Day 10 - August 7, 2017 - Glacier National Park - Going to the Sun Road

Day 10 - Monday, August 7, 2017 - Essex (Glacier National Park), MT and Return
Distance: 238km,  Time: 10:30hrs,
Sunny, Hot 30c to 10c - Light Rain on the East side 23c
Overnight: Izaak Walton Inn

 This was the sole purpose of this trip - taking my motorcycle over the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park, this is the same road that Karen and I did on the Great Rail Trip of 2014 (www.ontape.ca/rails2014).

 Glacier National Park had 1,010,000 visitors in July of 2017, so this is going to be a slow and long day - but with a motorcycle you can fit into parking spaces that a car will not so there is a plus, but it will be a slow day day for sure. 

 After going from West to East on the Sun Road, I exited the park at St. Mary and followed US#89 South to MT#49.  

 US#89 is a challenging road, it departs from St. Mary straight up the hill with curves and some rough sections of pavement, for a US numbered road it was a bit of a surprise, but the real challenge will be MT#49.

 MT#49 is a no guard rail road on the side of the mountain (called looking glass mountain) for about 20km, it starts at Kiowa MT and heads South to East Glacier Park Village on US#2, there are zero services, so gas up in St. Mary and take your time, the curves are an equivalent to the Tail of the Dragon, except the vistas are out of this world.  Don't be fooled by the short distance this will take time and skill and since it started to rain, even more skill.

 Once I reached East Glacier Village, and it was late, 5pm, I decided to have an early dinner at Glacier Park Lodge (http://www.glacierparkinc.com/lodging/glacier-park-lodge/).  This hotel was build by the Great Northern RR back in 1913 it again is one of the historic and grand hotels in and near Glacier National Park.

 After diner it was time to head back to Essex on US#2 one of the last US transcontinental highways in the US, but Amtrak's Empire Builder is running one hour late so I need a photo just west of town, I sported a good location the day before.  Got the shot and called it a night at Essex.

Photos from the day:






















MT#49

MT49

MT49

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