We were so happy we had an early start to enter Glacier National Park from the west entrance at Apgar Village. By the time we left the park in the early afternoon, the traffic into the park was almost bumper to bumper with sightseers, hikers, and bikers. We took the Going-to-the-Sun Road. (What a great name for the most scenic road I have ever been on in this country!) The two-lane road hugs the cliffside with very little guard rails, but oh, the views! We stopped at almost every scenic pull-off.

The stunning and dramatic McDonald Falls was our first stop, and who doesn’t love a beautiful waterfall that empties into blue, rocky water? The next stop was the Sacred Dancing Cascade, which gurgled over the flat rocks, and led into the very lengthy ten-mile McDonald Lake. (Surrounded by mountains, it resembled a Norwegian fjord.)

We headed slowly on the winding road to Logan’s Pass Visitor Center and the minute we stepped out of the car, we knew we had to don our puffy down jackets. (Where were our mittens and ski hats when we needed them?) It was in the ’30s and the winds were so strong that if your paperwork was not secured in the car, it was whipped out into the air. We hiked up to the steep and windy paths and loved the amazing views of the glaciers, which are reputed to disappear by 2030.

Our roadside tailgate picnic today was cold and windy, but definitely had the best views of any stop. The weather was not conducive to hiking today with wind and drizzly rain, plus we did not have any bear spray with us! (We did not see any, but there are plenty of warnings.) The road ended at Rising Sun, and we turned around and agreed that the view on the descent was even better than our ascent. As the car hugged the rocky side of the road, the color of the rocks in blues and grays were interspersed with mini waterfalls that we had not noticed before.

We drove back to Kalispell through White Fish, disappointed that our friends are out of town, but we admired the lovely town center. Tonight we enjoyed our last night here with a great meal at Desoto  Bar-B-Q!