Today was going to be a sunny day for the whole day. The forecasts were correct… even though it was still very cloudy when we left the campground. Today we drove a counterclockwise loop, starting with US-2 eastbound, which follows the edge of the National Park, and traverses a number of National Forests. The route hugs the river and the train tracks most of the way. From there we headed north with a stop at the Glacier National Park Lodge, where we had coffee and a sandwich for lunch.
We entered the park at the Two Medicine Lake entrance, from where we took an easy hike to some beautiful falls.
We then drove further north to the Saint Mary entrance (no timed entry vehicle pass required for the Going to the Sun road in that direction. Our main destination was the Rising Sun trailhead where we did a hike along the Three Falls trail. It was fantastic because each fall was progressively more impressive than the previous one. These were the Baring Falls, then the St. Mary falls, and finally the Virginia Falls. In total, this was 5.5 miles of hiking, which we completed in 3h15, so we were quite proud of ourselves, since the hike also involved 1400 ft of elevation gain and loss (according to the map at the trailhead)
By then, it was almost 7:30 PM, and we still had most of the park to drive through on our return. Our goal was no further stops for photos, but we had no choice once we encountered a full traffic stop, shortly after Logan Pass, on account of a Mountain sheep sighting first along the road, and for a few moments on the road.
By the time we were back at the campground, it was 10PM, just as the sky was turning dark, and we were pretty exhausted…
Over the two days, we drove a total of 350 miles, thankfully without the RV in tow, as the Road to the Sun is restricted to vehicles 21 ft or less.
We promised ourselves that we have to come back in the future, and stay longer.