I changed my mind. We went into Glacier and set up camp at the Sprague campground about ten miles in from the West Glacier entrance. We rolled in at around 4:00 p.m., so I ate a little bit food, dropped all my gear, and headed up Going to the Sun Road to see how far I could get.
I've been hearing about Going to the Sun/Logan Pass being closed for over a week now. When I checked the Glacier NP website it showed that the plows on either side of the pass were within a half-mile or less of each other, yet they barely moved closer from day to day. I spoke to a ranger today and found out why. That last half-mile – a section of the pass aptly known as Big Drift - was buried in 60 feet of snow. 60 feet. Furthermore, a federal contractor was up on the west side of the pass tearing up a mile long section near the plows. Ironically, the road's 75th anniversary celebration is this coming weekend, yet no one can get over the pass. Such is the way....
I got on my bike and started charging up the hill, while PeterB opted for a more sensible nap. We had already ridden 60 miles today, so I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to ride up the pass myself. I took my headlight and some warm clothes just in case. Some people had told me that the road was open another six miles past where we were camped. That turned out to be half-true. After six miles, at another campground named Avalanche, (why would one sleep at a place named after icy death), the road closed to all vehicular traffic, but continued to stay open to bicycle and hiker traffic.
I had a run-in with a bear about a half-mile before getting to Avalanche. I was plugging along and I heard a noise to my right. I looked over, and there was a black bear about 40 feet away near the side of the road. My heart skipped a beat and I instantly went into fight or flight mode. I had no bear mace with me, and worse, I couldn't tell if it was a black bear or a Griz. Luckily for me the bear was even more spooked of me, and he turned and hauled ass up the ridge. I'm pretty sure it was a black bear because it wasn't that big and ran away quickly, but still....
Once I made it through the closed road gates I had the whole road to myself, save the occasional road crew truck tooling up or down the road at 25mph. It was great being ab;e to ride all over the road, and stop where ever I wanted to. I even pissed in the middle of the road just because I could. Anyhow, the road continued for at least another eight miles or so. I got to the steep grade and trudged up to near the base of the one and only switchback on the pass. I was getting pretty excited because I was really starting to gain some good altitude, when I rounded a corner and came up to a road closed to all traffic sign placed seemingly arbitrarily in the road. Bummer. I sat there for a while drinking some water and taking a breather when I road crew truck came up the road and stopped. I asked theguy in the cab how much further the road went before the construction and plowing was going on. He told me about another five miles up. I asked him if he would drive me up there just so I could see the operation. He said he could loose his job if he did that. I asked him how much that was worth to him. He laughed and shook his head. And so began the fast downhill about 15 miles back to camp.
I'm glad I took the ride though. The park is simply stunning – even more so when I was traveling down a road that wasn't clogged with 30 foot RV's and SUV's full of half-bored kids. It sounds cliché and more than a bit new age, but it really was an almost magical experience zipping up the hill almost silently on a bike, surrounded by titanic mountain features. Anyone who's been here before can attest to the feeling at least a little bit.
Tomorrow we leave the same way we came in and starting the one, maybe two day ride around the southern edge of the park along US Highway 2. I've been told that US 2 provides a fairly scenic ride anyhow, but I still wish I would have ridden over Logan Pass.
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