Why this ride
It goes by way of Lake McDonald Lodge, The Loop, Logan Pass and St Mary Lake. The highest point is about 2,050 m. Logan Pass is open in summer only - check it is open before you set off. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Going-to-the-Sun Road
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 81 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 59
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Going-to-the-Sun Road
Water arrives beside the road and stays for 35 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go — slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 21 km
- Named road
- Going-to-the-Sun Road
- Pass
- Logan Pass
Going-to-the-Sun Road
20 km on Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 20 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. West Glacier
West Glacier is a small collection of lodges, cafes and gift shops at the western entrance of Glacier National Park, a few hundred yards from the gate and the railway, and it is the starting point for Going-to-the-Sun Road. The Great Northern Railway built much of the tourism here, advertising Glacier as America's Switzerland in the early twentieth century, and constructing grand lodges in the mountains. Trains still pass through the village on the line from Chicago to Seattle, and the sound of a long freight is part of the soundtrack.
Read the complete West Glacier write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
West Glacier is where the day begins. Next is Lake McDonald Lodge.
2. Lake McDonald Lodge
The lodge is the old hotel on the lake, built in 1913 and 1914 as a Swiss-chalet-meets-hunting-lodge confection of cedar logs, with antlers on the walls and a big stone fireplace in the lobby. Great Northern Railway took it over in the 1930s as part of its drive to bring wealthy easterners west by train. The hotel faces Lake McDonald, the largest lake in Glacier National Park, about ten miles long and more than 450 feet deep, ringed by forested ridges. Its shoreline is paved with small stones in red, green and purple, polished by the water, and so clear that it looks like a mosaic.
Read the complete Lake McDonald Lodge write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lake McDonald Lodge comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Loop.
3. The Loop
The Loop is the one proper hairpin on the western side of Going-to-the-Sun Road, and it is the place where the road, which has been climbing steadily up the valley, finally gets tired of going straight and turns back on itself in a big, left-handed sweep. It is a pull-out and trailhead as well, so you can stop and look at the road from the outside. A trail leads from here up to Granite Park Chalet, a stone mountain hut, and a lot of walkers set out from the parking lot.
Read the complete The Loop write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 39 km into the recorded legs you reach The Loop. Next is Logan Pass.
4. Logan Pass
Logan Pass sits at 2,026 metres on the Continental Divide, and it is the top of the road. After the cliffs and the long traverse from the west, the road flattens into a little saddle ringed by peaks, with a visitor centre, a parking lot that fills before most people have finished breakfast, and a boardwalk heading off across a meadow of alpine flowers. It is the highest point reached by any paved road in the park, and it feels like it. Snow sits in the hollows well into July.
Read the complete Logan Pass write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Logan Pass, about halfway at 2026 m. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is St Mary Lake, mostly downhill.
5. St Mary Lake
St Mary Lake is the east side of the story. Where the west is damp and thick with cedar, the east is drier, more open and far windier, because the mountains of Glacier fall away abruptly onto the plains of Blackfeet country. The lake lies in a long glacial trough about nine miles long, a deep blue, with a tiny island, Wild Goose Island, sitting like a ship in the middle. It is one of the most photographed spots in the park, and with good reason: the island, the peaks behind and the sky above make an almost absurdly tidy composition.
Read the complete St Mary Lake write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
St Mary Lake sits at 114 km, late in the day. Next is St Mary.
6. St Mary
St. Mary is a little village on the eastern edge of Glacier National Park, and here the mountains meet the prairie with a bump. To the west rise the peaks, steep and dark, with the long finger of St. Mary Lake at their foot, while to the east the land opens out into rolling grassland as far as the horizon. The village is a cluster of cafes, motels, a store and a visitor centre, and it is the eastern gateway to Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Read the complete St Mary write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 81 km.
Leg by leg
West Glacier to Lake McDonald Lodge
West Glacier → Lake McDonald Lodge is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lake McDonald Lodge to The Loop
Lake McDonald Lodge → The Loop is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Loop to Logan Pass
The Loop → Logan Pass is 13 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Logan Pass to St Mary Lake
Logan Pass → St Mary Lake is 20 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.
St Mary Lake to St Mary
St Mary Lake → St Mary is 10 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.