Glacier NP --- St. Mary’s and Red Bus Tour

The first thing we did this morning was break some rules.  We took the Looking Glass Hill road from Two Medicine to St. Mary, which is specifically limited to vehicles under 21 feet in length.  (We are 21 feet 11 inches).  Then, once we were in St. Mary’s we ignored another warning sign telling us not to drive on Going-to-the-Sun Road.  It’s only open for the first 14 miles – as far as the Jackson Glacier Overlook – so we figured we probably couldn’t get into too much trouble (the steep, narrow part is still closed).  Anyway, we won’t tell if you won’t.

There were some impressive viewpoints along the road – this is the view of Wild Goose Island, a tiny island in the middle of St. Mary Lake.  The pointy mountain behind it is Mount Fusillade, a glacial horn (meaning that the mountain was carved by glaciers on three sides).

On some of the curves we got a little taste of what the rest of Going-to-the-Sun Road would have been like if it hadn’t been closed.  Kevin was at the wheel and I was able to just take in the scenery. 

We hadn’t made any arrangements for a campground for the night.  We drove through the campground at Rising Sun, just to check out the amenities and scope things out.  The campground was nearly empty, and someone else was checking things out, too – this black bear, who moseyed right out in front of the van.  After the grizzly we saw yesterday, he looks kinda tiny. 

We had originally wanted to do a boat tour on Saint Mary Lake, but it turns out we are here too early – the boats aren’t running yet.  So instead we switched the plan around and decided to do a Red Bus Tour.  These classic Model 707 buses have led sightseeing tours here in Glacier since the 1930’s, and were refurbished in 2001 to run on propane.  They are sometimes erroneously called “red jammers”, but “jammer” is actually the name for the drivers who used to jam them into gear going up and down the Going-to-the-Sun Road.  The buses are an elegant and informative way to see Glacier in all its glory, taking you back in time to the heyday of the American motor industry in addition to taking you through the park.

We took the “Moto and Moko Tour” which is Blackfeet for “Spring and Autumn”.  This is the basic tour they do when the Going-to-the-Sun Road is still closed.  We were blessed with sun and clear skies today; no rain at all.  Our driver said that today was the first day this season where it was nice enough to put the top down.  He had a little help.

Out of curiosity, Kevin asked our driver about the bus’s overall length.  (We had parked next to one and noticed it was quite a bit longer than our van.)  Turns out, even the red buses ignore the road restrictions.  They are a solid 25 feet long and 8 1/2 feet wide – well outside the posted limits for the Going-to-the-Sun Road, and yet in the height of the season they’ll pass one another in each direction along Logan Pass.  So I guess the restrictions don’t apply to everyone.  That made us feel a little better about our rule-breaking excursions earlier in the day.