2021 Glacier National Park with Karen and Wayne: Day Two
Day Two: Wednesday, July 28
It was a little over twenty-one miles from the Going-to-the-Sun Inn to the Two Medicine entrance of Glacier National Park. The small, unassuming motor inn is just past the “Y” where SE Boundary Street, or US-89 N, becomes Central Avenue traversing to the west, toward Glacier National Park. This route takes you through the heart of Browning, Montana. At the roundabout, just past the Museum of the Plains Indians, we took the third exit onto US-2 W and a little over twelve miles later saw us pulling into East Glacier Park Village, the original entrance into Glacier National Park. Just past Glacier Park Trading Company and Old Goat Traders, a couple of trading posts, or souvenir shops, we turned right onto Montana State Route 49 N for a journey into “God’s Country.”
Shortly after passing under the railroad bridge, we came to the Glacier Park Lodge. This grand structure, situated directly across from the Amtrack railroad depot, was built in 1913, just three years after Congress designated Glacier as a national park. It was the first of a series of hotels built in, and around, the park by the Glacier Park Company, a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway.
Louis W. Hill, President of the Great Northern Railway is credited with marketing Glacier as the “American Alps” and his hotels were made in the image of Swiss-style chalets. He was trying to compete for eastern visitors that were being lured into the Yellowstone National Park-area by his chief competitors, the Northern Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads, whose proximity to the first national park provided a major attraction for visitors along those routes.
Today, Amtrack, a Washington D.C.-based corporation still markets the park as a tourist destination using the Empire Builder, a long-distance passenger train that runs from Chicago, Illinois to Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon.
From East Glacier Park Village, it took less than a quarter hour to cover the seven-and-a-half-miles to the entrance of Two Medicine, a magnificent hotspot in the southeastern part of the park. I noted many aspen along this journey as well as the three miles from the park entrance to the shores of Two Medicine Lake.
It is a little over four miles, from the junction of MT-49 N and 2 Medicine Road to the Two Medicine Entrance of Glacier National Park, and from there another three miles saw us pulling into the parking area at the eastern edge of Two Medicine Lake.
From the Two Medicine entrance, it took less than ten minutes to cover the three miles, via 2 Medicine Road, until we were standing at the shore of Two Medicine Lake and viewing the iconic Sinopah Mountain, a mere two miles across the narrow lake. This is one of the most photographed spots in the park. Glacier Park Boat Company provides trips over the waters of Two Medicine Lake. According to their website, the price for an adult is just $16.75 for an adult and $8.25 for children between the ages of 4-12. Though I have never taken one of these tours, it is definitely on my list of things to do in the park.
With a light drizzling rain and low-lying clouds, there was no reason to stay, so we headed north for further viewing points in this magnificent park carved out of the wilderness.
It took us a little over an hour to travel the thirty-six miles from Two Medicine to St. Mary, the eastern entrance to the famous Going-to-the-Sun Highway. First, we retraced our steps back to Montana State Highway 49 N which took us to the junction with US-89 N. There were plenty of aspen along this route, so I am anticipating a lot of nice fall color this September when my brother and I return. Since we didn’t have tickets to go over the GTTS highway, we continued north for another nine miles to the CDC (census-designated place) named Babb. This town of less than 100 people is an unincorporated community in Glacier County, Montana, on the Blackfeet Reservation. It is the gateway to the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park.
During September 2019, an early autumn snowstorm of epic proportions barreled down from the arctic and dumped four feet of snow on this wayward community. Actually, Babb received fifty-two inches of snow. Browning, the largest city near the east side of Glacier, was the recipient of just forty-eight inches of the white stuff. We had intended to bring another of our Tennessee friends, Becky, to visit Glacier that weekend. Unfortunately, those plans were derailed due to the unexpected snowfall.
From this small town, we took Montana State Route 3, otherwise known as Many Glacier Road, west into the park. It is a little less than eight miles from Babb to the Many Glacier Entrance. Along the way, we passed the dam forming Lake Sherburne. We actually entered Glacier National Park at the dam. Another four miles brought us to the Many Glacier Hotel, another of the original Swiss-style hotels and backcountry chalets that Louis W. Hill built in an effort to draw tourists from the eastern United States. It should have taken approximately half an hour, according to Googlemaps, but road construction delayed us for a good thirty minutes. As is often the problem in high country, the short season for repairing highways can cause a lot of delays. This is a case when patience is truly a virtue.
Finally, however, we made our way into what I consider the second best part of Glacier National Park. Mere words, and even photographs cannot do justice to the view that awaits the weary traveler. I have never spent a night at the Many Glacier Hotel, but the views of Mt. Grinnell across Swiftcurrent Lake with the hotel in the foreground are breathtaking.
In 1915, on the 139th birthday of the United States of America, construction finished on this magnificent piece of architecture sitting on the east shore of Swiftcurrent Lake. With the current climate that is running rampant through our nation, that date may not mean much to some people, but to me, the 4th of July always carries a warm spot in my heart.
The Many Glacier Hotel, once known as the “Gem of the West,” still maintains an ambience that resonates throughout every pore of the human body as one looks upon either Swiftcurrent Lake or the surrounding mountain landscape from the windows of any of the 214 rooms and suites. This magnificent inn is a member of Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. With thirty-two charter members, this program was founded in 1989 and now contains over 260 member hotels.
Although my friends and I did not go inside the hotel, we had a great time. So many people go on vacations to all kinds of exotic places, and then spend their time inside fancy hotels. That wasn’t why we went to Glacier. I wanted to show Karen and Wayne the beauty of the park. We wanted to see what God had created, not trinkets made by humans. And in Glacier, that means the surrounding terrain. Looking across Swiftcurrent Lake from atop a small outcropping of rock behind the hotel, is the best vantage point in the Many Glacier area. I took lots of photos. To me that is what traveling is all about. The highlight of any trip to Many Glacier must be Mount Grinnell, which stands 8,852 feet above sea level. With it’s distinctive pyramid-shape and being directly across the lake from the hotel, this makes for a really great photo op. I never get tired of shooting pictures from this spot. Having my good friends with me, so I could show them a glimpse of God’s Country, made it that much better.
After Many Glacier it was back to the highway and heading north to another fine spot in Glacier National Park. Leaving Babb, our route took us north on US-89, but we missed the turnoff onto Montana State Route 17 N, otherwise known as Chief Mountain Road. Sitting in the back seat, I must have dozed off, because the next thing I saw was the sign at the Canadian border. We turned around and retraced our steps until reaching MT-17 N. It is, normally, just four miles from Babb to the junction of US-89 N and the Chief Mountain Road, but we had driven an additional eight miles, (according to Google Maps, it is twelve miles from Babb to Canada by way of US-89 N).
US Customs and Border Protection Piegan Port of Entry, at the Canadian border is the northern end of US-89. While Route-66 may be more famous, the east-west highway that connects Chicago, Illinois with Santa Monica Pier, just west of Los Angeles, California has nothing on US Highway 89. This magnificent 1,500+ mile road, though no longer connecting Mexico with Canada is a much more scenic route through rural America.
Some call US-89 the National Park Highway as it links seven parks along with fourteen other national monuments and other areas. Although, technically, Saguaro National Park, formerly a national monument, would not be considered now, since US-89 officially starts in Flagstaff rather than closer to the Mexican border, Capital Reef National Park, however, some might say could be argued for since it is close to US-89. And this park would join the triumvirate of southern parks, Zion, Bryce Canyon and, of course, the Grand Canyon. Either way, there are four national parks in the southern portion of this great drive. Up north, there are the “big three” of Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Parks.
In addition, there are fourteen national monuments, sites, historical parks, most of which are in Arizona or Utah. The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument is a large national monument east of Zion and Bryce Canyon while the Golden Spike Natural Historical Park is about fifty miles south of the Idaho border, in north-central Utah.
It’s a little over fourteen miles from the junction of US-89 and MT-17, along the Chief Mountain Road, to the border of Canada at Chief Mountain Border Station. And this is a beautiful drive, with the iconic Chief Mountain looming large on the horizon for a good portion of the journey. Of course, during the summer, everything was green. When Doug and I go back in the fall, we hope there will be a glorious carpet of golden aspen to behold our sight. I noticed plenty of aspen everywhere on Chief Mountain Road, so I am anticipating a nice scene in late September.
Without a ticket for the Going-to-the-Sun Road, we could not enter before 5 PM. And, though, there were many great places to view in Glacier National Park, the GTTS Highway is the iconic part of this magnificent park. I wanted to show my friends from Tennessee one of the best, if not the best, scenic drives in the world so we arrived at the park entrance in St. Mary shortly after five for our drive to the sun. In S. A. Snyder’s Scenic Driving MONTANA, this is Scenic Drive #2 Glacier National Park: West Glacier to Saint Mary. Coming from St. Mary, on the east side, we were taking the road in reverse order and did not drive all the way to West Glacier. We did, however, traverse the majority of the fifty-mile highway before turning around. No written word can adequately describe this pathway into some of the finest country on God’s green earth. Even photographs cannot do justice. You must see it, to believe it, to truly understand the true beauty of what our Lord created.
I was so caught up in the beauty of the sights along the way that I did not keep track of the mileage. But as we returned to our motel for the evening, I think my friends were more than satisfied with the sights they beheld on this Wednesday.
