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  3. Glacier Park great for bikes, hikes; Logan Pass still not open

Glacier Park great for bikes, hikes; Logan Pass still not open

Members of the West Side Road Crew work to clear snow from the Big Bend section of Going-To-The- Sun Road on Wednesday in Glacier National Park, Mont.. According Public Affairs Officer Ellen Blickhan the park experienced an above average winter and spring in terms of precipitation. Logan Pass is not expected to be open to visitors until late June or early July. (AP Photo/Daily Inter Lake, Brenda Ahearn)
Members of the West Side Road Crew work to clear snow from the Big Bend section of Going-To-The- Sun Road on Wednesday in Glacier National Park, Mont.. According Public Affairs Officer Ellen Blickhan the park experienced an above average winter and spring in terms of precipitation. Logan Pass is not expected to be open to visitors until late June or early July. (AP Photo/Daily Inter Lake, Brenda Ahearn)

NATIONAL PARKS -- It's snow go for vehicles driving over Glacier National Park's Going to the Sun Road this holiday weekend.

For the third time in the Montana park's 100-year history, the uppermost reaches of Going-to-the-Sun Road will remain closed to visitors during the Fourth of July weekend.

Park plowing crews have reached Logan Pass but they're still trying to chew through The Big Drift -- the last snow obstacle to be cleared on the Sun Road. The drift is estimated at 50-60 feet deep, a depth normally seen on Memorial Day weekend. Get status reports here.

But bikes are allowed on the road to that point, and the park transit system is operating on the road, which is closed to other vehicles.

Note: Rivers, streams and creeks in the park are flowing close to flood stage this weekend.

Drowning is the most prominent cause of death in Glacier National Park.

Info: (406) 888-7800.

Read on for the other dates the Sun Road was closed this late.

Above-average snowpack, combined with a cool wet spring has slowed plowing operations considerably this year, and the frozen obstacles that remain augur a record-late opening of the Sun Road over Logan Pass.

The latest Logan Pass has ever opened to the public was its debut in 1933, when Glacier National Park celebrated the Sun Road's completion on July 15. In 1943, the road opened on July 10 because of war-time staff reductions.

Read more in the Missoulian.

Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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