Old news but good news! - Glacier Nat'l Park Update

As far as we were allowed on Going-to-the-Sun Rd.

Biking up going to the Sun.

Diving into 35 degree Avalance Lake

Near the beginning of Going-to-the-Sun Rd.

Sunset at Lake MacDonald

Somehow none of us have yet posted on one of the highlights of the trip, Glacier Nat'l Park. Certainly an incredible experience, especially rolling in on bikes. We got in to Glacier late one night, camped in one of their many campgrounds, woke up the next morning, and did 10 miles on Going-to-the-Sun road, and hung out in the park for a while. We didn't have a whole lot of time to see glacier, but we did go for a small hike up to Avalanche Lake. This was one of the most beautiful places we've been so far on the trip in my opinion. The lake consisted of glacier melt you could see running down three huge waterfalls from the mountains above. The water we were told was 35 degrees or colder, and we all took a dip although couldn't stay in for more than a few seconds.

After walking the trail back to the campsite attempting to identify trees, we tried Going-to-the-Sun road to get over the continental divide even though we knew it was closed due to 10 ft snow drifts. It was a fun, but tough ride, and we got about a mile from the top. We could actually see it in front of us, but we were warned several times by rangers, and signs specifically for hikers/bikers that hefty fines would result from attempting the closed pass, so we descended back down to Lake MacDonald, camped out in the park that night, and did Rt. 2's Maria's pass instead. Although the road was closed, the effort and extra day was completely worth it. The views near the top were incredible. We could see down thousands of feet into the valley below which we had biked through, and all the snow capped peaks and glaciers all around the park.