Business and Pleasure–Days Five and Six: More Glacier

The forecast on Tuesday morning was, if anything, more ominous than the one from the night before. But even if I hadn’t been checking the forecast, I could see that darker clouds already beginning to form in the distance. My GPS routed me through a back road rather than the main roads between my hotel and the park. It was not crowded, so I could take my time and enjoyed the scenery.

I went by the Apgar Visitor Center to get my usual walking stick medallion and magnet as well as to talk to a ranger to get information about the best use of the time I had available. Even though I had looked at information on the web site, the ranger’s info is always up-to-date, and they can answer specific questions I have. I learned that, not only was the middle portion of the Going-to-the-Sun Road completely closed due to an avalanche, but the western end was under construction. Rangers along the route held us in place while others led cars coming from the other direction, then guided us pass the numerous construction sites. It made it very difficult to stop and view the scenery along the road. Still, I managed to get several shots along the way:

All of the pictures from my visit are available at http://singin1.com/piwigo/index.php?/category/Glacier-and-Yellowstone-NPs-May-2024.

The storm was clearly on its way, so I got back to the hotel, packed, and went to bed early. I wanted to be on the road as early as I could on Wednesday morning.

I got out very early Wednesday morning and immediately knew that I would be racing the storm out of the area. The hotel was on the west side of the park, and as is noted in the map, the more direct route, the Going-to-the-Sun Road (highlighted in yellow on the map), was blocked midway. I would have to drive around the southern part of Glacier before I could head east. I started up the eastern side of Going-to-the-Sun, but the rain had started.

I did get to see some of the park from a very different, stormier, perspective than the clearer, bluer, skies of just the day before.

Then, the snow started, and the road got worse and worse with each passing moment. What was even worse, however, was that there were more and more visitors, all too many driving the wrong vehicles (i.e., an RV trying to pull up a steep incline) or with the wrong technique for the weather. I finally acknowledged that the situation was an accident waiting to happen, so I went into “hyper-conservative-old-lady-driver” mode and slow drove SB out of the park.

Sorry, no pictures. I was too busy maintaining control of SB (and praying) to even contemplate the idea.

Fortunately, I drove out of the area without incident, but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for those who had gone to the trouble and/or expense of coming to the park for the Memorial Day weekend–some of whom, like me, would be making their first visit to the park. I don’t know whether the weather cleared before the weekend began.

Disregarding the logic that suggested heading due east, I steered SB south towards Yellowstone National Park. Actually, I was playing a hunch that I would be better off sheltering in the park than chancing getting caught in the Rockies when the storm was at its worst. There are mostly nothing but state and county roads between Glacier and Yellowstone, but the traffic was minimal. I made very good time considering the circumstances and eventually managed to get ahead of the storm front.

This was my third trip Yellowstone National Park. The first time had been during my 2014 Goin’ West journey. This time was unplanned, so I had not determined a route. I also had no place to stay; however, I knew that would be a wide assortment of places with facilities where I could safely take refuge for the night. And I always make SB ready to serve as shelter whenever I travel.

The snow hadn’t started when I arrived, and the rain that had fallen was only a prelude. Since I had not planned to be in Yellowstone, I relied on road signs to direct me to one of its many guest facilities. Along the way, I didn’t see much traffic nor wildlife. It appeared that most of them had the good sense to have found shelter. However, there were a pair of animals (sorry, I’m a musician, not a zoologist) grazing near the road and a handful of vehicles slowly braving the conditions: