A Tour of Glacier National Park

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Happy 13th Birthday, Garrett.  You’re now a teenager.  Where have the years gone?  Hope you had a great day. 

An early morning for us today as our Going to the Sun Road Tour of Glacier National Park on the Red Jammer Bus begins at 8:30 a.m. and we have a ¾ hour drive to our starting point.  There are 17 persons plus the driver on our tour which begins at the Apgar Visitors Center inside the west gate of Glacier National Park.  Our round trip tour will be about 100 miles, 8-9 hours long, driving 45 miles an hour (sometimes less at very narrow curves) with numerous picture stops and lunch at the Many Glacier Lodge at the East Entrance to the Park.

There are four passengers to a seat and we find seats in the very last row.  As it turns out the couple with us are also full time RVers so we have lots in common.   The driver has removed the canvas cover over the bus which is rolled up on top for storage.  It is a bit nippy so we are bundled in our jackets for the first part of our tour.  There are a couple of blankets available which we place across the four of us.  Our guide/driver is Red Don, a gentleman I would guess to be in his 60’s.

A view from the back row to the front.

It is hard to describe the trip itself except to say that our guide imparted a great deal of information regarding sites along our way including information about animals, fauna and flora, specific sites on the drive, the beginnings of the Park, individuals important to the starting of the Park, Blackfeet Indian tales, etc.  The drive was beautiful with magnificent views around every curve of the very narrow road sometimes with sprinkles of water as we passed very near small waterfalls or water dripping from the mountainside.

Several times along the road, our driver would stop for us to do what he called “prairie dog pops” which means that we popped up through the top of the Bus to take pictures.  To another motorist this would look like what you see prairie dogs doing from their holes. 

It was a long day but worth the time for the beautiful scenery and camaraderie with our other fellow passengers and new RV friends.   Pictures below are from along our tour.

Waterfalls and Creeks

This picture taken through top of bus.

The green water here indicates it is glacial water.