Best Wildlife Viewing Spots on Going-to-the-Sun Road Fascinating Stories Behind Iconic Landmarks Tips for Capturing Stunning Sunset Photos A Glacier Park Ranger’s Day Along the Road The Compelling History of Going-to-the-Sun Road
As the sun began to rise over the rugged peaks of Glacier National Park, Sarah felt a rush of excitement as she approached the entrance to Going-to-the-Sun Road. This was her first visit, a long-awaited trip that had been postponed due to various life hurdles. Now, with her camera ready and a backpack filled with snacks, she was determined to soak in every moment of this iconic adventure.
The asphalt ribbon of road twisted through towering mountains, and the scenery was breathtaking. On her right, the vast expanse of Two Dog Flats spread out, a soft carpet of grass dappled with wildflowers, while St. Mary Lake shimmered like a jewel to her left. As she made her way, she couldn’t help but stop at the visitor center. The friendly ranger provided her with a map and some insights into the best lookout points.
“Don’t miss Wild Goose Island Viewpoint,” he advised. “It’s one of the most photographed spots in the park.”
Eager to make the most of her day, Sarah set out on the road. The elevation gradually climbed, and she felt the thrill of being surrounded by nature’s grandeur. The visibility here was magnificent, with trees giving way to breathtaking views of jagged peaks sculpted by ancient glaciers. She was awestruck, imagining the beauty of this land millions of years ago when it was hidden beneath a vast ocean.
As she drove, Sarah recalled stories she had heard about the park’s wildlife. She kept her eyes peeled, hoping to catch a glimpse of the local inhabitants. To her delight, just as the morning sun burst over the horizon, she spotted a herd of elk grazing peacefully in the distance. She parked her car and took photographs, carefully reminding herself to maintain a safe distance. A mother bear and her cubs soon followed, meandering near the lake for their morning drink. The sight filled her with both awe and respect for the wild creatures that called this place home.
The further she traveled, the more enchanting the journey became. At the eastern edge of the park, she decided to take a break at Rising Sun. The area was quiet and serene, perfect for a little reflection. While exploring the short path that led to St. Mary Lake, she felt the gentle breeze and heard the soft rustle of leaves. Looking out at the water, she noticed a sign warning about mountain lions in the area. Sarah’s heart raced—she was reminded of the delicate balance between beauty and caution in nature.
After resuming her drive, Sarah followed the winding road to the Wild Goose Island Viewpoint. Just as the ranger said, it was a magical spot. The island appeared like a mystical oasis on the lake, surrounded by towering cliffs and rich green foliage. She snapped countless pictures, captivated by how each angle offered a different perspective. Early morning light cast dramatic shadows, transforming the landscape into a living painting.
As she continued westward, her spirits soared higher with every turn. The road climbed steeply, revealing an overlook that offered a panoramic view of Saint Mary Lake and the majestic peaks beyond. Here, she met fellow travelers, all sharing stories and marveling at the scenery.
“Isn’t it just incredible?” a woman exclaimed, her eyes shining with enthusiasm. Sarah nodded, her heart full of gratitude for being part of this moment in time and space, enveloped in the raw beauty of nature.
The road trip culminated near Logan Pass, the highlight of many journeys. As the sun dipped closer to the horizon, painting the sky in hues of orange and pink, she hiked a short distance to the Hidden Lake overlook. The air was crisp, and excitement danced in her veins. Standing on that summit, looking out over the sweeping vistas, she felt as if she were standing at the edge of the world.
As night fell, Sarah made her way back, the day’s adventures replaying in her mind like a cherished film. The sun had set, but the warmth of the day stayed with her. Driving back along the Going-to-the-Sun Road, she reflected on the untamed beauty she had witnessed, the wildlife encounters that had thrilled her, and the connection she felt with the land.
This journey along the Sun Road was more than just a scenic drive; it was a reminder of the resilience of nature and the importance of preserving such wonders. As she exited the park and turned back towards her life, Sarah knew this experience would linger in her memory forever—a beautiful adventure carved in the heart of Glacier National Park.
Most people see the park by driving across one of the most scenic stretches of road in north america it’s called the going to the sun road we begin our 50-mile journey on the east side near st mary and if this is your first time be sure to stop at the visitor center the east side is much drier than the west and about 1200 feet higher at almost 4 500 feet so there are fewer trees to block the glacier carved scenery as we drive west the road is sandwiched between two dog flats on your right and st mary’s lake on the left
a sign on one of the first turnouts points to a very unique mountain the waters from this small minor peak flow to three different oceans the pacific the atlantic and the arctic the power of ice is plain to see above two dog flats this is the first of many geological features that i’ll point out along the route millions of years ago this land was under the sea sediment layers build up over eons some of the rock in the park is over 1 billion years old more recently several ice ages have come and gone the last really big glaciers receded 10
to 12 000 years ago this relatively flat section is excellent wildlife habitat shortly after sunrise large herds of elk come down from the mountains and head towards the lake bears and other predators also like to drink from the lake in the morning never approach a bear and don’t even think about getting out of your car it’s much safer to see them from the window at the western edge of the flats is one of my favorite places to stay in the park rising sun unfortunately in 2020 it was closed along with other park lodging on the
east side due to covid this side of the park is adjacent to the blackfeet nation in fact this side of the park was leased to the u.s by the blackfeet under a treaty that allowed for the formation of the park in 1910 to protect their settlements and their people the blackfeet restricted travel across the reservation to all making it illegal to drive to the lodges on the east side of the park so they were all closed hopefully in 2021 they will reopen my favorite side of the park by the way the full length of the road doesn’t
usually open until mid to late june and july openings are not uncommon because of the massive effort required to clear all the snow and weather tends to close the road by mid-october [Music] in 2020 the east entrance well it never opened this gate west of rising sun was as far east as you could go from the west it can take two to three hours to get here luckily there’s a parking and rest area with a bathroom on the lakeside the picnic area is nicely surrounded by trees the short path leads to st mary lake this sign warns that a mountain lion has
recently been seen in the area so you need to be alert the narrow beach is a nice place to take in the pleasant view especially early in the morning and if you’re really lucky you might even spot one of the smaller mammals in the park like this alpine chipmunk a little further up the road there’s a parking area for the saint mary boat dock i’ve taken this tour at sunset and it’s a good way to close the day just around the bend is one of the most photographed locations in glacier national park the wild goose island viewpoint this is
one of my favorite views in the park i’ve been here a hundred times and it’s always different and beautiful the view changes throughout the day at daybreak it’s dramatic at mid-morning the mountains are bright and it’s serene in the afternoon convection creates pretty clouds and it’s sundown it’s almost spiritual perhaps even more so late in the season when smoke hopefully from distant fires blurs the landscape fire is an important part of the forest life cycle it’s necessary for rebirth in 2017 a
small fire by park standards burn the mature forest around this section of the road even trees and wild goose island were burned the next section of road climbs to an overlook with parking above saint mary lake it’s a nice viewpoint and yes that’s wild goose island again the view can be quite different depending on the time of day and the weather usually it’s rather windy in the afternoon the clouds can be rather interesting [Music] and one day there was a rainbow on one rare calm day there was a duck
that had the whole lake to himself and if you’re a rockhound the opposite cliff face is interesting too 2020 was my first fall trip to glacier and it won’t be my last because the color in early october was really nice driving through a burn area will elicit well-mixed feelings dead trees aren’t as pretty as a lush forest but fire is natural and necessary this one also made it easier to see the distant mountains in a few places it also revealed what was hidden this is lost lake it’s just above the
road but the thick trees blocked it from view so i had never seen it before turns out this is the home for a rare snail that only lives in this lake the nearby sunpoint parking area is another handy place to get out of the car explore a bit and maybe even grab a bite to eat on a picnic table with a warning that well you don’t see in many picnic spots and it turns out that this warning was valid while waiting to use the pit toilet we saw a black bear mama and her two cubs feeding on the hill luckily they were more interested in the
berries than us there’s also a trailhead here leading to three waterfalls the first is just two-thirds of a mile away the trail is mostly flat with nice views of st mary lake it also offers a chance to walk through a burn area which it turns out has many nice photo ops in bering falls well it’s not bad either and on a hot day the mist may help you keep cool you can continue for another mile or so to two more waterfalls this is a nice trail to get a little exercise on a day when you’re likely to spend a lot of time
on the road as the road continues to the burn area i was intrigued by a side track with its gate down it turns out it leads to the remains of one of the park’s historic cabins back in the day this was a shelter for backcountry rangers today it’s a relic of the past that will hopefully be respected and left undisturbed it’s also a great place to see the wonder of the rebirth of the forest a few miles later is the popular sun rift gorge this small gorge is just a few steps above the road but most stop here because this is the
shortest way to baring falls it’s just a third of a mile from here those looking for more exercise can head further down the trail to st mary falls and even all the way to virginia falls and because of that this parking area often fills up early if these falls are on your must-do list you really need to get here early more mountains come into view as the road continues through the burn area we’re also approaching one billion-year-old red rock here’s another one of those things that’s a little bit hard to believe but
when the silt and mud that formed these rocks was laid down this area was the west coast of the continent yep there was a time when there was no land west of here but i’ll talk more about that in the geology segment [Music] this is the saint mary falls trailhead parking area this trail bypasses bearing falls and yes as you can tell there are many trails in this area and getting back to the correct parking lot can be an issue so make sure you read the trail signs i once ended up at the wrong parking area i’ve been to this place many times too
and prior to the fire the forest was so dense you could barely see st mary lake of course in 2017 things changed the old went away in the life cycle restarted allowing the sun to reach the forest floor sprouting new life in young plants a new food source behind those trees is a shy female moose feeding on that new growth and sorry but here’s one more science lesson before we leave this place look down many of the red rocks have fossilized ripples on them others have mud cracks and one reason they’re so well preserved
well they’re so old that complex life had yet to evolve the road cuts through even more colorful geology as it rises in places it’s a more typical dull gray or pale yellow but then a few miles away it’s bright green and after that a deep red near the pass it cuts through the black band the reason for the diversity is fascinating and explained well in roadside geology books available in the gift shop even if you don’t need the bathroom this pullout has great views of the mountains the road climbs out of the burn area
towards the alpine section it begins at the jackson glacier overlook and when the weather gets bad this is the point at which they close the road this is the best place along the road to see one of the park’s glaciers jackson is the largest glacier in the park but this one like all the others in the park has shrunk over the decades in 1997 i hiked up to grinnell glacier with al gore i was also there when the u.
s geological survey inspected grinnell glacier 10 or so years later soon after that the park’s infosign started stating that all the glaciers in the park will disappear by the year 2020 this is one of those old signs this new one was installed in 2019 and it has no such claim when i wrote the last version of this video there were only 25 glaciers in the park today the park claims there are 26.
i shot this video in 2010 the glaciers have been melting for a very long time since the little ice age ended in the mid-1800s but it’s more noticeable now this is the glacier in 2020 it’s noticeably smaller if you want to see it up close there’s a trail head at the end of the parking lot the heavily used 15.
4 mile trail to the glacier begins here it climbs over 2400 feet so you need to be in shape i decided to go only as far as gunsite lake this section of the road is well out of the burn area the road is about to get twisty so if you’re a slow driver and there are cars behind you be nice and use one of the pullouts because well you can no longer pass after the curve towards pike and pass and that’s where the speed limit changes from 45 to 35 shuttle stops and a parking area tell you that this is a popular hiking area the sign says paige and pass and it’s a
trail i’ve enjoyed especially the path through the screen but cya pass can also be reached from here and it might be even better this is the biggest of the two switchbacks on the east side from here the road climbs quickly and around the next bend are a few pull outs with some of the best views in the park this is one of those places where you can spend lots of time just taking it all in if all the pullouts here are taken don’t worry there’s more up ahead [Music] there are tunnels on either side of logan pass this
is the east tunnel the tunnels opened in 1933 they were the last sections of the road to be completed during its 9-year construction the final switchback on this side is just up the road and at the far end is lunch creek this is another one of my favorite photo spots in the park and if you’re lucky enough to be here in mid to late summer when the bear grass and other wildflowers are plentiful then it’s even better as the road gets higher the views get more spectacular [Music] it’s very hard to capture the true
majesty of the place as hard as i’ve tried i just can’t do it justice it’s really one of those places that you have to see in person to fully appreciate and yes you can ride a bicycle on the road and a surprising number of people do it and this ain’t easy because from the west there’s over 3000 feet of elevation change this is the area called the big drift each spring up to 80 feet of snow collect here this is logan pass it’s the highest part of the road it’s a very popular place and the
parking lot is often full by eight in the morning even reservations for a red bus tour are often sold out for weeks the free hiker shuttles well yes they’re first come first serve but even they can have long wait times the visitor center houses several exhibits a small gift shop and a comfort station in 2020 it was closed due to covid in fyi the outbuilding was extremely fragrant in october this is one of the world’s special places and it gets even better when you get away from the parking lot and i highly recommend that you try at
least one of the trails [Music] just behind the visitor’s center a three mile round trip trail leads to hidden lake it’s one of the most popular in the park here grizzlies and other wildlife are often seen in fact it’s not uncommon for the trail to be closed because of too much grizzly activity and on most days there are only goats this is hidden lake from the overlook on this day this was as far as i could go because well a bear was spotted in the area one of my favorite trails is just across the road from the summit sign
the high line trail is part of the continental divide trail that runs from mexico to canada the farthest i’ve gone is the mini glacier and the view from swift current pass is one of my favorites but you don’t have to hike 15 miles to enjoy this trail just a 15 to 30 minute walk from the pass is amazing and anyone in reasonable shape who’s not afraid of heights should walk out to the shelf it takes just 15 or so minutes to get to this view on the way back there’s a nice view of the mountains and our road
[Music] many people bring their dogs on their trips these days and dogs are allowed in the park but they are not allowed on the trails and they must always be on a short leash the symbol of the park is bighorn sheep they can often be seen in or near the parking lot and remember these are wild animals so don’t approach them the weather changes quickly up here while it may be warm and pleasant in the valley it can be cold and rainy or even sleeting or snowing at the pass clouds rush in from the west and are pushed upwards by the mountains
cold precipitation is often the result during any month of the year meanwhile east of the divide only a few clouds may spill over the ridge most just evaporate in the dry air of the east back on the road we begin the descent by passing another waterfall but after just a short distance we’re going to stop short iron walkway leads to an overlook with an excellent view of the continental divide this part of it is called the garden wall the highline trail is carved into it as is the sun road below and you photographers out there should
keep in mind that it’s going to be in shadow until the sun hits it in the afternoon in this overlook is a great place to take it all in [Music] the descent is narrow a bit twisty and often crowded just west of the past is bird woman falls it’s one of the highest in the park at 460 feet it’s still dwarfed by the mountains the entire length of the road has been recently paved but they’re always making improvements this time to a safety rail on this road always expect delays heavenspeak is one of the most striking
on the west side its distinctive shape tends to draw the eye no matter the time of day the sun hits it in the morning in the afternoon it’s in silhouette i love driving this road but part of the experience is getting out of the car and just looking around and there’s a great parking area where you can do this at haystack creek the creek and billion-year-old rock are up the slope the last stretch of our road it’s at the bottom of the valley and again well video just can’t do this place justice you really need to be here in person to
get it and that lady there she gets it she said it much better but i wasn’t rolling so i asked her to say it again you can’t describe how beautiful that wasn’t very sincere but you can see she gets it that’s the weeping wall behind them it’s one of the landmarks on the road it’s called that because water weeps out of the rock during the early season snowmelt it does more than weep making it a great place for photographers just past it it gets twisty again and it’s easy to see why the sun road has a
vehicle length limit of only 21 feet anything longer just can’t make it around the bends in the autumn there’s remarkable colors behind every corner much of this section hugs the cliff face there’s only one real switchback on the west side and it’s called the loop there’s parking a pit toilet and more great views this area has burned a couple of times in recent years and an info sign tells the story i was here in 2003 and saw it myself it was the largest fire ever in the park it burned much of the west side
including this area i visited many times since then but this is my first autumn visit the color really helps differentiate old growth from the new and of course it’s pretty this spot also has the second best view of heaven’s peak even when it’s a little smoky the loop is also important for hikers this trail heads up to granite park where it connects to the high line trail and then logan pass a hiker shuttle stops here to drop people off or to pick them up and bring them back to logan pass the fall color makes it easy to see the
size of the burn area and it seems that deciduous trees are replacing some of the conifers and that’s mcdonald’s creek down the valley to the north this is just another place in the park where it’s really nice just to look around the best or at least my favorite view of heaven’s peak is just down the road a bit this is the west tunnel there are pullouts on either side of it in a short walk offers a little surprise it’s the best or at least my favorite view of heaven’s peak and there’s a viewing area on the other
side avalanches are frequent occurrences during the spring snow melt and here the power of an avalanche is clear to see safety and the time required to clean up these avalanches is another reason the road opens so late the road eventually levels out and follows the contour of mcdonald creek several turnouts provide creek access at first it just trickles over glacier’s famous multi-colored rocks and in places calm waters reflect fall [Music] color further down there’s small cascades at red rock point there’s bigger ones
the trail leads to a wooden overlook at certain times of day two-legged wildlife tend to visit the swimming hole curious types will find a few places to explore here fyi several years ago i broke a rib doing something similarly curious in this same area but anyway soon you’ll see another large parking area that’s full by eight o’clock in the morning it’s for the trail of the cedars it’s one of the most popular places in the park here at 0.
7 mile boarded wheelchair accessible trail winds its way through an old-growth cedar forest at the far end you’ll hear the sound of falling water it’s avalanche creek where it narrows into a small but beautiful gorge in october the water is low earlier it’s much more dramatic the bridge is a turnaround spot for most but if you keep going for another tenth of a mile you arrive at the trailhead for avalanche lake the lake is just two miles and a moderate climb away it’s hard to believe that a place so lush like this temperate rain forest
is just 40 miles from the dry grasslands on the east side the road continues through the tree line valley near mcdonald creek the pullout areas now have names this is sacred dancing cascade but the water is too low for dancing [Music] take the short walk on a trail downstream to a bridge that’s over the creek from the bridge there’s a great view of the cascade it’s another great photo op and below the bridge there’s plenty of space for quality family time back on the road the speed limit here is
40 to provide a safety margin in case wildlife decide to cross the road the creek empties into lake mcdonald it’s the largest lake in the park the famous lake mcdonald lodge is at the east end we still have to drive the 10 mile length of the lake to get to our final stop there are a few pull-outs along the way and from this one if you look carefully you’ll notice that the far shore shows evidence of a large fire much of it burned in the historic 2003 fire leaving many dead standing trees that were just waiting for the next
fire then with a lightning strike in 2018 the fire returned rebooting the forest life cycle once again it typically takes two and a half hours to cross the sun road depending on traffic and how many times you stop i know most people stay on the west side of the park so most of you will drive it from west to east out of the way i took you in this video but i hope i convinced at least some of you to get up early and see the east side of the park at sunrise the apgar town site is our end point and we’ve been on the road for a while
and if you’re in the mood for a snack well there are plenty of options here be sure to walk down to the beach at lake mcdonald this is one of the most famous views in the park it’s best in the afternoon unless it’s smoky like it was this day [Music] okay now it’s time to wrap this up i hope you enjoyed our little journey we started where the grassland prairie meets the mountains we saw remnants of a glacier that carved them and the wildlife that call them home the road took us to easy trails and provides us access to the alpine
backcountry the trees in color remind us that our world is always changing and that there are different types of beauty when you look for it perhaps in a dark rainforest nowhere else can you experience all of this in just a few hours except on the amazing going to the sun road you
