It has been a year and half since we visited the east side of the park. Don't usually go there in the winter, and since last summer all public roads on the east side of the park were closed to all but essential travel as part of the Blackfeet Nation lockdown. Last Thursday the closure restrictions on the reservation were lifted!!! Sandy and I went over with the bikes on Saturday and were greeted with incredible sights. The weather the last 2 weeks have been warmer than normal. Looking Glass highway was still closed for the winter, but the pavement was almost completely snow free and dry. This meant we could bike the road with no cars -- fantastic!
Looking Glass Highway is quite special, as it is the course for the June Glacier Half Marathon which I have run all 3 times it was held. It is scheduled for June 26 this year, so this provided a chance to scope out the course. Not that I've forgotten an inch of it. I've run various half marathons for 35 years on all different types of courses, and Looking Glass Highway is far and away the most scenic one.
Montana Hwy 49. Looking Glass Highway. The winter closure is just after the Two Medicine turn off. In the photo there are two cars parked next to the barricades. Blue sky with the ever present east side breeze, maybe about 40 degrees.
Sandy is ready to go! We are not going in to Two Med, as that road is covered in ice and snow. Just here for the photo.
We have the road to ourselves. We saw a total of 4 other people.
This is our view as we bike up. Lower Two Med Lake is frozen solid. Scenic Point to the left, and Sinopah Mountain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinopah_Mountain is in the middle. Big Sky country. You should really see what it looks like in person!
Further up the road, on our left framed by the trees is Scenic Point, one of my favorite early season hikes.
The Poor Pensioner
Sandy, a bit warmer after some uphill biking.
This photo was as we were going up. Though we were in the sun, the wind kicked up and it started snowing on us, so we turned around ...
Same location for a photo, 20 minutes later. Very cool watching the storm come in.
Start of the drive home, treated to more great clouds. If the weather is good next weekend I'll have to come back and run up to the pass. Looking forward to that.
