The Crown of the Continent

[Oldschool]

A last minute overnight trip to clean up some unfinished business from my short trip this year.

Report to come but here is the teaser.

Logan's Pass on the Going to The Sun Road.

The Route:

About 900 kms for the 2 days.

 

[Oldschool]

Saturday

Back in August a big part of my trip was to see the Going-To-The-Sun Road in Montana’s Glacier National Park, but nature had other plans. Months of extremely dry weather had been prime conditions for wildfires and the Park was not immune to them. The Rising Sun Fire had sparked up days before my departure and closed the road over Logan’s Pass. I was disappointed at the time but understood the need to contain the fire and save such a magnificent Park was far more important than my vacation schedule. The road itself, after all, wasn’t going anywhere and I was a half day away when the opportunity arose again.

Glacier National Park in the United States and Canada’s Waterton National Park together has been called “The Crown of the Continent” and after seeing so much of both now, it is hard to argue. I have traveled the mountains of both the US and Canada extensively, from the Front Range to the Pacific Coast and it is hard to find another spot as picturesque as Glacier is from the east side of Logan’s Pass. The Going to the sun road is both strikingly beautiful and an engineering marvel. It is no wonder it has been declared a heritage site. The sheer magnitude of the work needed to build it back in the day is amazing. It is hard to imagine that the will or money would be available today to repeat the undertaking.

Fall was fast approaching and the “Sun Road” was scheduled to close on the following weekend so I had to do it now or next year. I am always packed to go camping, as my gear is cleaned, restocked and reloaded in the saddlebags after every trip. It is only a matter of locking on the bags, stowing the camera gear and going. Friday night with a favorable weather forecast (for Saturday anyway) I made sure to put my Passport in the Jacket and load my GPS tracks. I would do a run over the Sun Road from east to west camp at Apgar Campground and return home Sunday via Eureka and Fernie BC. As with all my trips, a good dose of backwoods gravel would be thrown in for good measure.

Saturday morning I was up before the dawn (channeling my inner Supertramp) and on the road before the sun hit the horizon. My laneway is being paved finally after twenty years and as I dropped out of my garage down to the freshly prepped gravel base I met the paving crew doing their final markings. They seemed amazed that I could get a fully loaded bike up over the 8 inch step at the street with no effort. The morning air was cool and damp, but I was prepared considering that Sunday I might see snow coming home. A weather front was on its way and today (Saturday) was to be sunny and near 30 degrees, but Sunday a high of only 12 was forecast. My experience is that when bad weather is forecast, the weather man is rarely wrong. I had packed accordingly, expecting a cool night camping, and a cold day coming home.

As the sun warmed the air the temperature rose quickly. It was pleasant for riding as I wound my way south across the back roads towards the Chief Mountain border crossing. I took a few of my favorite roads, like East Sharples and “Snake Trail” north of Pincher Creek. A quick fuel and I was southbound on Highway 6 past Waterton passing a familiar bike northbound that turned out to be my friend Andy on his 950 Adventure. The border crossing was quick and friendly and my next stop was for fuel at the Sinclair in Saint Mary, Montana.

just before East Sharples road.

Snake trail as it winds along the Front Range.

The cloudless sky was a perfect backdrop for the park as I entered from the East gate on the freshly paved Sun Road. Minutes later I had Saint Mary lake on my left and scorched trees from the recent fire on each side. The road and buildings at Rising Sun campground where undamaged and a testament to the fire fighters’ efforts. The acrid smell of wet burnt wood permeated the air in places along the road here. The road climbed relentlessly with almost all of the many pull-outs blocked off; inexplicably since the pavement work appeared completed. The few that were open were packed full of picture-takers, like me. The bike made it easy to find a spot anywhere I wanted. I stopped often on my way to the summit and Logan’s Pass Visitor Center.

Saint Mary Lake

Burnt trees near Rising Sun Campground.

A panorama just west of Logan's Pass Summit.

I decided to skip going inside the Center after seeing the mass of cars jockeying for a parking spot. It was the ride and scenery I was after, the history could be read from the comfort of my easy chair at home.

http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/upload/Going-to-the-Sun Road - An Engineering Feat.pdf



The sky had a special shade of blue from the altitude at the top, accentuated by the use of a polarizing filter. I lingered at a pull-out just west of the summit watching hikers high above on a razor thin trail hugging the cliff face. For a few moments I considered it, after all I was at least wearing a helmet, even if my boots were not made for hiking.

The visitor Center at Logan's Pass Summit.



The descent on the west side towards Apgar Village, and Lake McDonald offered more spectacular views until it entered the forest at lower elevation.

West of the summit.

Unique stone work.

Haystack Falls on the west side of the summit.

A couple living dangerously at a sheer drop off of hundreds of feet. I was hanging over the side to get this picture.

Once into the tree line the smells of the forest and the winding road entertained me to the turn off for the campground. Apgar is the largest (and at the lowest elevation) of the campgrounds on the west side. With a cool night coming being close to the lake and at a lower elevation than some of the other campgrounds in the park was an important consideration. Normally I prefer a more remote camp experience, but recent bear encounters made me feel more comfortable in a more populated campground. This was the time of year that bears normally come to lower elevations in search of food to fatten up for winter, and with the drought conditions this season it was more noticeable. The Sows also have cubs that they are still looking after and there have been an abnormally high amount of encounters this year that have ended badly for the humans, 4 in the last month alone. This would be on my mind as I headed out alone on deserted roads tomorrow.

Apgar Campground spot.

A short hike in the woods.

gratuitous bike shot.

Apgar Village store.

Lake MacDonald a short walk from my camp spot.

Recent rains had made having a camp fire a safe proposition and tonight I would relax with a nice glass (or 3) of Cabernet by the fire pit as darkness fell on the forest.


More to come.... stay tuned.

 

[Oldschool]

Sunday, Return

The campground was quiet except for the immediate neighbors, two young guys who had arrived just after I did. They had set up and then disappeared for the evening, returning after I my fire had burned itself out and I had gone to bed. Sadly they were self-centered and inconsiderate and talked loudly in an otherwise silent campground until late into the night. When dawn broke and I could hear some of the other campers leaving camp, I packed up, made breakfast and didn’t feel bad when I fired up the bike (the pipes directly facing my noisy neighbor’s tent) and let it warm up for about 5 minutes. Karma baby, good morning boys!


I saw a few deer along the road as I headed out the west gate to grab some fuel, before heading for the Montana back country in the direction of Eureka.

I had great weather, albeit a bit cool to start my day, not expecting to hit bad weather until north of Fernie, British Columbia. I had to make a small detour when I came upon a gate blocking a connector near Whitefish, Montana. I could have got around the gate if I removed my luggage, but the trail beyond looked like a muddy mess and a loaded bike in that would just be foolish. A quick scan of the map showed and easy go-around and added next to no time to the trip, reconnecting 20 minutes later to my original track. The road on the north side of Whitefish along the east side of the lake (East Lakeshore Drive) was a twisting pavement masterpiece that puts Hwy 3A north of Creston BC to shame! At its north end I jumped onto the gravel Upper Whitefish road and saw the posted bear warning signs. The road was a bumpy, narrow forestry road and with the brush grown right up to the road in places I was very conscience of my solo status and isolation. I literally did not see another vehicle for hours, and only 2 the entire trip to the border. I was liberal with my use of the horn as I approached each blind corner or overgrown section. I would not surprise a bear, they would hear me coming! Thankfully no bear encounters would be had, whether by sheer luck or by being noisy, I didn’t care.


Just south of Eureka I came out onto highway 93 north to the border, stopping only briefly to grab some (non-ethanol premium) fuel at the Conoco in Eureka.
The border crossing was quick and easy without the need for a tire repair, (I checked it as I stopped) this time. Not far north into B.C. I exited off at Grassmere onto gravel again. I found Elko via back roads and continued south of the river on gravel into Fernie. My favorite house near Fernie is for sale so I stopped to take a picture of it.

I wonder How much? I'll look up the listing.

Welcome to Fernie Real Estate | Fernie BC I have expensive taste apparently; $899,900. To rich for my blood.

West of Fernie.

From Fernie I repeated the route that Ian and I took back in August, this time the bridge just before Corbin road was un-gated and open for an easy crossing. They had repaired and built up the east river-bank to prevent flooding on the east side. When I got to the Alberta border I did a little exploring, something that I had been meaning to do but was always at the tail end of a trip and in a rush. Today I indulged myself without those pressures. One of the benefits of running solo; just your own schedule and whims to satisfy.

I took highway into Coleman, fueled and headed north on the trunk road having fun gravel-surfing the corners at high speed as the sky quickly darkened and the temperatures dropped rapidly.

Island Lakes at Crowsnest pass on Highway 3.

just outside Coleman.

Not much further I stopped for a quick snack and a rest, still resisting putting on the rain gear until I had to.

Another half an hour and I stopped, pulling on the rain-suit as the rain and sleet fell on me. A few rain drops looked rather snow-like. The good thing about rain and gravel is the lack of dust, and in this case slightly improved traction as I blasted down the stormy road. I hauled ass through the pouring rain, grip heaters on high, fairly warm considering the temperature. I crossed over from the trunk road to highway 22 via 532 and the rain stopped east of the summit on 532. Just north of the town of Black Diamond I stopped to take pictures of an incredibly bright rainbow as the weather cleared to the west and the sun came out.

As I arrived in Calgary the rain started again, (beading up and running in a neat channel) on the nice fresh pavement in my laneway.
My short two day trip was done, and so was my unfinished business with Glacier national Park. I had seen the “Crown Of The Continent” and it was truly regal!


I hope you enjoyed the report. Go see this Park and road, you won't regret it!

 

[Evitzee]

Nice pics....I spent a month in Whitefish (25 miles from the park) in August and there were only about 5 days that were clear, the rest of the time was heavy smoke from the fires in the park and smoke wafting over from the Washington fires. It looks like it has cleared up considerably since we left there about 10 days ago. The road over the pass will close in a couple of weeks, it was closed a couple of days last week for 'winter weather'. Last winter was very dry, and the bears are having trouble with food. Have been to Glacier the last five years and have never seen a bear until this year. Once on the road, and once while we were sitting on Lake McDonald (Sprague Creek campground) having a picnic. Glanced up and there was a black bear about 20 ft away. He/she has been hanging around all summer looking for food, very rare for them to come down to the lake. Didn't have to use the bear spray but I had it handy, just in case. He wandered down along the shore and disappeared around the corner. I'm not too concerned about the black bears, but grizzlies, no thanks.

That picture of the guy and the girl overhanging the edge is eerie......in 2013 a newlywed couple was hiking above the Going to the Sun Road (the Highline Trail) and the man fell off the trail and went down 300 or ft or so to his death. Tragedy, until the woman's story fell apart and she admitted she pushed him because she had second thoughts about the marriage. She stood behind him at a cliff and pushed him off with both hands. All his friends pleaded with him not to marry this woman, they were right. She got a 30 year sentence.

 

[lytehouse]

WOW!!! That's incredible scenery Lee.
John & I actually made it to Waterton a few years back.....wish we had more time to push a bit further into Alberta, and my passport had not been expired!

 

[DenArnold]

no comments, just awesomeness
Love it Lee!

 

[Oldschool]

no comments, just awesomeness
Love it Lee!

Thank You. I shot video along the road until the battery died on the Go Pro. When I get a chance I'll process and post the footage so you can see what it is like to ride (crawl along in traffic). You can only ride as fast as the camper in front of you so no fear of a speeding ticket.