Need to run shuttle on Sun Road in shoulder season

Many of us business owners, dependent upon tourism in the area, anxiously await the full opening of the Going-to-the-Sun Road to jump start our businesses and keep us flush, if only for two months.

Typically this scenario kicks off the end of June with a run up through Labor Day. This is a very short period of time to make ends meet, not to mention an intense period of time for local businesses and the park. I belong to the Gateway to Glacier business group, and we have been looking at this problem in depth. How do we expand our shoulder seasons? How do we get visitors to come before the road opens over the pass, or stay after it closes?

I believe there is a solution which no one has really explored. We have all been locked into the paradigm that the Going-to-the-Sun Road has to open across Logan Pass to generate business. If only it could open earlier (like May) and stay open later (it now closes Sept. 15. to facilitate construction). How about generating visitors with the road closed? How about adding 60 days to the current 60 days?

As a long-time resident of the area, I have some sensitivity as to why it does not open earlier and can appreciate the construction needs in September. Years ago, my deceased husband, Dennis Holden, worked 15 years on the opening. He was an avalanche spotter and then equipment operator.

The amount of snow is intense, along with the inherent dangers. More than once his crew was pummeled with rock and snow slides. Some days they would spend as much time digging out as they did digging in. At one point he was hit by an avalanche and carried to the bottom off the Triple Arches. We were lucky, as he was swept to the top of the debris at the bottom. During these years, spouses were allowed to go up with the crew on nice days. This experience, and the need for a longer season, is helping me rethink tourism and Glacier Park and I would like to share my thoughts.

During my earlier days of going up with the road crew, I found it breathtaking to walk along the open, melted stretches of road, listening to the wind, birds and the water falls. I was completely immersed in the sounds, smells and vistas of an alpine paradise. No cars, no quick ride up and over the top. With each step along the road, I embraced the grandeur and wonder surrounding me.

I can still hear the sounds, still see the wolverine rushing up along an avalanche chute far below, searching for food and oblivious to my presence. I was not in a vehicle, insulated and separated from everything around me. Nor was I stepping on the recently exposed fragile earth. Instead, I walked and stopped for hours along a simple road, already paved, warm with the sun, making its way ever higher. There was no need to enter the dangerous areas, to reach the top or be in the way of the crew. One could see all of this off ahead at a great distance and still take in everything that Glacier Park has to offer.

Why not extend the shuttle season and transport visitors to the Loop earlier in the season and later? Obviously, vehicles cannot go beyond Avalanche Campground unless the pass is open. They cannot go to the Loop because of problems with traffic jams and turn around. Therefore, visitors that show up earlier than the end of June or come after Sept. 15 are blocked from the experience of high altitude alpine vistas and treks. This is what they come for. Instead, as my guests have bemoaned, they are all congested at Avalanche, making it the most traveled path in the Park. This experience is not exactly what they were expecting when coming to Glacier Park in the off season. There may be fewer tourists, but they are all on one trail.

We approached Park officials in this regard and were told the shuttle service is only from July 1 to Sept. 1, period. An act of Congress is needed to extend it. Well, so be it. My request is simple. I sincerely believe the experience of the Going-to-the-Sun Road being shut down yet accessible by shuttle is a treasure this area has to offer to both locals and visitors alike. There would be low impact (no vehicles, no off-trail usage) and high yield - extended seasons and a heightened experience.

I personally would love to visit the high reaches again without thinking I have to train with Lance Armstrong to get there. I know my Baby Boomer generation, who travel in the off season, would appreciate walking or being wheeled along a spectacular stretch of road without the hurry of traffic or worry of inaccessibility.

Set up portable toilets at the Loop, shuttle folks back and forth from Apgar, stop along the lake, Avalanche, McDonald Creek, the Loop, spend a few hours or make it a day and enjoy nature in all of its immense glory. When the road opens, there will be plenty of folks around to take in this experience as well.

Please support an alternative that will extend our season over 60 days and have tremendous benefits for all. Take a minute and attach this letter to your letter head and say we agree, or write your own and mail it to Gateway2Glacier, P.O. Box 190236, Hungry Horse MT 59919 or send an e-mail through the Contact Us page at gateway2glacier.com.

We would like to present to the National Park Service and Congress a bundle of letters and e-mails showing support for this simple alternative. We are only asking for an extension of the shuttle season, no charge for the shuttle, no pressure to open earlier or stay open later. All we need is a legislative statement to extend the shuttle time.

What a simple solution to a big problem. We would like to see this in place in the spring of 2012. Thanks for your help.

Marion Foley is a member of the Gateway2Glacier group, manager of Abbott Valley Homestead and a longtime resident of the Canyon.