You can’t say you weren’t warned. All the signs are there. But none of the guard rails! And when I saw the sign below, I really did have to wonder what I was getting myself into…
Looking Glass Road is the local name for Route 49, which runs between East Glacier and St. Mary, Montana. Rob came home from a warehouse delivery trip to St. Mary early in the season and told me his co-worker drove them along this unbelievable road that ran alongside a cliff with no guard rails–one wrong turn and you’re toast! Turns out, it’s actually the same road we drove back when we visited Glacier last year. Driving Northbound last fall, it didn’t seem so bad, but you’re hugging the mountain in that direction. Driving Southbound turns out to be another thing entirely!
Looking Glass Road runs along the eastern boundary between Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Reservation. As a result, ownership of the road is a little unclear, and maintenance is kind of spotty. There’s a fair amount of rockfall every time we go, and some rough patches that I wouldn’t want to experience on a motorcycle! And no, there is not one single guardrail.
There’s also this really cool patch where the rock formation kind of swirls up. Most of the rock in Glacier is sedimentary, with evidence of plate tectonic shifts everywhere along the mountain ranges. The landscape was formed by the Lewis Overthrust 170 million years ago, in which tectonic plates pushed older rock formations horizontally over younger rock. These jagged peaks were then sculpted by glaciers over the last 2 million years. But honestly, I can’t figure out what caused the formation above.
The 14-mile stretch called Looking Glass Road comes to an end when it meets Route 89 in Kiowa. Which, for us, means a quick stop at the Kyiyo Mercantile store for an amazing sticky bun.
Let the record reflect, however, that when I have to drive south from St. Mary, I always take Route 89 a full 25 miles out of my way to avoid having to drive Looking Glass Road! Acrophobia is a powerful thing.
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I think I would be joining you in going out of my way to avoid the road with no guard rails. Looks beautiful but way too scary for me!!
Terrifying!