Better weather, finally

©2014 Lydia Hinshaw

View from the Highline Trail

The road we used to drive

 WEST GLACIER, MT -- Wednesday this place should have been called "Wet Glacier."  Thursday was a considerable improvement.

 We drove up Going to the Sun Road to Logan Pass, a familiar route since we drove shuttle buses up and down this big hill many, many times the past three summers.

 At the top, we were fortunate to find a parking place quickly, and we set out to hike an hour down the Highline Trail.  If we were younger, we might have opted for the popular trail's entire 11.7-mile length, at which point we could have caught a shuttle back to our car.

 But age, and Prince Charming's sore feet, made it prudent to hike in moderation.  The early section of the Highline winds along above the road, and is visible there in the second photo.

 At times, you're on a ledge less than six feet wide, and there are chains bolted into the wall for those off-put by heights.  No guard-rails though.

 In the early section outbound, looking down wasn't scary because we were above a cloud.  Coming back, the fog had cleared and the drop-off was a bit more dramatic.

 Back at Logan Pass, we ran into three of our fellow bus-drivers who were on the job, and it was fun to catch up on the past year's happenings.

 I missed driving the shuttles this year;  the Prince, not so much.  It was the best summer job I've had since I started doing seasonal tourism work in 2005, and it was hard not to dream about doing it all again next summer.