02.09.2010 Pure Awesomeness!

Pic - Logan's Pass - Glacier National Park

Yep, this place is made from pure awesomeness. Yesterday I was singing a John Denver song that's chorus is "Some days are diamonds, some days are stones" due to the fact that yesterday was just a day to get through with next to fun to be had at all. However, today I was singing it for another reason.. today was a diamond. Straight from boiled lollies to choccies. Today I did a lap of the Glacier National Park.

The day started out promising with a blueish sky and no sign of any rain clouds, so I stripped out the lining from my pants and jacket and packed my winter gloves - just in case. About 30 miles in, things start to look a bit grim - there's fog and low cloud and it's starting to get a bit cool. I start to swear to myself that if this turns out like yesterday I'll be mighty pissed. Once I enter the forest proper, the area looks great - despite the overcast and grey conditions - I still can't see much beyond the short distance - no mid or long views at all. A river runs along the road which has a few small waterfalls, rapids really, which are nice to stop to look at for a while, but not what I'm here for. There's a tonne of hiking trails through here - including one that begins with built up wooden paths so that the natural undergrowth isn't destroyed or disturbed.

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Later on I catch a glimpse of some snow covered peaks, but most of them are obscured by clouds. I go with the flow and follow the traffic on the way up. The national parks are well patronised by the public and there's cars, RV's and SUV's everywhere. At one stage I was following a dual wheeled SUV up a winding road. On the left is a sheer wall coming down into the road, then the road which is barely 5 metres wide, then a small (30-60 cm) stone wall, followed by sheer cliff on the other side. At one stage, this SUV could barely fit in the lane. His front wheels would be on the right side of the road, but because of the dual wheels at the back, he was nearly always on the wrong side of the double lines. I sorta hung back from him as I'm sure people coming the other way weren't too impressed with how he was getting up there.

Suddenly, most of the weather started to clear and the views were absolutely breathtaking. I've never seen anything like it before and it's what I reckon some of the Alps and mountains of France must look like. There's snow covered peaks and glaciers everywhere. Below the snow/ice line is an incredibly green forest with some large grassed areas thrown in as well.

My photo's don't do the place any justice whatsoever, it is an incredibly beautiful place. By the time I got to the visitor's centre at the top, I was stunned. It was a bit "Brrr.." at the top, but I spent about 30-45 mins just staring at the views. The area was packed with people, buses, cars, and motorbikes. Everyone was wandering around in awe. The road up was first made in 1936 and I can't imagine how they did it - but it's a good thing they did. I read in the paper yesterday that a mining concern wants to mine a part of the park. It would be a travesty if they did. Along the way there were many waterfalls streaming straight down the cliffs, as well as a "weeping wall" where water was just seeping out of the rocks. One thing that's interesting is that they reckon the glaciers will all be gone by the year 2020. There is a series of photo's that show how the glaciers in one spot have degenerated since the late 30's to the present day, and the change was remarkable. At one stage, there is a glacier that is over 8 feet thick, and it doesn't exist at all today. It will be a shame if they all go.

On the way down, about 1 mile from the visitor's centre, there was more roadworks and the traffic was held up for 10 mins - I didn't mind at all, as I got another view of the Rockies for a while. I'd not heard of the Glacier National Park before I got the route for my motorbike ride, but I'm so glad it was included. I'd highly recommend it to anyone if you're anywhere near Montana. It's been the highlight of my trip, and I can't think how anything else is likely to top it. When I was talking to Scott (the guy I rented the bike from) on the day he delivered the bike, he asked if I had seen the Rockies before. I said "Nope, this is the first time I've been to the States". At that, he burst out laughing and said "Oh man, are you going to have a trip then". He said that a father and son had only just returned from there and he reckon they found religion! Of what type, I wasn't sure :) At the time I thought "Wow.. that's a big sell". I don't know about the religion side of things, but is one helluva sight to see.

Towards the end of the day, with some time to kill, I visited this large outdoor shopping plaza - kind of like a mall, but individual shops not under the same roof. I went into this huge sporting store to have a wander around. They sold everything from skateboards, to kayaks, to bicycles, hiking gear, camping gear etc etc. Of course, I ended up near the guns, as that side of things is still pretty bizarre to me. The place was pretty busy as a new season is about to open - bow hunting I think? Anyway, if you want a gun, this would be a good place to start. From pistols that you could hide in a pair of speedo's, through to one that would put Dirty Harry to shame - basically a hand cannon - to lever action rifles, pump action shot guns and semi-automatic assault rifles - just in case you get attacked by a mob of deer and have to take out 15-20 at a time I guess. Unbelievable stuff.

I next went into a Walmart. It was about the size of Bunnings in Ballarat. Grocery store, department store, gun shop (much smaller than the other one)- it even had a Subway in the store. The had more TV's on display than JB's do. Anyway, I found a Mars bar.. I didn't think the US had them, but it's not like our Mars. It's more likely our Mars Almond.

Anyway, that's enough for now.. a day full of awesome! :) Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day as well, so with any luck I've seen the last the rain.