Riding the Going To The Sun Road – Glacier National Park
From Acadia to Zion our country’s most spectacular landscape treasures are protected inside the parks.
No map or brochure can prepare you for that first motorcycle ride and peering out over a guardrail at snowy mountain peaks, waterfalls that flow down the valley through the forests, and end in a clear blue lake carved out by glaciers. The mountain mornings always have a bite of cold as the sun takes its time to wake, while meandering through the incredible scenery.
I’m talking about National Parks in general and specifically Glacier National Park, Montana which in my view shines above the rest.
Glacier National Park – Going The Sun Road
It never gets old and I plan to ride through the million-acre paradise later this month and take a COVID-19 mental diversion through the park. Montana has plenty of mountain roads where motorcyclists can ride and absorb the landscape, but the crown jewel is the Going-to-the-Sun Road. It crosses the Continental Divide carves through the steep grade of rock and forest with roughly 50 miles of sweeping curves and hairpin switchbacks along with an occasional tunnel passage through the mountain.
The national parks are such a gift, one we’ve given to each other. One we’ve inherited and, with luck, will pass down to the generations that follow us.
Speaking of paying it forward…
Going To The Sun Road
The National Park System comprises 419 national park sites, but only 62 of them have the “National Park” designation in their names. The other sites fall into different National Park System categories like National Historic Sites, National Monuments, National Seashores, National Recreation Areas, and others.
You might be surprised to learn that the National Park Service accounts for 84 million acres of land at more than 400 different sites, but as of 2019, they were due for $11.9 billion (that’s a B!) in deferred maintenance and repairs. Fortunately, the current administration recently signed a bipartisan bill (Great American Outdoors Act) that will pay for repairs at national parks, permanently finance the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and in addition will create a lot of jobs. The bill directs up to $6.65 billion to priority fixes and up to $3 billion for agencies such as the Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition, the bill will allocate $900 million each year to the conservation fund. The program – which has existed for half a century – has historically been plagued by funding shortfalls.
Lake McDonald
The Great American Outdoors Act enacted last week is clearly the most consequential funding for national parks, wildlife refuges, and public recreation facilities in U.S. history since the conservation legacy of President Theodore Roosevelt in the early 1900s.
As motorcycle enthusiasts, we can take heart that there’s always going to be those historic chalets, lodges, and miles of tarmac with beautiful landscapes that meander their way through the firs, aspen, and stone.
Photos taken by author.
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