We continued up past 'The Loop', which was where the road was closed off when we were there back in 2004. Although the smoke from the wildfire made views at the lower elevations on the western side pretty hazy, it was really great to finally get to see this section of the park.
One of the few stops along the way up was near Haystack Falls where the falls pass under a small arch bridge. The amount of water cascading down was nowhere near what is seen earlier in the season as the snow melts.
Another stop was at an area of the road called 'Big Bend'. The views were much clearer at this higher elevation since we were now getting above most of the smoke from the wildfire.
A little farther up, an engineering complex known as the 'Triple Arches' was built to bridge the gaps in the cliff face.
As we reached Logan Pass, the weather became overcast and a little more windy and the temperature dropped into the 40's. The only precipitation that we would have during our entire vacation was here, and it came as sleet!
A pullout below the East Tunnel yielded these super views.
Two stops farther down revealed distant views of, first, the Blackfoot Glacier and then the Jackson Glacier.
At another stop, we walked the short trail out to Sun Point along St. Mary Lake and soaked in its knockout scenery in all directions.
As we rode back down the western side of the Continental Divide, I managed to get a few more photos.
We left Glacier National Park and headed south towards Missoula where we would spend the night. Along the way, we drove along massive Flathead Lake, which is about 30 miles long and 16 miles wide, making it the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River in the Lower 48 states.
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