Glacier Park plows working on Big Drift
<p>A biker rides through the Big Drift in this file photo. The snow can be 80 feet deep there at times.</p>
Glacier National Park road crews have reached the Big Drift, on the Going-to-the-Sun road just east of Logan Pass. They were working on the deep snow on Thursday, June 12, as they continue to clear the Sun Road of snow.
The drift appears to be deeper than in past years, but the Park did not provide a depth estimate. The drift is usually the last section of highway left to be cleared, but the east side plowing crew is still in the Lunch Creek area, about a half-mile east of the drift. In past years, the crews have met at the drift.
Glacier Park officials have already predicted that the road likely won’t open to vehicles before June 20. Snowpack in the Park was about 130 percent of average.
Hikers and bikers can travel on the west side of the Sun Road to The Loop during the week when plow crews are working, but there are no restrictions after 6 p.m. and on weekends.
On the east side, hikers and bikers can travel up the Sun Road as far as the Rising Sun picnic area but no further, even on the weekends, because of construction.