Sun Road will open to Big Bend, Pass not far behind
A Glacier National Park rotary plow clears snow at Logan Pass last week. The pass should open soon. (Chris Peterson photo)
The Going-to-the-Sun Road will open to Big Bend, which is three miles below Logan Pass on Friday and the Park hopes to have the road completely open "as soon as it is safe to do so," said Park spokeswoman Amy Vanderbilt.
She said it should be a matter of days, not weeks, as had been reported in some news outlets.
Crews were still widening the road through the Big Drift, installing guardrail and doing general cleanup as the Hungry Horse News went to press.
The Big Drift is a huge drift of snow just east of Logan Pass. It's the last obstacle to clearing the road.
The Logan Pass parking lot last week – during a media tour – had melted out of snow and crews were installing guardrails and clearing debris from a massive avalanche that shot down the road this winter.
Trail crews were also helping out with the road clearing.
Motorists should expect some construction delays en route and portions of the road will not be paved.
There will be bathroom facilities at Big Bend until the road completely opens.
The Inside North Fork Road should also be repaired and the target date for that opening is July 4.
Skiers should be able to carve some turns as snow was still relatively deep above Logan Pass. The Pass offers some late-season skiing in most years.
Hikers and bikers will be allowed to go beyond Big Bend, Vanderbilt said, when crews aren't working. They generally stop working later in the day but they are expected to work Saturday.
On the east side, the road will be open to Jackson Glacier Overlook. The complete length of the road this year wouldn't have opened any earlier than June 19 anyway, because HK Construction is allowed a shoulder season to work completely on the road width. Last week they were working on the rock wall near Haystack Creek, using a crane that took up the entire road surface as they bored into the wall to grout and stabilize it.
The opening of the highway marks the beginning of the summer season in Glacier – a season that with the depressed economy, has started out slow, area merchants have said.
Free transit service on the road begins July 1 and runs through Sept. 7.
In addition, on June 20 and 21 you can get into Glacier for free and Glacier Park Inc. is offering several buy one get one free opportunities as well.