We got up at 5 a.m. and headed into Glacier N.P. We wound up back at our motel at 10 p.m., very tired puppies. No words or pictures can capture the grandeur of Glacier, though I have attached a couple of pictures in a very poor attempt. We saw big horn sheep, mountain goats, marmots and ground squirrels. We did two hikes, totaling 6 miles, walking almost a half mile in the snow on one. We parked the van, with Barney inside, at Logan Pass in the Park, and then took the free shuttles to our hike trailheads. Logan is the high point in the Park at the continental divide. After figuring out the shuttle schedules, we decided that we could ride Barney down the mountain and then I would take a shuttle back up the mtn to get the van while Martha held Barney's halter. It was a 15 mile coast! Really, it was an easy descent, not technical at all. Traffic was not an issue and we had a blast. The special drum brake that we put on just for this trip was put to good use and got smokin' hot - like it's supposed to. As we drove up to Logan early in the morning, we noticed a couple of cyclists on the ascent. Very shortly after we parked, one of the riders arrived. We went over to talk him up. His name was Dan. Dan looked to be sixtyish. He was very soft spoken, humble and matter of fact. He mentioned that today was his 64th ascent of Logan Pass! We also found out he'd done a couple of cross country rides, ridden the Andes and other international riding. Dan was the man. We were almost embarrassed to tell him of our comparatively modest tour. Tomorrow, we surrender the van and get on Barney, heading for Eureka, MT. I count 4 big 4,000/5,000 foot passes between here and Anacortes, WA. We'll be in some of the most remote country we've seen yet. Two of the coming days will be 72 and 76 miles with no services of any kind. We'll have to provision up for those days. This should be a fun finale to a great tour.
Dan - the Man!
At the Pass. We coasted 15 miles down the mountain from here.
Big Horn Sheep. Why do they call them that?
In the snow field.
Billy Goat Gruff.
What a scene!
We walked a half mile in the snow!
Beautiful pics! Thanks for sharing. It's been very hot here---96 today! My Gerberas are wilting in the sun. Nice to see the snow! Y'all have fun on your last legs!
ReplyDeleteI love your pics! I can't believe all the snow! We were there last week of September 2012 and there was no snow anywhere - not even Logan's Pass. I'm jealous that you got to see a mountain goat so close up. We saw a few but they were far away. I want to see your pics of the weeping wall if you got any. That part of the road was already closed when we got there because they were preparing for the snow that you and Martha just hiked in!
ReplyDeleteFirst there's Dan the Man, then there's you guys, then there' s us: we rode 15 miles on the Greenway today!
ReplyDelete