Rick is such a fantastic writer, isn’t he? I get to watch him create, and I love it. He reviews the pictures of the day, contemplates, writes, and then puts the pictures in. The very last thing that he does is insert the title. Knowing that, isn’t it funny that his title last night was “there are no words”? He wrote the most beautiful descriptions of the park! I admire his talent and style.
Today was a little bit of repeat, with some extra fun. We left even a little earlier for Going to the Sun Road with a crystal clear sky. The views are so much more vibrant in early morning. We loved the experience and got to a few new spaces. After 2 more tries, we finally made it to the last visitor center, closest to our campground. We even spoke with the ranger and have a couple of new areas to explore over our last two days here.
While you all know that I like to be positive, it’s time to vent about a couple of things… good to know for anyone who plans to go to this amazing park.
Cyclists. We don’t love them here. As you’ve seen, the roads are narrow and so having a cyclist riding (especially) uphill adds stress to the trip. I wish that they had their own lane, but the geography just doesn’t allow it. Some are doing great, others are clearly vacationers who are really struggling to make the journey, making it more dangerous for everyone involved. All the more reason to pack your patience here!
Parking. It’s a real struggle. Even if Rick’s back were 100%, it would be nearly impossible to hike the things we wanted to hike unless we got up at 4am! The number of people circling in the parking lots and/or “camping” out front waiting for someone to leave is crazy. I’ve read on some social media posts that you aren’t assured to get a spot as early at 6:15am, and that some circle lots more than an hour and then feel “lucky” to get a spot. Plus, people park in these little pulloff areas up to mile away and then walk back along the side of the (have I mentioned narrow) road to get to the trailhead. None of this is appealing to us. So, we’ve aborted any thought of the “popular hikes”. Thankfully, you do get amazing views on the drive!
Construction. If you’ve familiar with Glacier, you may be surprised that we haven’t mentioned “Many Glacier” area yet. It’s iconic and supposed to be fantastic. But, it is under major construction for this season. Because of Daisy, we aren’t even trying to navigate the required shuttle system to try to get to see this area of the park. Oh well, guess we will have to come back someday…
OK, enough venting and let’s get back to the good stuff. There is so much good, especially since we rented a car for a few days to get to these things.
Speaking of extras, the musician has started and sounds pretty fantastic. So it’s time to have dinner and go enjoy the live music of the evening.
Until tomorrow!!
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