Our first day there we drove all the way to end at Rising Sun. Visibility was limited because of smoke from wildfires further west. The road is narrow in the mountain stretches.
We could see a waterfall through the haze at one of the stops. There are scenic pullouts all along the road.
We saw marmots alongside the road. Well, Steve saw them. I was driving.
Once it leaves the shore of Lake McDonald the road follows McDonald Creek. There are several scenic stops for waterfalls and rapids.
At the opposite end of the road we stopped at the Sun Point Nature Trail and had lunch. This chipmunk really thought he was going to get fed. He’s lucky we didn’t step on him by accident!
By the following day visibility had improved so after hiking to Avalanche Lake we drove the road again to see the mountains.
The following day we focused on the western end of the road. Besides more beautiful rapids we also got a glimpse of a deer by the side of the road, were entertained by a squirrel, and Steve made a butterfly friend. And I like the hiker who takes relaxation seriously and brings a hammock with them!
Hiking the Highline and Hidden Lake Overlook trails took up most of the next day. We did stop at the Red Rocks area on Avalanche Creek and got some photos of the Weeping Wall during a road construction delay.
Here’s a photo from the Logan Pass parking lot the one day we got a space. And it was definitely stupid bee season. (You know, when it starts getting colder and they’ll go after anything?)
On our final day we had dramatic fog in the morning.
The skies cleared by afternoon so we had a last chance to absorb the mountains.
We stopped near Jackson Glacier where people had seen a grizzly bear on the mountain opposite, though he was hard to see.
And we got one last look at St Mary Lake.
While the road is narrow through the mountains (you can’t take vehicles longer than 24′ through there) there are lots of pullouts. And in lower elevations, it’s a typical two-lane road.
We drove the Going-to-the-Sun road almost every day for a week and never tired of it.