Thursday, July 7, 2011

Day 22- Update

Carl was back within 2 ½ hours with relatively good news. Yes, there was a problem with the front brakes. A collection of warm tar and crushed gravel collected between the brake pads and the rotors. The tow truck with AAA cots us $48.00 and the garage was only $81.00. It could have been a lot worse. So, repairs effected Carl told me to grab my camera and we would try to salvage some of the day. He didn’t have to tell me twice. I’d had enough of the domestic life. We decided the shorter of the two drives in and through Glacier would be the Going To The Sun Road which goes from West Glacier through Logan Pass, at 6646 feet, and ends in East Glacier. It’s the best opportunity for us to see glaciers since I’m not built for back country hiking anymore. A mile or two would have been okay but the map we have isn’t very detailed. We started out with a lovely drive along Lake McDonald. The color of most of the lakes, rivers and creeks around here is a glacial green, mineral rich melt water from high up in the mountains. Soon, we came upon a sing telling us the road was closed fourteen miles ahead. Sure enough, we could only drive as far as Avalanche Creek campground. We had been told earlier there was still too much snow in Logan Pass to get the road open and wouldn’t you know, they got another couple of feet, a few days before we arrived. The tow truck driver told Carl he has a friend who flew over in a helicopter a day or so ago and there is only about a foot of the walls showing under the eaves of the visitor center at the top of the pass. Whatever the reason, we couldn’t go any further and turned around. I did get a few photos of Avalanche Creek and McDonald Falls today.

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