Two Lane Adventures: Day 60 of 117 on our “Go West, Young Man” Two Lane Adventure

Today was the day that Rod had set aside for our “Red Bus Tour.” Before our Red Bus Tour, Charlie & I along with Lyle & Judy had breakfast at the Lazy Bear Cafe at the West Glacier KOA. It was an excellent breakfast and the service was outstanding!

Our driver, Debbie, told us the scenery and wildlife in Glacier National Park provides constant amazement and inspiration to everyone and there is no better way to reveal the deeper significance and meanings of the park than to spend time with her on a Red Bus tour. We learned she is 14-year seasoned park veteran, who is here because she loves the park and enjoy sharing the park with visitors, like us. We also learned she is from Florida too!

The famous Red Buses serve as an ideal way to see and learn more about Glacier National Park. In fact, the vintage 1930's buses are part of the human history and heritage of the park. The fleet of 33 buses in Glacier is widely considered to be the oldest touring fleet of vehicles anywhere in the world. Roe Emery was one of two principals behind the creation of Glacier’s iconic Red Buses. Emery and Walter White, a vice president of the Cleveland-based White Motor Company, which built the Red Buses, introduced transportation to the park in 1914.

Many in the current fleet of Red Buses have been in service since the mid-1930's. The Red Buses were the first authorized motor transportation utility in any National Park. In 1936, with park reservations up more than 70 percent above 1935 levels, 18 new buses joined the fleet. The purchase was made from the White Motor Company for a price of $90,000.00. The buses featured outside doors opposite each row of seats. A special feature included with this model was a roll-back top providing unobstructed sightseeing. The Red Buses have an oak, not metal, frame which support their bodies.

We learned lots of facts about the iconic Red Buses. The color of the Red Buses comes from the Ripe Mountain Ash Berry in Glacier National Park. Debbie tried to find some ripe berries to show us, but no luck! The Red Buses of Glacier were made by the White Motor Company and are Model 706. There were over 500 White Model 706’s made for different national parks in the US. The Model 706 White Buses are the third generation of touring buses in Glacier National Park.

The drivers are called “Jammers” because they could be heard “Jamming” the gears of the red buses going up Going-to-the-Sun Road when the buses had standard transmissions. The Red Buses received their first automatic transmissions in 1989. From 1914 through the 1970’s all Red Bus drivers were college-aged men, mostly in Pre-Law or Pre-Med. The first female Red Bus driver in Glacier was in the early 1980’s.

Of the 33 buses on the road today, 17 are from 1936, 11 are from 1937, 4 are from 1938 and 1 is from 1939. The bus numbers represent the order in which they arrived in the park. For example, bus number 97 was the 97th vehicle to be put into service in Glacier. Our bus was number 106.

In addition to touring guests around Glacier, the buses have also served as evacuation vehicles in times of fire or flooding.

Ford Motor Company donated over $6 Million to restore 33 buses to keep them in operation. The Red Buses originally cost $5000 each back in 1936, but now each red bus is estimated to be worth $250,000.

We quickly learned that the people in the 1930’s were not as big as we are and the seats are not designed to the same standards as today’s vehicles. The red buses seat 17 people, 4 across on a bench seat and 1 front passenger seat. These are snug quarters with limited space. We were in the back row, so we also had to contend with the wheel wells. But, we did have a small shelf between us and the seat in front of us for our lunches.

I should share a little about the park with you. Montana’s Glacier National Park and Alberta’s Waterton Lakes National Park meets at the border between the US and Canada. In 1932, the parks were designated the world’s first International Peace Park to commemorate the bonds of peace and friendship between the two nations. Although Glacier and Wateron Lakes National Parks are administered by separate counties, they cooperate to manage their natural resources. The wild plants and animals ignore political and territorial boundaries and claim the mountainous terrain on both sides of the border. However, as the plants and animals ignore the border, the same goes for the wildfires … which are burning in both parks.

photo credit - Glacier NPS

With the fires in West Glacier and the Going to the Sun Road is closed between Apgar and Logan Pass, we had to modify our route. In the past, Yankee Tours took the “Big Sky Circle” tour, which is the most inclusive tour of Glacier National Park. It is like a big square that stopped at all the perfect spots in the park. We were so looking forward to taking the Going-to-the-Sun Road, as it is a 50-mile engineering marvel built in the 1930’s. It is designated as a National Civil Engineering Landmark and placed on the National Register of Historic Places and in 1996 was designated as a National Historic Landmark. It is the only road in the US with all three designations.

We were picked up at the West Glacier KOA by our two Red Buses. We followed US Route 2 from West Glacier hugging the Middle Fork Flathead River. IN 1976, Congress designated over 200 miles of the Flathead River system as “Wild and Scenic.” This is the second “wild and scenic” river we have seen on this trip.

Arriving in Essex, we can see and smell the fire on the ridgeline above, which fire you ask? The Paola Ridge Fire in the Flathead National Forest. It has burned about 500 acres and evacuation warnings were still in place for a small number of residents of Essex.

We hoped to view some wildlife at Goat Lick. No, luck! What is Goat Lick, you ask? It is an exposed riverbank, along highway 2 where mountain goats and other animals come to lick the mineral-laden cliffs

We made a morning drive over Marias Pass and stopped to see the monuments and the Continental Divide. Marias Pass crosses the Continental Divide at 5,280 feet in the Lewis Range within Glacier National Park. The star engineer of the Great Northern Railway, John Frank Stevens, discovered this pass with the help of a Flathead Indian guide. With a gentle grade, it was the perfect pass for a rail line and many trains make their way over this pass today.

Then a stop at the historic Glacier Park Lodge, also known as "Big Tree" lodge ... once you see the size of the logs used to build it ... you will agree. Glacier Park Lodge was the first hotel built by the Great Northern Railway. It's been a popular stop on visitors' Glacier vacations for decades.

Inside the historic hotel, Douglas Fir logs tower over the lobby and make everything else seem small! The lodge is located directly opposite the railroad depot, within walking distance. Work began on the hotel in April 1912 and was completed in 15 months. Demand was so great that work began immediately on an expansion that almost doubled capacity, completing that section in 1914.

We traversed through pristine mountain and prairie vistas on your way to the East Glacier Entrance. We took Montana 49 and 89, both are scenic routes, passing Glacier’s “secret” Two Medicine Valley and on our way to St Mary.

We saw the effects of the Skyline fire and how the reservation handles the clean-up, verses how the National Parks Service does. The reservation tends to cut off the dead trees and leave the stumps. The NPS leaves it all the way the fire left it and lets nature take care of the burnt trees and debris.

Following St Mary Lake, toward Rising Sun, we saw the remnants of the Reynolds Creek Fire. The Reynolds Creek Fire burned over 4,000 acres on the east side of the park, forcing the evacuation of St. Mary. Our Red Bus driver, Debbie, lived on the east side at the time and worked for the Red Bus company, she said it was a very scary time.

We stopped in Rising Sun, where we enjoyed our picnic lunch.

After lunch, we saw a small bear wandering in the road. It was our first bear sighting on this trip!

We stopped at the Wild Goose Island overlook for another incredible photo opportunity. Our tour guide, Debbie, told us this piece of Montana folklore. In the middle of St Mary Lake is a small island halfway between two shores. There were two tribes living on either side of the lake. The two tribes avoided one another and had no dealings one with the other. All this changed one day when a handsome warrior on the near shore saw a lovely maiden from the other tribe swimming toward the small island in the middle of the lake. He was instantly smitten by her beauty and leapt into the lake to swim to the island himself. They met on the shore of the little islet, and the maiden was as taken with the warrior as he was with her. They talked for hours, and by the end of their conversation, they were betrothed. After extracting a promise from his beloved that she would faithfully meet him at the island on the next day, the warrior swam home to his tribe, and she returned to hers.

Oh, what an uproar they met upon their return. Neither tribe was happy at their meeting, and all were determined to break the betrothal instantly. The man and the maiden had no doubts at all. In the wee hours of the morning, each swam out to the little island to meet one another. As soon as they were discovered missing, warriors from both tribes set out in pursuit, to bring the renegades back. But the Great Spirit was watching, and took pity on the young lovers. He transformed them into geese, which mate for life, so they could always be together. When the warriors arrived on the island, the found not a man and a woman, but two lovely geese walking among the small trees and bracken. At the sight of the warriors, the two geese stroked their necks together lovingly and then flew away, never to return. From that day to this, the little island at the center of St. Mary Lake has been known as Wild Goose Island.

We tried to see Jackson Glacier, on our way up, but too much smoke. Hoping to have a chance on our way back down. We did see some unexpected beauty in the rock walls, with waterfalls!