Logan Pass

Going to the sun

Our last morning in East Glacier we drove the Going to the Sun Road (best name for a road ever) up to Logan’s Pass, a perfect day of sunny blue skies and warming temps. Since the road has been closed at the pass for the past week because of the grizzly bear’s removal 😢, it was relatively free of cars but filled with bikers headed to the top. (We remembered LONG waits back in 1986 when all the motorhomes and camper trailers were allowed up to the pass, many of them chugging along at top speeds of 30 miles per hour. Now nothing over 21 feet long is allowed.)

At the pass we ran into our Wausau, WI camping neighbors who had gifted us a bag of oranges since they were on their way to Canada and then Alaska with their two beautiful huskies, and weren’t allowed to bring fruit over the border. We learned that he (Gary) was the volunteer head of the Council of Boy Scout Camps in northern WI, so he and Hank had lots to talk about given H’s experience as a Boy Scout and then Eagle Scout growing up in northern WI. (Once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout!) We also noticed Glacier Lilies (aka Avalanche Lilies) all around the edges of the snow and also IN the snow. These are hardy little resilient flowers that are among the first to bloom in spring at high elevation.Yellow Avalanche Lily

We had hoped to hike a bit of the Highland Trail. Unfortunately, it was closed due to snow, but we had a fascinating conversation with a young ranger, Jamie, who was surveying the area with her binoculars, looking for elk, mountain goats, and (maybe?) bears. She had been involved in the euthanization of the grizzly days before, and explained how they work hard to try to redirect bears that acquire a taste for human food, as this bear unfortunately had. They have a large culvert shaped device in which they lay straw for comfort and bait for treats. Once the bear is inside it’s put to sleep and transported to a more remote region of the park. Unfortunately the bear that had to be euthanized had already been removed once. We all agreed that it’s an incredibly sad day when, because of humans, bears—who are the true residents here—lose their lives.

I asked Jamie if I could take her picture and she readily agreed. Then I air-dropped it for her since she said, “My mom would love to have this.” I loved that this independent, smart, tough young woman thought of her mom at the top of Logan’s Pass after what was probably a pretty tough week.