Early Departure Pays Dividends


A 6:05 departure this morning paid dividends.  It was a 55-minute drive up to Logan Pass, mostly by ourselves.  I thought that this would make the most difficult section of The-Road-to-The Sun easier…I think that I was mistaken.  When the road is busy your speed is kept to a minimum.  With only a few cars, of course your speed tends to increase.  I had some nervous moments as we headed upward…rarely has that been the case on this adventure.

We pulled into the Logan Pass Visitor Centre at 7:00 to find it ¾ full.  Where all these people had come from is a mystery to us…maybe they slept in their bloody cars…not sure.

The hike was billed as being one of the best in the park.  It lived up to its hype.  We hiked up over 750 feet through an alpine meadow at the base of Clements Mountain.  As we got higher, we began to look down upon the meadow.  When we would stop and look back, we were rewarded with a panoramic view of several mountain tops in all their glory.  On the way up, we spotted Big Horn Sheep far above us.  Sue then challenged me to find a Mountain Goat.  For the next hour, I kept scanning the rock ledges above us for any sign of one without success.  Then to our surprise, 2 of them walked out within about 20 feet of us…amazing!

The hike culminated at Hidden Lake Overlook.  Hidden Lake is a small high elevation Lake.  To be honest it was nice but by this time the ‘hordes’ had arrived and the ‘selfies’ had begun.  We slowly retraced our steps enjoying every bit of the scenery despite all the people.

We decided to take one last drive along The-Road-To-The Sun.  After all, the odds that we will ever be back here to experience such a drive again are probably pretty slim.  This time the road was ‘silly’ busy.  The pace was slow but still worth every minute of it!

Distance Traveled = 220 km.  Wildlife Sightings = Harlequin Duck, American Robin, Cedar Waxwing, White-tailed Ptarmigan, White Crowned Sparrow, Dipper, Western Tanager, White-breasted Nuthatch, Big Horn Sheep, Mountain Goat, Hoary Marmot, Columbia Ground Squirrel.


Mountain Goat


Big Horn Sheep


Cedar Waxwing


White-tailed Ptarmigan


Hidden Lake


Alpine Meadow


Alpine Meadow

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