Last crossing of Going To The Sun Road

We packed and left on the long trip to recross the Going To The Sun Road and then on to Calgary. We had an early start on a very cold day and stopped to photograph the new snow on the slopes. Beautiful scenery. We also stopped for another bear sighting and eventually neared the top  at  Logan Pass.

The road is narrow and very windy. We just couldn't get photos of the dangerous sections

When we reached this point we discovered that the road had been covered in snow overnight and after they removed it the road was far too icy for driving. Today was the last day that the road was open but the weather had other ideas. We could wait 3-4 hours to see if the sun came up to melt the ice but the ranger was not hopeful! Our only course of action was to turn around and drive back for over an hour and then drive right around the Southern boundary for an extra few hours.

The snow covered peaks and roadside were spectacular.

It was a beautiful trip with the temperature around the zero mark and the ice detector in the car sounding an alarm. We actually enjoyed the extra drive!

Gail in the sub zero temperature. She was soon back in the car to turn on the heated seat!

We saw a Black bear in the park before we turned around and another as we drove up the side of the park with the Blackfoot Reservation on the other side of the road. We also spotted Mountain Sheep in their warm white coats.

We finally made it back to St Mary where we stayed the first few nights and decided to stop for a walk at the Many Glaciers section.

Gail at Swift Current Lake. This was on the way to The Grinnell Glacier that is the symbol of the disappearance of the glaciers with its major retreat.

                                                   Gail at Josephine Lake

                                               Napoleon at the lake

Just when we were almost back to the car for the long drive to Calgary we had our only full on moose sighting. Worth the delay!

It was very late by the time we made it to Calgary and even later after we found our hotel and returned our hire car. We had however selected a groovy hotel as the photos  show!

Tomorrow morning we fly to Toronto