Day 2
Today Is the Big Day, We're Cycling Up to Logan Pass,
But First, Breakfast in the Lodge!

Above Left: Looking at Lake McDonald Lodge early in the morning, the nearly full moon had yet to set.

Above Right: Kla-how-yah is a common Greeting of many northwest American and Canadian Indigenous Peoples, it is similar to saying Hello in English.

Above Left - Three Things:
1) I had not seen the Great Northern RR Goat Logo in a Long Time, my Grandfather retired as a Depot Master in St Johns, Michigan, from the Great Northern Railway.
2) My Grandfather had been here with the Railroad when he was a young man. He did his job back when working for the Railroad was cool and a desirable job, it paid well, had great benefits, and a person got to travel into some fairly remote places, exotic resorts, or big bright cities. Glacier National Park started as a Railroad Resort Attraction (much like Banff for the Canadian Pacific RR).
3) The map profile of Glacier National Park looks like a man looking down at about a 40-degree angle.

Above Right: One of many oil paintings suspended in the Great Lodge.

We Were Riding East on the 'Going to the Sun Road'

Above: We were Riding East on the 'Going to the Sun Road'. We would not see the Sun for an hour or so.

Above Left: Our speed was showing - The super thick spongy moss of an old forest was noteworthy.

Above Right: Riding East on the 'Going to the Sun Road'.

Above Left: Our speed was showing - That is McDonald Creek (looking upstream).

Above Right: Man, were we fast. Not.

Above: Heading east, more or less, on Going to the Sun Road.

Above: Hello Mr Sun!

Above Left: Crossing Logan Creek.

Above Right: About a mile before The Loop.

The Loop

Above Left: Flowers near the wet part of The Loop.

Above Right: Probably Mt Geduhn but possibly Longfellow Peak (Looking SE from the corner of The Loop).

Above Left: Yours truly (Dennis Struck) starting the climb (photo by Terry).

Above Right: A pull-off view, maybe Heaven's Peak. The Haze is from a Forest Fire that sprang up overnight in east Oregon, we will get to live with it for the next week. Oddly, in about 10 more days, a big forest fire will burn the west end of McDonald Lake and the west side of Glacier NP will be closed for about 40 days.

Above Left: Climbing Going to the Sun Road.

Above Right: Dennis Struck and the Bee pausing on the Going to the Sun Road (photo by Terry Struck).

Above Left: Looking south on the Going to the Sun Road.

Above Right: Dennis Struck, Terry Struck, and the Bee posing on the Going to the Sun Road (photo by another rider).

Above: The Tunnel on Going to the Sun Road.

Above Left: Huckleberries, ripe on the roadside, no place for a car to pull over but there was room for a cyclist.

Above Right: The Bee's right handle-bar-end.

Above Left: Mt Oberlin & Clements, I think (looking SE).

Above Right: Heaven's Peak (looking South).

Above Left: Looking south and down at McDonalds Creek and the road from which we came.

Above Right: Climbing and looking east on the Going to the Sun Road.

Above: About Heaven's Peak.

Above: Heaven's Peak.

Above: Heaven's Peek (play on words) and handy progress bar at the sign's bottom.

Above: About 'U' shaped Glacier Valleys.

Above: 'U' shaped Glacier Valley.

Above Left: Looking eastward at an 'U' shaped Glacier Valley.

Above Right: Looking southward at an 'U' shaped Glacier Valley.

The Weeping Wall on the Going to the Sun Road

Above Left: The Weeping Wall on the Going to the Sun Road.

Above Right: Looking south, we're high enough in elevation (~ 6000'/2000m) that our views are changing from the lower valley floor views.

Above: A composite view, east bound (although south here), looking south, about a mile from Logan Pass. It was cooler, we were in snow country.

Above: Close-up views.

Above Left: Close-up view.

Above Right: TRAFFIC JAM! That is Logan Pass, ahead. The time was about 1150 am, were supposed to be off the road by 1200 noon. This was a shallow cycling slope (because we're near the crest) and a breathable altitude for us, in fact the elevation of our home in Colorado is 7500'/2220m (higher than here), so we were not having any issues with ourselves. We could have ridden around all the cars but that would likely cause tensions with the motorists, so we patiently waited. The Traffic Jam is because there were more cars than spaces at the Logan Pass Information Center's Parking Lot.

We were actually at Logan Pass at 1203 pm (Oh No).

The Mountain Peak, visible just left of Logan Pass, is called Sun Mountain and the Native Americans actually called this trail 'Going to the Sun Mountain Trail' (before the road was created and paved). Technically, 'Going to the Sun Road' should be called 'Going to the Sun Mountain Road' and on occasion the road or path is referred in that manner.

Logan Pass (6640'/2025m), Continental Divide, Glacier National Park, Montana

Above: Dennis and Terry Struck along with the Bee at Logan Pass (29 July 2018, Glacier National Park).

Above Left: Bucket List, Check.

Above Right: Mary just arrived, she said it was a 'Horrific' climb.

Above Left: That's part of our gang, Terry is holding the Bee, Jimmy is facing us, and the 3 ladies are fellow riders.

Above Right: That's the Look-Out and Information Center at Logan Pass (with toilets).

The Eastside of Going to the Sun Road
(5.5 Hrs Up from McDonald Lodge - 1.5 Hrs Down to St Mary plus 1 Hr to Baab)

Above Left: The west-head of St Mary Lake, it is about 10 miles long, we will ride parallel all the way to the town of St Mary.

Above Right: We were running a side-by-side GPS test, Wahoo on the left and Garmin 510 on the right (reading from identical gpx files). Having traveled side-by-side for about 30 miles distance, the Garmin has .2 miles less than the Wahoo. Even on maps like Ride with GPS, our Garmin 510 frequently loses distance or on a 3 point leg (A, B, C) the Garmin frequently maps directly from A to C.

I do not like Garmin bike GPSs and their mapping software is the just about the worst in the industry. Their support is not bad, the company reminds me of IBM, they make and sell good hardware but software is almost an after thought (which is how Microsoft gained a foot in the IBM PC market) - Just sharing my experience said the guy with a Doctorate in Computer Science.

Above: Terry Struck and the Bee (a fantastic da Vinci Tandem) at the west-head of St Mary Lake, Glacier NP, MT. The temperature at Logan Pass was about 55-60 F / 12-13 C just 30 minutes ago, but here it was 85 F / 28 C, ergo, we do not need to be wearing our jackets our jackets (they were strapped onto to the bike rack).

Above: This area supported 70 species of Mammal but one is missing, the Bison.
BTW: I have noticed in the past 10 years or so that the animal is called Bison and not Buffalo.
Note our progress at the bottom of the sign, we are almost to St Mary.

Above: This is the same mountain as pictured in the previous/above image, East Flattop Mountain.

Above Left: Nearing the end of St Mary Lake.

Above Right: The bridge over St Mary River, it has a CCC look about it.

Saint Mary

Above Left: The sign and bridge over St Mary River.

Above Right: We exited Glacier National Park, rode through a the small town of St Mary, and then we followed Lower St Mary Lake north for another 6-7 miles. We rode to Babb on highway MT-17 and US-89. This day's bike trip ended in the small town of Babb (where we loaded-up the bikes and shuttled back into Glacier NP to Many Glacier Lodge).

Above: Just before arriving at Babb, we saw these Teepees.

We got up early, ate breakfast early, and we were on the Going-to-the-Sun-Road early so that we would have enough time to ride up to Logan Pass (Continental Divide, 6646'/2015m) by 12-Noon. Five and a half hours later, just before Noon, we arrived at the tail of a long queue of automobiles and ATVs trying to get into the parking lot of the Visitor Center. As it was, Terry and I (Dennis) entered the parking-area at 1203 hours and we thought that was pretty-good given the circumstances. We quickly lined up with the Bee for pictures at the Logan Pass / Continental Sign. It just seemed weird waiting in line for people who drove up, took a picture, and departed. From the Visitor Center (which had toilets and long lines) we departed for Babbs (our riding destination) by way of St Mary which is the east Park entrance/exit. For 99% of the day we rode by ourselves but occasionally a cyclist would side us and talk for a minute or so (and that is pleasant too). All of the traffic and people were nice to us and we had a grand day!