Glacier-Waterton Park: Going to the Sun Road
Trip Start
Nov 22, 2007
1
47
55
Trip End
Dec 01, 2008
Saint Mary,
Montana,
United States
Monday, August 18, 2008
Going to the Sun Road
We took the motorcycles across the park on GTTS Road and up north to spend a few days in Waterton Canada. There is no drive quite like GTTS. The road starts in the valley near John's Lake, with the first few miles of lovely road winding along the lake edge and through the thick pines on the landside. Then it starts to climb up and up along the mountainside, the edge sometimes protected by guardrails and stones, sometimes not. Little protection from the sheer drop, thousands of feet to the river that cuts the valley below. The temperature changes as you climb. The view is breathtaking, but keep your eyes on the road! On the way up, you get a bird's eye view of the valley and the river, huge waterfalls in the distance shimmer down the gulch green mountainsides. Giant white blotches of the glaciers provide a stark contrast.
At the top, you can see the Continental Divide as you cross over Logan's Pass just over the halfway point of GTTS. Here is where the white mountain goats hang out. We watched a lost baby goat bound around the rock cliffs with stunning agility as it cried for its mother. They two had become separated, and the mother was down near the parking area-out of sight, but within hearing distance. A crowd had gathered to watch mother and baby call out to each other and jump and run along the cliff side like acrobatic dancers in their element. Applause and cheers broke out when they reunited and the baby started nursing.
You can pretty much coast the rest of the way on GTTS down to St. Mary. Once you are down from Logan's pass there are some great views of glaciers and waterfalls. And you are bound to see deer and bighorns along the way. The landscape opens up to wide brown and gold fields, flanked by sheer high cliffs of rock-no longer the deep greens seen on the other side of the divide.
We have hundreds of pictures from our traverse of GTTS Road. Here are a few for your to enjoy!
Check out part 3 of our Glacier-Waterton adventure for pictures of the Canadian side of the park. . .
