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29th Sep 2005
Going-To-The-Sun
Thursday, 29th September, 2005
We had been aware the night before of the wind gathering pace … it had howled round the hostel all night and had done nothing to reduce in pace by the daylight hours. It had ripped a considerable amount of green leaves from the trees and as a result there were loads of deer all wandering around the town nonchalantly mopping up the windfalls.
Despite a couple of calls I hadn’t managed to speak with Rob, my contact at Parks Canada ... and another call to the office did nothing to solve the problem. However, when we returned from breakfast a message awaited at the front desk of the lodge and we went up to the Parks headquarters, just out of town, for 10 o’clock.
Breakfast meantime was a decidedly pleasant experience. We’d earmarked Zum’s Diner as the breakfast venue and duly turned up there to sample the ‘early risers special’ this apparently was available until about 11 o’clock so there was no rush whatsoever. The ‘special’ featured two eggs however you wanted them (easy over as it happened, though I still haven’t quite figured this out as apparently the other options are ‘sunnyside up’ and ‘hard over’) and two pancakes with maple syrup.
With an eye on both the wallet and the waistline we elected to share … I ordered a pint pot of fresh berry smoothie … blueberries, icecream, ice and cream all smoothed into one and Anne got the special as described above and we had roughly half of each without falling out over the finer details too much! There was a minor scuffle over the last quarter of smoothie.
Up at the parks office the wind was worse. The lake below had huge waves and spray driving down it, but it was a warm wind and the skies were clear. Anne came in for a while to meet Rob and then took off to explore. He and I worked through the various complexities of the Parks Canada photography work … which they co-fund with UVic.
Anne’s morning was rather successful and included a visit to an open area of grassland, where Rob had indicated the prospect of seeing elk; as she sat, a coyote trotted by hunting through the grass as it went.
I had a very full morning of discussion and had the chance to leaf through a number of the images gathered during the Rocky Mountain Repeat Photography Project. Anne returned for me at about 12.45 and we eventually left at 1.30.
Ahead of us a three hour drive through the US border and to West Glacier – the border apparently was closing at 6pm. Sharp. Quite an uneventful drive, some good scenery on the way and some views (particularly on the Canadian side) of the mountains.
As we crossed into Montana, we encountered the usual humourless uniform and on the other side of the mountains, the weather began to change. By the time we were on the ‘Going-to-the-Sun Road’ and crossing the Continental Divide, it had closed in to rain and low cloud. Logan Pass was shrouded and although we got several tantalising glimpses the vistas never opened up. The rain increased and with it the run-off and with that odd bits of gravel and stone on the road surface.
The ‘Going-to-the-Sun’ is a really steeply cut road, built in the 30s with cliffs above (overhanging in some places) and below and as we trundled on it was clear that there was a considerable amount of debris on the move above us due to the rainfall. The odd stone bounced onto the gravel beside us and after the summit of Logan Pass, we had to drive around the odd slab of rock, including quite a large one in the middle of the road … and there was a certain amount of consternation from the seat to my right.
However, we were on the downhill stretch, the worst of the pass was behind us and we cruised down to Apagar, arriving just as it was beginning to get dusk.
As of tomorrow (the end of September) Glacier ceases to function as an entity and this was reflected by the various sales that were taking place and the attitudes of the various shop-owners, keepers and attandents; they were all completely demob happy and couldn’t give a toss!
Our cabin was similarly sized to a large, garden shed. About eighteen to twenty feet long, with a large (ish) bedsit and a small kitchenette and bathroom at the back; obviously of some considerable vintage, it’ll be ideal as long as it holds out the water!
We dined in the bar of the Belton Chalet; a Great Northern Railway establishment which served great value food; Anne with crab cakes and me a with buffalo carpaccio washed down with a pint of Montana Ale.
Back out in to the rain and on the way back to Apagar, we tried to hook into the West Glacier network; only got a couple of bars of reception in the carpark, but unfortunately, access was denied.
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