Day 9 Monday, July 2

Up at 5 and ready to ride! We layered our clothes (two pair of jeans), put on our leather and headed to the Sun. It was 49 degrees when we took off and the temperature dropped into the 30's on Logan Pass.

We've been to Glacier before, but never this early in the season. It was a completely different experience that thrilled us both. So much snow still clings to the glaciers and the spring thaw has created hundreds of teeming waterfalls, some that splash onto the road. Since we got to the park early, we felt like we were alone, being monitored by the massive snow covered peaks surrounding us. We picnicked at Apgar by Lake McDonald and exited at West Glacier.

Checked into our cabin in Coram, then decided to do Going to the Sun the other way - only Jules found a real back door route through Columbia Falls that followed a dirt road for miles. It brought us in on Lake McDonald and we got on the Sun road and did it in reverse. A totally different view! Came out at St. Mary Lake and realized we were 70 miles from home and it was 7:00! Made it home by 8:30, exhilarated and exhausted.

No matter how many times I experience Glacier, the effect is spiritual and inevitably, somewhere, some time on the ride, we hear "Stairway to Heaven".