Highway Logs: Belton Station to Glacier Park Hotel
Belton Station to Glacier Park Hotel
.0 BELTON STATION (3200)
.2 RAILROAD UNDERPASS
.4 MIDDLE FORK OF THE FLATHEAD RIVER Flows through Flathead Lake and the Clark Fork and Columbia Rivers into the Pacific.
.5 LARCH AND DOUGLAS FIR FOREST
1.2 R SERVICE ROAD TO PARK HEADQUARTERS
1.6 FOREST BURNED IN 1929 The few scattered trees which survived the fire are larch and cottonwood. The new growth is mostly lodgepole pine.
1.8 L JUNCTION TO APGAR AND NORTH FORK REGION
2.8 L LAKE McDONALD (3144) The largest lake in the Park (approximately 10 miles long and 1-1/2 miles wide).
L JUNCTION TO APGAR
6.5 A VIEW UP McDONALD VALLEY Stanton Mountain (7744), Mt. Vaught (8840), McPartland Mountain (8300), the Garden Wall, Mt. Cannon (8800), Mt. Brown (8541), Edwards Mtn. (9055), and Lincoln Peak (7400).
10.0 L SPRAGUE CREEK CAMP GROUNDS
10.9 SNYDER CREEK
11.1 LAKE McDONALD HOTEL (3167) Capacity 125 guests.
11.5 R SELF-GUIDING TRAIL
12.7 L JUNCTION TO HEAD OF LAKE McDONALD
13.0 L McDONALD FALLS AND McDONALD CREEK McDonald Creek flows through Lake McDonald into the Flathead River. View of Mt. Stanton (7744) across the creek.
13.2 TRAIL UNDERPASS
13.4 L LOGAN FALLS
13.6 A MT. BROWN (8541)
14.1 R BEAVER DAM
14.9 L AVALANCHE CHUTE ON STANTON
16.8 R MT. CANNON (8800)
R AVALANCHE CREEK CAMPGROUNDS
16.9 AVALANCHE CREEK
L LARGE CEDAR TREE
19.0 L GOAT OFTEN SEEN IN DRY WASH ON GLACIER WALL
20.4 A GARDEN WALL AND MT. GOULD (9541) The Garden Wall, a section of the Continental Divide, was named from the song "Over the Garden Wall". The highest point on the wall is Mt. Gould, which stands 6,000 feet above this location. The road ahead can be seen along the side of the Garden Wall, approximately one-third of the way up.
R VIEW OF MT. CANNON (8800) There is an avalanche chute on the side of Mt. Cannon.
21.4 LOGAN CREEK
22.3 L TRAIL BRIDGE OVER McDONALD CREEK
L LARGE WHITE PINE
BEGINNING OF 6% GRADE
24.0 R ALGAL REEF This rock was laid down during the "dawn of life" period. The formation here is a concentration of single-celled plants associated together in colonies. The oldest Paleozoic rocks show remains of life developed from the simplest single-celled forms. This development must have taken place during the time that the earlier Proterozoic rocks were being formed. Yet the evidences of life in the Proterozoic rocks are scanty. In the Proterozoic rocks of Glacier National Park are structures believed to be the tracks of primitive worms and globular limey masses (Cryptozoa) probably built up by one-celled plants called algae.
24.1 L HEAVENS PEAK (8994)
ROAD DIRECTLY OVERHEAD
24.2 TUNNEL
24.9 THE LOOP
25.1 1936 FOREST FIRE This fire swept over the Garden Wall and burned down Swiftcurrent Valley below Many Glacier Hotel.
25.2 L GLACIATED LEDGES The rock strata at this point were rounded and polished by the McDonald Creek Glacier.
25.6 CRYSTAL POINT Named from the iron pyrite crystals embedded in the red quartzite member of the rock wall on the left.
27.0 A TRAIL TO GRANITE PARK Four miles to Granite Park Chalets.
27.5 R MT. OBERLIN (8100) Between Mt. Cannon (8800) and Mt. Oberlin there is an excellent example of a hanging valley. The water from the glacier in this valley drains over Bird Woman Falls.
27.7 R ROAD CAMP
28.6 R VIEW OF McDONALD VALLEY This is a typical U-shaped glaciated valley. Almost all of the Park's valleys have been carved out by glaciers from V-shaped stream valleys. The road may be seen in the valley 2,500 feet below.
R LOGAN FALLS
A GARDEN WALL
28.7 L WEEPING WALL Named after the manner in which the water drips over the wall early in the season.
30.4 A MT. OBERLIN (8100) WITH CAIRN Cairns were erected on the peaks of several of the mountains in this vicinity by a worker from one of the construction camps while the highway was being built.
31.3 R VIEW OF LOGAN VALLEY AND THE GARDEN WALL
32.3 L GLACIER LILY MEADOW In the spring this meadow is carpeted with Glacier Lilies.
32.9 MATHER PLAQUE Dedicated to the founder and first director of the National Park Service, Stephen T. Mather.
LOGAN PASS (6654) Situated on the Continental Divide. The surrounding mountains are Mt. Reynolds (9147), Mt. Clements (8764), and Mt. Pollock (9211). Clements Glacier, a typical small glacier, is located only a mile by trail from the parking area. The Pass was named for Major W. R. Logan, first superintendent of the Park. The Going-to-the-Sun Highway was constructed at a cost of $3,000,000 and was 12 years under construction. It was first opened for through travel on July 13, 1933.
33.3 R ST. MARY VALLEY
33.6 A PIEGAN MOUNTAIN (9230) The streams flowing from this mountain are fed by a glacier on the other side. The water flows through the mountain.
33.7 L PIEGAN CIRQUE
34.1 TUNNEL
34.3 L SIYEH LIMESTONE (gray weathers buff) Road cut exposes Siyeh limestone, the fourth and topmost formation of the overthrust block.
There are four principal geological formations, all one thousand to several thousand feet thick, which make up the mountains of the park. The lowermost is the Altyn, a very hard limestone of pale bluish tinge which weathers to a buff. It forms the bases of most of the mountains on the east side: Divide, Chief, and Yellow, for example. Above the Altyn is the grayish-green Appekunny formation, a clayey rock hardened by pressure into argillite. It forms the bases of Red Eagle across the lake, of Altyn, Rising Wolf, and other mcuntains. Above the Appekunny is the Grinnell argillite which is a dark red rock, forming the summits of such mountains as Red Eagle, Goat, Altyn, and Red. The uppermost formation, the Siyeh, is a hard, steel-blue limestone that weathers to a buff and forms the precipitous cliffs, like the Garden Wall, that are so characteristic of the park. In it is found the diorite band, visible here on Little Chief and near the summit of Going-to-the-Sun. The Going-to-the-Sun Highway is cut into Siyeh limestone throughout its course over Logan Pass and down the Garden Wall. These formations are all of Proterozoic Age, rocks formed when life was just of very simple form. They are the oldest rocks on earth that contain recognizable fossils. The remarkable feature about those exposed in the park is that they are so slightly changed in character through the long period of time (800,000,000 years) since they were laid down. Elsewhere in the world they are greatly altered so that they retain very few of their original characteristics.
35.0 A GOING-TO-THE-SUN MOUNTAIN (9594)
35.6 A MT. SIYEH (10,004) Named for a Piegan Indian. The English translation is Mad Wolf or Crazy Dog.
35.7 A TRAIL TO PIEGAN PASS AND MANY GLACIER HOTEL
35.8 SIYEH CREEK
35.9 A VIEW OF BLACKFEET MT. (9597) AND GLACIER
36.9 A CITADEL MOUNTAIN (9024)
R HEAVY RUNNER MOUNTAIN (8000) Heavy Runner was chief of the band of Blackfeet who were massacred by Colonel Baker on the Marias River in 1870.
37.7 R MT. REYNOLDS FIRE LOOKOUT
R JACKSON GLACIER
R MT. JACKSON (10,023) The fourth highest peak in the park. Named for William Jackson, a grandson of Hugh Monroe. Jackson was a scout for General Custer on the Little Big Horn, and guided early visitors into this area. Among these was Walter McClintock, authority on the Blackfeet Indians.
TRAIL UNDERPASS The trail system from Going-to-the-Sun Chalets over Piegan Pass to Many Glacier, and over Logan Pass to Granite Park pass through this subway under the road. They ascend through the trees abruptly up the left bank.
38.0 L SNOW SLIDE--1938
38.5 R GUNSIGHT PASS (7000) AND GUNSIGHT MOUNTAIN (9250) The trail from Going-to-the-Sun Chalets to Sperry Chalets goes over this pass.
40.1 GRINNELL ARGILLITE (red) The road cut exposes the Grinnell formation, the third stratum of the Lewis Overthrust.
40.4 A VIEW OF ST. MARY LAKE
40.6 BARING CREEK
L SUNRIFT GORGE Seventy-five feet from the road. The gorge follows vertical cracks or joints in the rocks. There are two sets of these joints meeting at a right angle, and hence the angularity of the course of the stream.
R ST. MARY LAKE
41.2 R SUN JUNCTION
41.5 R GOING-TO-THE-SUN POINT (4600)
41.6 A GOAT MOUNTAIN (8816)
41.8 SUN JUNCTION
42.1 L LOST LAKE
43.1 R VIEW OF ST. MARY LAKE (4472) The lake is approximately 12 miles long and a mile wide. It is over 400 feet deep in some places. From this point there is an excellent view of four major mountains, left to right:
R RED EAGLE MTN. (8800), MAHTOTOPA MTN. (8720), LITTLE CHIEF MTN. (9542), and CITADEL MTN. (9024). Mahtotopa (Four Bears) was a Mandan Indian who was the grandfather of Joseph Kipp, who guided the first hunters and explorers in the park. Kipp named the mountain for his grandfather. Little Chief Mountain rises more than 5,000 feet above the lake level.
43.2 R WILD GOOSE ISLAND
43.3 L APPEKUNNY ARGILLITE (green) Road cut exposes Appekunny formation, next to the oldest rock formation in the mountains. It lies immediately on top of the Altyn limestone.
44.9 R NARROWS OF ST. MARY LAKE The narrows were formed by the resistance of the ledge of Altyn limestone at the face of the Lewis Overthrust. The Altyn formation is the lowest stratum of the overthrust.
45.0 L LEDGE OF ALTYN LIMESTONE (gray weathers buff) This ledge is on the face of the Lewis Overthrust. The Altyn formation is the lowest stratum of the Overthrust. Freshly fractured, it is pale bluish gray, which on weathering turns buff.
45.6 ROES CREEK Rising Sun Cabins and Coffee Shop Rising Sun Campground
47.4 R TRIPLE DIVIDE PEAK (8001) At this point the Hudson Bay Divide meets the Continental Divide. Water from this peak flows to three oceans: Through the Mississippi system to the Atlantic; through the Columbia system to the Pacific; and through the Saskatchewan-Nelson system to Hudson Bay and the Arctic.
48.1 L SINGLESHOT MOUNTAIN (7700) The upper part of the mountain is banded with quartzite, changed sandstone.
51.1 ST. MARY RIVER
51.7 R JUNCTION TO ST. MARY RANGER STATION
ST. MARY CHECKING STATION
51.8 DIVIDE CREEK Forms the boundary of Glacier Park at this point.
51.9 ST. MARY JUNCTION (4475) Junction of Going-to-the-Sun Highway with Blackfeet Highway
54.8 R VIEW OF BOTH ST. MARY AND LOWER ST. MARY LAKES According to Hugh Monroe, the pioneer, the lakes were named by Father DeSmet, a famous Belgian missionary.
Going-to-the-Sun Mountain (9594) rises more than 5,000 feet above St. Mary Lake
55.9 R CURLY BEAR MOUNTAIN (8300)
58.7 HUDSON BAY DIVIDE (6067) Divide between the watersheds of Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. St. Mary Ridge and Divide Mountain form a part of the Hudson Bay Divide. North and west the drainage is via the St. Mary, Saskatchewan, and Nelson River into Hudson Bay. The country south and east of this divide is drained by tributaries of the Marias River, which empties into the Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico.
58.7 R DIVIDE MOUNTAIN (8647) The abrupt break between this mountain and the plains is due to its position on the forefront of the Lewis Overthrust.
58.7 R WHITE CALF MOUNTAIN (8300) Named for the last head chief of the Piegan Blackfeet.
R FIRE LOOKOUT
R REST STATIONS
63.1 SOUTH FORK OF MILK RIVER Flows northeastward into Canada, reenters the States near Havre, flows east through northern Montana, and empties into the Missouri River in eastern Montana. Named Milk River by the Lewis and Clark Expedition because of its turbid white color at its mouth.
64.4 MILK RIVER RIDGE (5553)
65.6 L WHITE BARK PINE This kind of tree in stunted and distorted form, is found at the upper limit of tree growth in the Rockies and Coast Ranges from southern Canada to Wyoming and central California. It covers some of the lower mountains of the park.
65.7 R VIEW UP CUTBANK VALLEY Mountains (L. to R.): Mad Wolf (7800), Eagle Plume (8700), Stimson (10,153), Razor Edge (8600), James (9365), and Kupunkamint (8100). Cutbank Pass was the best-known pass in this region during the early days. It was the pass generally used by the Indians.
66.9 CUTBANK JUNCTION Right--5 miles to Cutbank Ranger Station Left--To Browning
CUTBANK CREEK Flows through the Marias River into the Missouri. Derives its name from the steep banks of white clay east of Browning.
68.2 L WHITE CALF'S GRAVE The grave of Chief White Calf, last of the Piegan head chiefs, is on one of the lower knolls of Cutbank Ridge, about a mile from the road.
68.5 CUTBANK RIDGE
71.1 CHURCH OF THE LITTLE SWEET PINE Methodist (Indian).
71.4 SOUTH FORK OF CUTBANK CREEK
72.1 BROWNING JUNCTION (10 miles to Browning)
73.6 L FOLDING AND FAULTING A series of folds with faults on both ends. This area shows in miniature the type of folding and faulting responsible for Glacier Park's mountains. This is not, however, in any sense an exact replica of the Lewis Overthrust; however, this crumpling of the weak shales was done at the time the mountains were pushed eastward on the Lewis Overthrust fault. The surface of the earth appears stable to us because its motions are usually very slow. The motion of one part relative to another results in folds and faults. Folds are bends in the original rock structures in which the rocks have acted as flexible or plastic material. Faults are fractures or breaks along which slipping has taken place. Folds and faults are found in all types of rock, but are most easily seen in banded rocks such as a sedimentary series.
74.4 LAST VIEW OF PLAINS
75.6 L INDIAN SERVICE FIRE LOOKOUT
75.8 TWO MEDICINE RIDGE--Looking Glass Hill. (5962)
76.2 VIEW OF TWO MEDICINE VALLEY Both Two Medicine and Lower Two Medicine Lakes can be seen from this point. Rising Wolf, Sinopah, and Painted Tipi are the principal mountains. Rising Bull is the long ridge, whose outline against the sky is like that of a buffalo bull in the act of getting up. The head is toward the south. The ridge extends northward from the summit of Mt. Rockwell which is in back of Sinopah Mountain. The name is of Indian origin.
This is a typical, glaciated, U-shaped valley. V-shaped valleys are produced by erosion by running water while moving ice--glaciers--produces U-shaped valleys. In stream erosion, tributaries enter at or near the level of the main stream.
Glaciers gouge out valleys with broad bases. While valleys are filled with ice, lateral streams of ice or water may discharge far above the bottom of the main valley. The retreat of the glacier exposes a U-shaped valley with tributary valleys "hanging" or entering far above the main valley floor.
76.5 R AREA BURNED IN 1919 It was started by a burning cigarette carelessly tossed by a member of a passing party.
79.3 R IRRIGATION DAM The water is used on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
79.8 TWO MEDICINE JUNCTION Junction of Two Medicine Road with Blackfeet Highway.
81.5 TWO MEDICINE RIVER
84.0 GLACIER PARK HOTEL (4821) Capacity 300 guests.
