By the time we reached the the northern-most entry to Glacier National Park, the fire was burning 2,000 acres. We descended into the valley leading to the Many Glaciers part of the park, watching an apocalyptic cloud of smoke billow down into the next valley over. Travis of course was optimistic. Maybe it would just burn itself out! When we heard that it had doubled in size again, we knew that this 4,000 acre fire would probably burn till the first snow, which meant our route traveling Going-To-The-Sun Road was definitely off the table.
I was bummed. Our whole trip I had been hearing about this 50 mile scenic road built through the park specifically because it passed through beautiful country. We had bought a trail book with mountain summits that started in the section of the park that was closed. We had planned to spend ten full days in Glacier, riding over Logan's Pass over the continental divide, traveling from trailhead to trailhead along Going-To-The-Sun. And now this STUPID FIRE erupted literally exactly when we arrived.
Travis said it was super douchey to complain that a devastating wildfire was ruining vacation. I'm glad that someone in this relationship has a good attitude. But once I realized that the West entrance to Going-To-The-Sun was still open that there were other campsites in the Southeastern side of the park, that there were mountain summit guides for all parts of the park I started to feel better. In reality we'd be avoiding all the motor tourists who pull their RVs off on the scenic overlooks, snap photos and check the park off their list. We'd get to visit some of the out-of-the-way corners of the park, and we'd just add 80 miles onto our trip going the long way around the park instead of straight through it.