9/12/14
Glacier National Park (GNP): One of the parks I have wanted to visit for a long time, the desire escalating every passing year, knowing that time was ticking: The Glaciers that have receded to one quarter of their sizes of the turn of last century have been shrinking with ever increasing pace. Most are expected to recede to their eternal resting site in the universe within the next 10-20 years. This unimaginable acceleration of glacier demise certainly has something to do with human activity: When is common sense take over politics and we will all come to consensus that we are killing our earth bit by bit, but at an insurmountable pace, not only the earth, along with it our future, too. With all these thoughts already in my mind, it was all too natural to fill the week that was vacated with the cancellation of a planned trip abroad in September with an expedition to the Glacier, be it brief... And Greg was delighted to join in.
The idea occurred to us mid summer with little time for planning and arranging our trip and accommodation. Thus, by the time I got around to looking for lodging, all the within-park lodging, mainly Lake Mc Donald Lodge to the west of the continental divide and Glacier Lodge to the east were booked. My internet search took me to a Lake Meadow Lodge in Columbia Falls, 15 miles from the western entrance, and I took it. We flew into Missoula, not being aware that Kalispel actually was a closer airport, which is also called Glacier Park International Airport. Next time, we know how to plan better. However, we will be happy we arranged our trip at least for this one time through Missoula, since the ride will turn out to be a fantastic experience.
Our rental car takes us through beautiful country along the eastern shore of the Flathead Lake, which is a 27x15 mile, almost-inner-sea, with two state parks along the eastern coast and to my great surprise many cherry orchards at this latitude! The lake must have a moderating effect on climate. Being a cherry lover, we start looking for an open cherry vendor along the orchards and midway along the lake, we find one. A Native American man, who speaks little English in fact, sells us close to 3 pounds of cherries for only $4! They are fresh and delicious, perhaps picked just this morning. We munch on a good portion of it in the car and save some for the hotel. Little do we know that this wonderful fruit will become our fruit servings for our lunch breaks during our hikes over the next 3 days.
When we arrive at West Glacier village, which is basically a service conglomerate of small shops and restaurants at the west entrance of the park, it is 4 pm. Apgar Visitor's Center is 2 miles up the road on Going-to-the-sun Road, in short Sun Road. With its 48.7 miles between east and west entrances, we learn later on that the road has borrowed its name from the nearby Going-to-the-sun Mountain. According to the local legend, the deity, Sour Spirit came down from the sun to teach brave Blackfeet Indian warriors the rudiments of the hunt. On his way back to the sun, Sour Spirit had his image reproduced on top of the mountain for inspiration to the Blackfeet and the name stuck to the mountain first then the road that was built during the first half of the last century. When I read this in our book, I get that deja vu feeling again as if I have been up on these mountains some time earlier, especially when we approach the magnificient peaks of the Continental Divide.
We are initially frustrated to hear that this, one of the most scenic highways in the nation, is closed to traffic at 28th mile due to the snow storm of last week, but soon cheer up since we know that weather will get better and warmer in the next several days. We have heard many horror stories about the road, from how narrow it is to how sheer the cliffs carrying this road on are, thus, how scary it is to drive on, on and on and on... Let's see how it will treat us, newcomers. We look at each other trying to figure out what to do with this closure.
Going-to-the-sun Road, a snake that embraces many mountain sides of the Continental Divide
However, we also know that the Sun Road connects two valleys carved out by glaciers of the old, now filled with the two large lakes of the park, Lake McDonald and St. Mary Lake. 28 miles on this road, which is also a national historic landmark, might be all that we may want to do today anyway since we would like to be out of the park before dark. I am specifically nervous about driving after dark on dangerous, unfamiliar roads. But, we also would like to savor some of the beauties the Sun Road has to offer. Looking at each other's eyes, almost without needing words, we know what we will do. On we go with Greg being the driver up to explore the Mc Donald valley.
The road meanders through thick pine and birch forest along Mc Donald Creek and its namesake lake for about 15 miles, after which it starts ascending via switchbacks through the central peaks of the Continental Divide toward Logan Pass at 6646 feet elevation, which we will discover in two days that it saddles over the Divide. We stop at Lake Mc Donald Lodge, another national historic landmark to marvel its beauty, one that I tried to get a room in with no success as early as the beginning of July. We learn soon that the park lodges fill up about 6 months ahead of time. Lake Mc Donald is the largest lake in the park. The lodge along the coast commands the lake at the 1/3 north-eastern end with great vistas of the Howe and Snyder ridges and Stanton Peak that once embraced the bulldozer glacier that carved out this huge valley. Both Lake McDonald Lodge and Glacier Lodge on the east side are run by the National Park Services, which we are both happy about.
At the eastern end of the lake is the trailhead to Trail of The Cedar, which we will hike on our way down from the Sun Road. This forest is the rain forest of the GNP, the easternmost rain forest of the nation. I must say, after having seen the true rainforest in Olympic National Park, I coudn't call this wooded area a rainforest, but it definitely has indicators that this particular section of the park is more moist than the rest especially compared to a more rugged, harsh, and dry climate and habitat on the east half since Continental Divide stops the warm and moist air the western winds bring from the Pacific. This trail, lined up with hundreds of years old red wood trees continues to Avalanche Lake, which we decide to visit on our second visit to GNP since we have identified some trails we'd like to do ahead of some others at least during this visit.
As we climb up to the Sun Road, the first breathtaking vista is Heaven's Peak rising at 8987-foot elavation. Other than patches of snow of late, it doesn't show any sign of a glacier at least from the western angle. We see many avalanche paths scarring the face of the mountains as we rise up. Apparently, when snow goes into avalanche, it uproots trees and boulders to pile them up at lower elevations. A mental note: I don't think, I would like to hike up on these mountains in the winter. In the days to come, hiking up to higher elevations, we will see many evidences of such avalanche paths and chutes and my season choice for a second visit to the GNP becomes more decided!
The more we rise and take turns around the valley cliff after cliff, the more snow-covered Continental Divide peaks join in the celebration of this natural marvel including Mount Oberlin, Mount Cannon and Clements Peak. As Greg focuses on the road only, to keep both of us alive, I marvel the deep cliffs as the road drops sharply into the 2500-foot deep valley down below. The peaks rising up to the sky right across the U shaped Mc Donald Valley, which was carved out by the glaciers of some two millions of years ago, are spectacular as well as the engineering ingenuity of the early 20th century. I must eb honest though, I am much more awed with the natural marvels than man-made ones, although this road, the product of the latter is what is taking us to what is most impressive for me. One of the engineering marvels is the 192-foot long West Side Tunnel, the alcoves of which beautifully frame the Heaven's Peak.
After passing through the tunnel, the road takes a sharp north turn taking us to The Loop, which will be our destination in two days at the end of our High Line hike originating from the Logan Pass. We stop at the two-tier parking lot of the Loop and enjoy the Heaven's Peak one more time in solitude. Next stop is Haystack Creek, flowing from the Haystack saddle, which we will hike over in two days looking down onto the Sun Road from some several hundreds of feet above. The ledges of Haystack Creek actually were carved by the erosions of an inner sea called Belt Sea sometime between 800 million to 1.6 billion years ago. Across from the valley is Bird Woman Falls that fall from 500 feet, which we will see with all her grandeur in two days during our High Line hike.
Last marvel of the day is the Weeping Wall. At the bottom of the Mount Gould, this is indeed a sheer wall rising a hundred feet or so off the road, allowing the waters of the higher land drain down on her surface, sometimes as in weeping sometimes (early in the summer, we heard) as in crying a storm. No further travel is allowed by the park administration beyond the weeping wall. We can see patches of snow on the road side, nothign major, but we must abide. We turn around, this time I drive so that Greg may enjoy what he missed on the way up. My job is easier since driving down is along the mountainside lane whereas Greg had to cover the outer lane, which was scary enough for me being merely a passanger. In two days, though, after having traveled on this road time enough, we will both agree that scariness posted in the travel books and on the internet is a bit overrated, however, perhaps for a good reason.
We are determined to return to the park tomorrow morning. We will start with a warm-up hike, a 7.2 mile round trip hike to the Apgar Lookout point. By the time we are driving along the McDonald Creek, we feel much safer. We stop at Lake Mc Donald Lodge for a beer to savor the first sunset at the park. We make an on-the-spot decision to have dinner at the lodge. Pleasant ambiance with a middle aged woman playing the piano for diners along with good food. I try sautéed trout for the first time in my life, tastes pretty good although Greg states, it could be better. We have heard enough about huckleberry pie, but we are both so full, we decide to postpone it to tomorrow. When we finally get to our lodge, in Columbia Falls, we are both excited about the three days ahead of us.
 |
| Sunset at Lake McDonald |
 |
| Posing against dissapearing glaciers below Logan Pass |
 |
| Greg on Sun Road against Heaven's Peak |
No comments:
Post a Comment