This Makes No Sense At All

You have a couple of choices for a southbound CDT route through Glacier. The first starts in Waterton Lakes National a Park in Canada, crosses the border at Goat Haunt, and follows the Highline trail through Glacier. This route is open at the earliest around Aug 1, as it depends on snow conditions and the Ahern Drift trail segment being blasted out. The second starts at the Chief Mountain Customs Station. The trailhead is about 50 yards south, and has a large parking lot. When we were there around 7/21 there were about 40 cars there. This route goes to Belly River, then Elisabeth Lake. After that you can go via the Ptarmagan tunnel if it is open, or the longer route via Poia Lake to Many Glacier (a resupply point with store, motel, etc.). There is not a lot of car access to the park. It is divided north south by the Going to the Sun Highway, which starts in St. Marys and ends at West Glacier. The CDT crosses this highway at two different points, depending on your route. You can pro...

Just back from a road trip to Glacier National Park. It is in Montana and borders Canada for my European readers. The plan was to start the Continental Divide Trail. We didn't put a foot on the ground with a backpack on, but that's another story. Nowadays we Google our route options, and then use a navigation device in the car to keep us on track. Google said from Oakland, CA, go north through Spokane, WA as fastest choice, a close second was northeast over the Sierras and through Nevada. We were packed and ready to go via Spokane when a last minute check of the weather page showed the jet stream dividing the routes. Oregon Washington was all t-storms and jagged lightning symbols, the Nevada route smiling sun symbols. So, off we go, over the Sierras, through Reno, Nevada, and those little towns from my childhood, Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, Elko, Nevada, and Twin Falls, Pocatello, and Idaho Falls, Idaho. I say from my childhood, as this was the traditional route we took, f...