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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Outdoors blog

Going to the Sun by bike, behind the Glacier Park plows

BICYCLING -- Memorial Day weekend 2015 offered the rare opportunity to for cyclists to pedal all the way up Glacier National Park's Going to the Sun Road in the fourth weekend of May.

This year's low snowpack allowed crews to clear the snow off the road earlier than normal all the way to Logan Pass.

But bicyclists owned the road. Crews had not yet finished snow removal on top and on the east side of the pass, so motorized traffic was still prohibited.  Some cyclists were hauling skis and snowboards to make turns on the corn snow slopes near the pass.

Jim and Sandii Mellen of Sandpoint joined some friends and made the most of the holiday weekend opportunity, riding to the pass TWICE, not to mention day-hiking into Sperry Chalet.

Said Jim:

(Road) is plowed to the pass and beyond about 200 yards. Looks like they might only have about 100 yards to go to meet the east side.  I heard that Going to the Sun Road will not be open to vehicles for another 2 weeks. They still have a lot of guard rails to re-install.

Be sure to click all the way through Jim Mellen's photos (above) to see the wildlife treat at the end. 

Glacier Park rarely disappoints.

What did you do outdoors for your holiday getaway?



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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