Another high point for Sun Road ceremony
Inter Lake editorial
If you want to help pay respects to one of mankind's crowning engineering achievements, visit Glacier Park on Friday.
It's a birthday party of sorts at Lake McDonald Lodge, celebrating the 75th year of Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Events all day long at venues in and near the park will recognize the famous road, with official ceremonies from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the lodge.
The ceremonies are open to the general public because of a twist of fate that is befitting the alpine highway.
Originally the anniversary commemoration was an invitation-only affair scheduled at Logan Pass. However, the weather intervened (as it has so many times over the past 75 years) and heavy snowpack means the pass is inaccessible.
But the new venue means the ceremonies are more accessible to more people.
For those who want to join the celebration, note that parking at Lake McDonald Lodge is limited, so Glacier Park's free shuttle buses will be giving rides between the Apgar Transit Center and the lodge.
To recognize the impressive accomplishment of building Sun Road - an alpine road carved into rock by determined workers more than seven decades ago - the Inter Lake will publish a special section Friday tracing the unique history of this high-elevation highway.
Is there a wild horse or burro in your future?
You can find out Friday and Saturday when the Bureau of Land Management brings a selection of animals to Kalispell for one of its periodic auctions.
About 40 wild horses and 10 burros will be trucked from a regional holding facility to the Flathead County Fairgrounds for the auction.
People can inspect the animals all day Friday (as well as attend free horse-training sessions Friday afternoon and evening) before the actual auction on Saturday.
Prospective bidders have to meet some requirements for proper fencing and shelter, but if people adopting animals can demonstrate proper care of the horses or burros for a year, they will be eligible to receive full title to the animals.
The Kalispell auction is part of the federal agency's mandate to manage and preserve the wild horses as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West."