyclists who are setting out for the portion of the road they can travel.  (It is closed to cyclists and hikers later on, for good reason.)  Traffic is light, thankfully, and Greg is even able to pause in the roadway for photo ops at times.

What a view- haha!

We pass a few acres of burned forest and then stop at several pull-outs - Sunrift Gorge, Baring Falls and Seyah Creek.  We get out, but views are less than spectacular at times, with on-and-off rain and heavy fog filling the valleys.   Not sure why the waterways are so full and plentiful - because of the rain? Always this way?  I know they had over a foot of snow just a few weeks ago, so snow runoff?  

 Things get brighter as the road gets more twisty and more narrow.  Now and then we see a truck with a snowplow scraping any fallen rocks from the road.

I love Bear grass. It reminds of sparklers.

Up close, things are much clearer.

Once we pass the apex at Logan Pass, the weather improves and the sun occasionally breaks through, creating a beautiful rainbow!  More wildflowers and many gushing streams and waterfalls up high!  Breathtaking views at times and man am I glad I'm not driving, as the drop-offs are crazy.  I even have to close my eyes a time or two!  Some people leave the driving to someone else and take the red "buses", below.

Even a few tunnels!

Nice views continue and we stop here and there and walk a bit.  We see some people rafting and looking pretty drenched - Greg comments that once you're wet, you're wet.  By the time we come back down to Lake McDonald, traffic has gotten heavy and at some pull-offs there is no room to park.  We stop where we can but are pretty much on our way out of the park.  Too many people for us! Glad we've been here other times, so we don't feel we are missing too much.

Lake McDonald

We wave goodbye to Glacier and a line of cars about a mile long waiting to get in at the Western entrance! Heading southwest, along Flathead Lake, we hit some really heavy rain which makes for some tense driving moments.  Idaho calls and we turn west and are soon are out of the bad weather.  We stop at the first Cherry stand we've seen and buy some delicious sweet cherries that this area is known for.  YUM!  (The first of many!)

 And then we look for a National Forest Campground.  We stop at Cascade Campground near the Clark Fork River.  Small and pretty quiet, with only two other occupied sites. One is a group site with several rafts, but they aren't nearby.  Later, around 8:00, a few more folks arrive but all is quiet.  Someone left this pretty "wreath" on the picnic table - there are pine cones everywhere here.

Potable water.

Ham and sweet potatoes for dinner.

We look over the pictures from today which are a bit disappointing for the most part.  One, because of the clouds and fog, but mostly because it is impossible to capture the amazing feeling when you are surrounded 360 degrees by awesome mountains, trees, rocks, streams, flowers, etc. Photos just capture little slivers of the total feel.  Still, the feeling remains.