Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [155]
Almost exactly halfway along Going-to-the-Sun Road is The Loop, an excellent vantage point for views of Heaven's Peak. Just 2 miles farther is the Bird Woman Falls Overlook, an outlook for falls located across the valley. The Weeping Wall, a wall of rock that does, in fact, weep groundwater profusely in the summer, is a popular subject for photographers.
At the 32-mile mark from West Glacier is Logan Pass, one of the park's most highly trafficked areas and the starting point for the hike to Hidden Lake, one of Glacier's most popular. There's a visitor center here, atop the Continental Divide.
As you head downhill, you'll reach the turnout for Jackson Glacier Overlook, the most easily recognizable glacier in the park, followed by Sunrift Gorge and Sun Point, which are accessible on two
short trails that present opportunities to view wildlife.
Exploring the Park by Car
Because of the massive mountains that surround visitors to Glacier National Park, it is impossible to drive through the park without drawing comparisons to Grand Teton. Perhaps the most significant difference is that here one drives among the mountain peaks; at Teton, you view the mountains from a distance, unless you're willing to head for the hiking trails.
Going-to-the-Sun Road is by far the most driver-friendly avenue on which to enjoy the park and see some of the more spectacular views. See the previous section, "If You Have Only 1 Day," for an idea of what you'll see along this road.
You can easily circumnavigate the lower half of the park in 1 long day, without traveling at warp speed. Along the way, you'll experience Glacier's splendor and get a bird's-eye view of Big Sky country. After a leisurely breakfast in West Glacier, you'll be in East Glacier in plenty of time for lunch at the Glacier Park Lodge (see "Where to Stay," later in this chapter) and at St. Mary or Many Glacier for dinner. (Note: Going-to-the-Sun Road's multiyear rehabilitation, which expands in 2006, will cause 30-min. to 2-hr. delays for several years.)
U.S. 2 between West Glacier and East Glacier, which is approximately 57 miles, is a well-paved, two-lane affair that winds circuitously around the western and southern edges of the park and follows the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. In the summertime, you'll see inner tubes and white-water rafts galore. As you descend to the valley floor, you'll drive through beautiful, privately owned Montana ranchland and farmland. Shortly after entering the valley, look to the north and admire the park's massive peaks—spires as beautiful as any on the planet. The Goat Lick parking lot, on U.S. 2 just east of Essex, gets you off the beaten path and provides a view into a canyon carved by the Flathead River; if you have time, take the short hike down to the stream and look on the hillside for mountain goats.
Beyond East Glacier, as you head northwest on Mont. 49 and west toward Two Medicine, you'll notice that the earth appears to fall off. The contrast is inescapable—mountains tower in the west, but to the east the Hi-Line begins, with a horizon that extends so far and so flat as to seemingly lend credence and legitimacy to the Flat Earth Society. But round a corner on the Two Medicine Road and suddenly you'll find yourself faced with three mountains (Appistocki Peak, Mount Henry, and Bison Mountain) bare of vegetation but as red as their Southwest counterparts. The difference here is that snow fills the crevasses, even in mid-August. Ten miles later, continuing the route north on U.S. 89, you'll come across a wide panorama of mountain peaks, valleys, ridges,