Last day for a west-side drive
<p>Brenda Ahearn photos/Daily Inter Lake</p><p>Helena resident Glen Phillips, a retiree from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, makes his way up the Hidden Lake Trail near the base of Clements Mountain on Thursday in Glacier National Park. The western access to Logan Pass on Going-to-the-Sun Road will close for the season today. People will still be able to get to the pass from the east side. The Logan Pass Visitor Center will remain open until Sept. 30.</p>
<p>Jim Obermeyer of Marion makes his way up Hidden Lake Trail on Thursday, September 13, in Glacier National Park. Obermeyer was in the park with photographer Gene Grove, of Whitefish. The two were looking to photograph wildlife.</p>
<p>Visitors to Glacier National Park were were surprised to see a mountain goat cross their path near Logan Pass on Thursday, September 13.</p>
<p>On Thursday, September 13, the American and the Canadian Flag at the Logan Pass Visitor's Center were flown at half-staff out of respect for John Christopher Stevens, United States Ambassador to Libya, and the American personnel killed in Benghazi on Tuesday, September 11.</p>
Today is the last day of the year to drive to Logan Pass from Glacier National Park’s west side.
After one final day of west-side access, Going-to-the-Sun Road will be gated at Avalanche Creek Monday morning to allow for accelerated road rehabilitation work.
Logan Pass will remain accessible from the east side of the park until Oct. 14, when the road will be gated for the winter.
There will be no hiker-biker access on the west side until the weekend of Sept. 28-29, according to Denise Germann, the park’s public affairs specialist.
“The contractors are going to try to do as much as they can and that will have an impact on hiker-biker access,” Germann said.
After Sept. 29, there may be hiker-biker access on the weekends and possibly during evening hours.
HK Contractors will be doing road work between Avalanche Creek and Logan Creek.
“This is the last year for the early fall closure on the west side,” Germann said. “Next year, we anticipate an early fall closure on the east side from Rising Sun to Siyeh Bend.”
The road work this fall is part of the massive $170 million rehabilitation effort that began in 2006 on Glacier’s trademark alpine highway.
The most difficult reconstruction work on the higher elevations of Sun Road are in the final stages.
To confirm hiker-biker accessibility, visitors are urged to call 888-7800 or check the park’s website at http://www.nps.gov/glac/index.htm.